What Makes Pearls Precious?

What is a Pearl

To discover what makes pearls so valuable, we must go back as long ago as 5 BC, when the Romans and Egyptians recognized their uniqueness and beauty, and the natural pearl began its ascension to be crowned the Queen of Gems. Discovered by fishermen scouring the shores to feed their families, the oysters’ secret was soon found to be even more precious than the mollusk’s delicate flesh. Hidden within the oyster was the luminous sphere the fishermen held up to the heavens to marvel at the extraordinary luster of their new treasure. And so began their worship of the new queen. But what is a pearl?

High-quality freshwater pearls, particularly the ones that are perfectly round and exhibit exceptional luster, are quite rare and highly prized. While freshwater pearls are the most common type of pearl available, only a small percentage reach the standards of top-tier quality.

These premium freshwater pearls are notable for their rich, bright luster and smooth surface. Their rarity stems from the difficulty in cultivating pearls that meet these exacting criteria, making them a valuable find in the jewelry market.

Pearls of this caliber are often found in high-end jewelry stores and are treasured for their unique charm and enduring beauty. Investing in these premium pearls offers not just an immediate visual appeal but also a timeless piece of luxury that can be appreciated for a lifetime.

Cherished, prized, and highly sought, the pearl has become a quintessential adornment, a statement of fashion, commitment, and even more. Before they were cultivated, the ocean’s pearls were found at the astonishingly low rate of merely one pearl for 10,000 oysters. This long, impatient period between each discovery only fed the desire for the elusive pearl, and all but assured this minute natural wonder as a rare item of status – along with those fortunate enough to possess them.

Queen of Gems

Another Queen renowned throughout history, Cleopatra, owned the two largest natural pearls of her time. Placing one of them in a vessel containing wine so strong that it melted the pearl, and then performing an act demanding Marc Anthony’s attention, she lifted the vessel, swallowing the wine – along with the dissolved pearl. She remarked that she had made her expensive toast to honor Anthony (with the added benefit of the wine serving them as an aphrodisiac due to the pearl’s association with the Goddess of Love, Venus).

The pearl even garnered the attention of Caesar, who also marveled at their radiance, often holding them and gazing at the wonder of their shapes and sizes. In fact, Caesar’s obsession was said to be the motivation for his legion’s first invasion of Britain in 55 BC in search of Scottish pearls.

Pearls in Art

Vermeer, with his love for the way pearls brought life to his paintings, included them in 21 of his masterpieces.  His style composed the paintings with magical soft focus, while placing an accent on his attention to his portrayal of the pearl.  Such works include Woman with a Pearl Necklace, featuring natural pearl earrings and a pearl necklace (1664), Girl Writing a Letter, (c 1662-1667, also known as a Woman Writing a Letter, featuring a pearl necklace and earrings), Woman with a Lute, (1662-1663, featuring pearl earrings and necklace, produced when Vermeer was in his 30s),  and Study of a Young Woman, (c 1665-1667, featuring a pearl earring and painted around the same period as Girl with a Pearl Earring).

Our appreciation of the what makes pearls precious even finds its influence in what can arguably be considered the first introduction of social media, further shaping our appreciation via its painted depiction by artists like Johannes Vermeer, who in 1665 painted his venerated Girl with a Pearl Earring, heralded for the breathtaking depiction its single magnificent pearl earring. In 2006, the Dutch nominated it as the most beautiful painting in the Netherlands. 

The cultured freshwater pearl has its origin in Asia, where the first blister pearl (a shell-attached pearl often flat on one side) found its humble beginning with the help of human intervention via the manual insertion (a process termed seeding or nucleation) of a small hornlike substance into the oyster.

After this nucleus was implanted into the oyster, the tiny foreign invader activated the oyster’s natural defense against the foreign body by encasing it in layers of nacre. This would be the natural pearl’s genesis. Over time it has been found that any shelled mollusk can use this process to produce a pearl, including the abalone, marine snail, clam, mussel, and last by not least, the oyster.

At the final stage of the pearl’s cultivation, the process ends with the pearl farmer. To complete the task of harvest, the farmer extracts the precious gem from the delicate organic anatomy of its mollusk host. The gem is graded before setting out on the journey from its original pearl farm to the jewelry designer and, ultimately, to you.

How Long does it take to form a natural pearl?

For Akoya pearls, created by the oysters in Japan, it could take as long as 5 to 6 weeks. In the case of freshwater cultured pearls, created in freshwater mussels, the creation can be as brief as 2 to 3 weeks.

Genesis of the Cultured Freshwater Pearl

What Makes Pearls Precious? The 5 S’s of Pearl Grading

Why are pearls so expensive? Similar to the way we evaluate a diamond by appraising its famous 4 C’s (Carat weight, Color, Clarity, and Cut), a pearl achieves its highest value by its own set of standards. To determine why are pearls so special, use these 5 aspects of the pearl’s pedigree:

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1. Surface
2. Shape
3. Size
4. Shine
5. Shade

Surface

One noted method some use to check whether a pearl is a ‘real thing’ is the popular oral test for which the sensation referred to as grit is the result when a true pearl is rubbed against a natural tooth. If the pearl’s surface characteristics provides a smooth sensation rather than the telltale sandy impression as it slides along the surface of a tooth, the pearl is likely not authentic, in other words, a fake.

Shape

Shape plays a significant role in the determination of a pearl’s price. The more round, the more the gem is considered the perfect pearl, and the greater the price it can demand.  Historically, the rounder more expensive pearl was likened to the celestial perfection of a full moon; however, times have changed, and while the basic shape of perfectly round pearls is still highly desired for their impressive value, other uniquely-shaped pearls are often considered equally as valuable – and in some cases even more so.

