Freshwater Pearls

Freshwater pearls and saltwater pearls have been prized jewels for thousands of years. Unfortunately, their rarity made them so costly that only the wealthy could afford these gleaming gems. Thanks to the development of cultivation techniques, however, beautiful, genuine pearls are now accessible to most budgets.

How Freshwater Pearls are Formed

Living organisms called mollusks create freshwater pearls. While oysters generally make saltwater pearls, mussels usually produce freshwater pearls. Natural pearls are formed when an irritant, perhaps a grain of sand, enters the mussel's shell. If the mussel cannot rid itself of the foreign object it coats it with nacre, in an effort to make it less irritating, resulting in a pearl. The mollusk's mantle tissue secretes the nacre, which is the same substance the mollusk uses to coat its shell. Nacre is commonly called mother of pearl when taken from the inside of a shell. It can take two or three years and many coats of nacre before a good sized pearl is formed.

Until the 20th century, pearl divers had to search through many mollusks in order to find a single natural pearl of good quality, but at the turn of the century, Japanese pearl farmer Kokichi Mikimoto developed the process for making cultured pearls. Cultured pearls result when an irritant is purposefully introduced in the mussel in order to create a pearl. Mantle tissue from another mussel is often used as the irritant. Today most of the pearls on the market are cultured pearls.

Biwa Pearls

The first cultured freshwater pearls came from Japan's largest lake, Lake Biwa, and are referred to as Biwa pearls. Because of pollution and over farming, most of the mussels in the lake have died off, and few pearls today come from Lake Biwa. Many sources refer to all freshwater pearls as Biwa pearls, however that name should only be applied to pearls that are from Lake Biwa.

Chinese Pearls

Most of the modern day freshwater pearls sold hail from China. As early as the 13th century the Chinese practiced a form of culturing by attaching tiny lead Buddhas to mussels so that they would be coated with nacre, resulting in a beautiful, pearly Buddha image. However it wasn't until the 20th century that they actually began producing cultured pearls. Many still associate freshwater pearls with the large numbers of poor quality, misshapen rice pearls that appeared on the market in the eighties. However, in the early nineties the Chinese developed new cultivation techniques that have resulted in rounder, smoother pearls with better luster. Though their appearance can approach that of Japanese saltwater pearls, the Chinese pearls are far less expensive than their saltwater cousins. While these pearls are not generally considered to be investment quality, they are a great choice for those who simply wish to own a string of beautiful, genuine pearls.

Judging Freshwater Pearls

When assessing freshwater pearls, there are a number of qualities to consider, such as color, luster, surface quality, shape, size, and weight. Freshwater pearls are prized for their variety of colors, including white, off-white, yellow, peach, pink and lavender; although white is still the most popular. Luster is a difficult trait to describe and is best learned by looking at pearls of varying quality. It can be judged by the pearl's shininess, the amount of light reflected and the appearance of depth in a pearl. Better quality pearls have more luster. Pearls with good surface quality will be smooth with few blemishes. The shape of the pearl is an important factor in determining its value. Most freshwater pearls are not perfectly round, so the rounder the shape, the better the pearl. Finally, if the quality of pearls is comparable, the larger, heavier pearl is worth more; however a good quality small pearl is worth more than a large pearl of poor quality.

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