Pearl Jewelry – The Timeless And Elegant All-Occasion Jewelry

Pearl jewelry is an all occasion jewelry that goes with any type of wardrobe. Pearl is the birthstone for June and a symbol that shows deep love. Pearl is a very rare, very fine, very admirable and very valuable object of beauty. Pearl jewelry is elegant and classic as well as hip and trendy.

A pearl is a hard, roundish object produced within the soft tissue of a living shelled mollusk. It is secreted by the epithelial cells of the mantle, a curtain of tissue between the shell and body mass. It is made up of calcium carbonate, which is also a common substance found in rocks and shells of mollusks. Calcium carbonate found in pearls is in minute crystalline form, which has been deposited in concentric layers.

A pearl is formed inside when a parasite or an irritating microscopic object becomes trapped within the mollusk’s mantle folds. The mollusk, being irritated by the intruder, secretes the calcium carbonate and conchiolin to cover the irritant. This process is referred to as encystation, which eventually forms a pearl. This secretion process continues such that the pearl keeps increasing in size, as long as the animal lives.

Nacre, the mother of pearl, is an inner shell layer that is strong, iridescent and resilient. Nacre secretion around the irritant creates a pearl inside the body of the mollusk. Some mollusks have a porcellaneous inner shell layer, instead of nacre. This type of mollusk produces an even higher value pearls.

There are freshwater pearls and saltwater pearls. Freshwater pearls, as the name suggests, are a kind of pearl that comes from freshwater mussels. Saltwater pearls are produced by several species of marine pearl oysters. Pearls from the sea are valued highly than freshwater pearls.

Pearls can be cultured or farmed, but valuable pearls are those that occur in the wild. Culturing or farming of pearls has become successful because of its scarcity. Cultured pearls are pearls grown in pearl-producing mollusks with the aid of human intervention. These are also considered genuine pearls as they do not differ from their natural pearl counterparts.

There are saltwater and freshwater cultured pearls. Saltwater cultured pearls are those cultured in a saline environment. They are created by introducing a rounded bead of freshwater mussel shell into the gonad of the host mollusk. By creating small incisions to the mantle organ of a host mussel a freshwater cultured pearl is produced.

Pearls come in a various shapes. The ideal pearl is perfectly round and smooth. Other shapes is rice-shaped, pear-shaped, irregular (baroque) or button-shaped. Pearl gemstones are valued for their luster, translucence and for the delicate play of surface color.

Pearl grade or the quality of the pearl, is determined by luster, color, orient, size, shape and surface perfection. A pearl’s luster is finer if it has thinner and numerous layers. If successive layers overlap, the pearl displays iridescence due to the breakup of the falling light on the surface. Luster depends upon the diffraction, refraction and reflection of light from the translucent layers.

The largest pearl was discovered by an anonymous Filipino Muslim diver in Palawan, Philippines in’34. It was found from a non-nacreous giant clam. The pearl has a china plate like gloss but is not pearly as it did not come from a pearl oyster. It has a weight of– lbs. or 6.4 kilograms. It is known as the “Pearl of Allah”.

A pearl, although delicate, has been successfully used in jewelry for many years already. It is the only gem created by humans who can be used without cutting or polishing. For centuries, pearl is considered to be the most valuable oldest known and organic gem.

Author Fred Gagnon specializes in providing tips and information on jewelries. He owns a wide collection of stunning, glamorous and fashionable jewelries. To learn more about jewelries, accessories, precious metals and gemstones, visit Horse Jewelry and Small Gold Hoop Earrings.

categories: pearl jewelry,pearl earrings,pearl necklace,pearl rings,black pearl,black pearl earrings,pearls,Tahitian pearls,jewelry,accessory,trend fashion