Such is the case for semi-baroque pearls, more irregular and more imperfect, examples include egg-shaped, button shape, pear shape and circularly shaped pearls, such as the coin pearl.  Tahitian black pearls are commonly circular with a groove encircling the diameter of the pearl. These pearls are striking for their natural black beauty and luster.

Size

The wide range of sizes extends from 2 mm to 25 mm (while larger pearls are quite rare). Pearls measuring 8-9 mm come with a substantially increased price, in sharp contrast to those in the 2 mm range.  As with any commodity, when large numbers of similarly-sized pearls are harvested, the cost of the pearl decreases, based on the over-supply for correspondingly limited demand. Alternatively, by the same law of supply and demand, in times of high demand for an inadequate inventory of the corresponding pearl, the cost increases.

In the case of saltwater pearls created by oysters, there can only be one pearl formed by its host at one time. Amazingly, the creation a necklace with matching pearls in size, shape, and luster can take many years to harvest the necessary components to craft a single necklace – it follows the long process of creating such a rare piece of jewelry is reflected in its cost.

Shine

Of course, the glory of a pearl’s shine takes into account its luminosity. The more lustrous, the more valuable the pearl.  This is the result of the pearl’s creation, which begins as an act of the oyster’s natural defense mechanism toward a parasite (sometimes it’s organic matter, such as a simple grain of sand entering the shell). In the act of protecting itself from the unwanted intruder, the oyster secretes a substance known as Mother of Pearl.  This secretion will continue to form concentric layers of nacre over the oyster’s perceived enemy, layer over layer. After a time, the layers become the lustrous end product we know as the pearl.  In terms of nacre quality, the longer the pearl remains in its shell, the more dense the nacre thickness, and the more lustrous the pearl becomes.

Shade

Although the classic creamy white pearl has long been an iconic symbol of elegance, other shades have grown in popularity. The more golden the pearl, the more we can trace its origin to the Southern Seas. This is a result of the water’s temperature and its influence over the pearl.  With the warm waters of the Philippines at the equator, the oyster is more golden, in turn giving the golden color to the pearl within it.

Equally important, the fewer the pearl’s blemishes, generally speaking, the more valuable; however, pearls such as the Tahitian black or Baroque, which bear the unique signature of mother nature’s ideal imperfections are also valued. Regardless of shape, size, and degree of luster, natural pearls are designed to be as unique as each of us, with their visual allure attracting its ultimate owner.  Examples of these differences are found in the South Sea and Tahitian black pearls.

Types Of Pearls

Tahitian Black Pearls

Dark and exotic, the Tahitian pearl is highly prized for the beauty of its black, brown, grey, and green personality. These colors are produced by the magnificent Pinctada Margaritifera: the black-lipped oyster native to the Pacific Ocean. The most desirable Tahitian pearl color is the peacock color, with its kaleidoscope of coloration ranging from green and pink to purple.  Most striking of all, the Tahitian pearls are the only natural black pearls.

In terms of high-quality pearls, the South Sea variety is the Rolls Royce of natural pearls, produced in Pinctada Fucatum by Asian countries such as Indonesia, Burma, Malaysia, the Philippines, as well as along Australian’s north coast (about 100  miles south of Broome). The offspring of the magnificent Pinctada Maxima oysters, these pearls are unrivaled in their natural beauty.  These are created by the largest pearl oysters, which can achieve pearl sizes up to 305 mm (that’s 12 inches in diameter – a true Amazon of the oyster world). Not surprisingly, the Pinctada Maxima is also the largest-producing oyster in the world. The color of the pearl, derived by the Mother of Pearl’s color, corresponds to the color found on the interior lip of the closed oyster’s shell. 

South Seas Pearls

For this reason, it can take many years to form a South Sea Pearl necklace. Each time the oyster is harvested, it’s a guess as to what color pearl the oyster will have produced.

Freshwater Pearls

These affordable pearls are loved for the fashion-forward appearance they contribute to their necklaces. Known for their baroque shapes and colors, they are produced in whites, creams, violets, pinks, ivory, and peaches. Also available in metallic and classic on-trend colors produced by dying the pearl, they are extremely versatile.

Conch Pearls

The Conch pearl is produced by its namesake the Conch, and not by an oyster. It is a pink/peach and approximately 3 times more valuable than the South Sea pearl.

Sea of Cortez Pearls

These beautiful pearls are produced by the Pteria Sterna oyster which is found in the Pacific coast of America, known for its tropical and subtropical shallow waters.  This oyster produces pearls in colors ranging from green, golden, pink, gray and hues of purple.

Pearl Colors and their Countries

Size of the South Sea Pearl

Another example of why pearls are valuable is found in the Pinctada Maxima, known as the cream of the crop. The Pinctada Maxima oyster can live up to 40 years and creates the largest pearls in the world. These pearls are so highly sought that one Australian South Sea pearl necklace fetched more than 1.5 million dollars at auction.

Using the 5 S’s of as the standard to judge a pearl aids in the careful task of matching pearl jewelry and ensuring that a necklace is made of the same surface quality, size, shape, luster, and color of pearls. At Her Majesty’s Jewels, we take pride in our selection and crafting of our necklaces and bracelets and offer jewelry of excellent value and enduring beauty. This is what makes pearls precious. And when shopping online, remember, with today’s jewelry choices, pearls make perfect accents for men, too.

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