Freshwater Pearls Versus Cultured Pearls

Cultured pearls are considered real pearls but they aren t formed without human intervention.

Freshwater pearls versus cultured pearls. Saltwater pearls are formed when a small rounded piece of mother of pearl shell is inserted into the oyster and the layers of pearl form around the nucleus. Edible oysters do not produce nacre and thus do not produce pearls so there s no need to put them through an mri before eating. Are cultured pearls considered real pearls. With freshwater pearls technicians embed a small piece of mantle tissue into the mollusk to being the culturing process.

Although akoya pearls are cultured pearls the process of nucleating them is the saltwater process and much different than freshwater cultured pearls. The biggest major difference between the freshwater and akoya pearl type is shape. It s a confusing to say the least. To be clear freshwater and saltwater pearls are cultured pearls.

Cultured pearls have a solid center with no concentric rings. Here s how they differ. Freshwater pearls can also be cultured. Cultured pearls are real pearls that were not formed by accident of nature.

The real differentiator is the environment in which they are made either freshwater or saltwater. In other words there is no real difference when comparing cultured freshwater pearls vs. Most pearls sold today are cultured. Freshwater pearls used to be cultivated over shorter periods less than 2 years and as a result they were smaller in size and had an inferior shape and nacre coating.

In my opinion cultured freshwater pearls are the pearls to watch over the next few years in terms of innovation. Basically a cultured pearl is born through the very same process. One notable difference between natural freshwater pearls and cultured pearls is that while natural pearls have growth of concentric rings there is no such growth in cultured pearls. Freshwater pearls come from oysters that mature in non saline water from lakes or ponds as opposed to saltwater from the sea.

Cultured akoya pearls are known for being perfectly round baroque akoya are of course available but they re rare. In recent years however many producers started to grow freshwater pearls for a longer time three to six years and the resulting pearls are bigger 8 15mm and are of quality comparable to that of good saltwater pearls. This is revealed by x rays only. Either they don t know any better or they re trying to push you to the more expensive pearl.

Where it gets confusing is some traditional jewelers will refer to freshwater pearls as cultured pearls and akoya pearls as saltwater pearls or real pearls. Freshwater pearls are cultured pearls but they are not akoya the reason so many buyers distinguish cultured pearls from freshwater pearls is because cultured pearls is a trade term still used by many today to describe akoya pearls. The fact of the matter is this. Almost all pearls sold today are cultured pearls including freshwater pearls.