The Pearl Girls Ultimate Pearl Buying Guide
Welcome to The Pearl Girls!
We believe pearls are made for meaningful moments! Whether it is pearls for a young girl, a graduating, senior, a first job or a wedding, pearls are meant to commemorate life’s special events!
The Pearl Girls Founder, India Rows, was gifted with her first strand at 8 years old and she has worn those pearls to every significant event in her life. Talk about the longevity of pearls!
Pearls are so special, and purchasing pearls is a very important decision! We want to help guide you to the best info when deciding what pearls to buy! Here, India gives you a quick run down on pearls. If you need more info, please don’t hesitate to reach out.
Whether you’re buying your first strand or adding to a growing collection, this guide will help you choose pearls with confidence.
The Pearl Girls Ultimate Pearl Buying Guide
Understand the Types of Pearls
First things first… pearls can be either real or imitation.
Real pearls are made by living organisms and imitation pearls are man-made.
At The Pearl Girls, we reknot, restring and repair many heirloom pearls so we are very familiar with imitation pearls!
All of our new collections feature genuine cultured pearls, so we have a wealth of knowledge about real pearls, too!
What Makes a Pearl Real?
A real pearl is created by a living organism. You hear a lot about pearls made by oysters, clams, or mussels — any aquatic creature that can make its own shell can make a pearl. A pearl is made of the same material as the mollusk’s shell. It is called nacre!
When an irritant (like a shell, tiny parasite or organism) gets inside the soft tissue body of the mollusk, it reacts by coating the irritant with layers of nacre. Over time, this coating builds and builds until it forms a pearl.
So the first question is always: Is the pearl real?
Many years ago, people just didn’t have access to pearls. Even today some big retailers still sell them. They may call them “shell pearls,” “glass pearls,” or “crystal pearls,” but no matter what they’re called, an imitation pearl is man-made.
Natural vs. Cultured Pearls
Under the umbrella of real pearls, you’ll find two categories: natural pearls and cultured pearls.
- A natural pearl forms entirely on its own in nature when an irritant enters the mollusk.
- A cultured pearl forms the same way — but with a little help from humans. Pearl farmers carefully open the mollusk and insert an irritant (often a tiny piece of tissue from a donor mollusk). Sometimes, they also insert a mother-of-pearl bead to act as the pearl’s nucleus. When they put the mollusk back in the water, the mollusk again coats the nucleus repeatedly and forms a pearl.
I travel the world hand-selecting pearls for The Pearl Girls collections. I love seeing the process of culturing pearls first-hand and let me tell you, each pearl farm cultures pearls in their own unique way. It is a marvel!
Natural pearls are pretty amazing, too! I once found a natural pearl in the shape of a snail shell. I have often wondered… was that snail the irritant that entered the mussel’s soft tissue body? You never know what irritant forms the nucleus of a natural pearl. In fact, Abby, The Pearl Girls Head of Production, does not like drilling natural pearls! She says she never knows what is inside that pearl!
One other thing to note… Although a mollusk might produce a “natural” pearl during the process of culturing pearls, if humans have intervened at any point, it’s still considered a cultured pearl.
Freshwater vs. Saltwater Cultured Pearls
One question we hear all the time is: Are these cultured pearls or freshwater pearls?
The answer is: they can be both! Freshwater pearls and saltwater pearls are two types of cultured pearls. They are simply the type of water that the pearls are cultured in!
When we started The Pearl Girls in 2006, we began by importing freshwater pearls. China is the world’s leading producer of genuine, cultured freshwater pearls. Freshwater pearls make up the largest volume of cultured pearls in the market, so quality can vary greatly — from low to exceptional.
Freshwater pearls are usually tissue-nucleated — a small piece of tissue is inserted into the mollusk, but no bead is used. This means the mollusk has no solid template to shape around, so freshwater pearls come in many different shapes. They can be very unique and sometimes not very round!
What I love about freshwater pearls in they are usually solid nacre all the way through. They tend to be denser and take longer to form — about 3 to 5 years, compared to about 2 years for bead-nucleated saltwater pearls.
Modern technology now allows for bead-nucleated freshwater pearls too, but The Pearl Girls chooses traditional, non-bead nucleated pearls for their beauty, durability and longevity. We use these pearls in our classic necklaces!
Freshwater pearls are cultured in lakes and ponds. The rivers of Europe used to be full of natural freshwater pearls. So were rivers in the U.S.
The other type of cultured pearls are saltwater cultured pearls. And, again, saltwater pearls are cultured in salt water! So, all the mollusks that are native to our oceans are utilized to cultured saltwater pearls. Some bivalves are better than others at culturing pearls!
Pearl oysters are not closely related to either the edible oysters of family Ostreidae or the freshwater pearl mussels of the families Unionidae and Margaritiferidae. The bivalves that make saltwater pearls are mollusks in the Pinctada family.
You may have heard about pearls from Japan — most of these are saltwater pearls from the Akoya oyster (Pinctada Fuctada)
Akoya Pearls
Akoya pearls come from the small Akoya oyster. Because the oyster is small, the pearls tend to be small too — but they are round, highly lustrous, and usually white, silver, or with subtle pink or yellow undertones. They are bead-nucleated, which helps produce a consistent round shape.
One criticism of Akoya pearls is that they sometimes have a thinner layer of nacre. We have reknotted vintage akoya pearls that have worn down to the mother of pearl nucleus.
Tahitian Pearls
Fun fact: No pearls are cultured on the island of Tahiti! However, they are grown throughout French Polynesia and they are called Tahitian pearls. These pearls come from the black-lipped mollusk (Pinctada margaritifera) and are famous for their naturally dark shades — black, silver, gray, peacock green, mauve, and more. They tend to be larger pearls and they are very stunning!
They can also vary in quality.
South Sea Pearls
South Sea pearls (Pinctada maxima) are large, luxurious pearls that come in silvery white or deep golden tones. They are farmed mainly in Australia and the Philippines although we have also traveled to Indonesia to work with them!
The mollusks used are large, which means they can create impressively large pearls with a beautiful, satiny luster.
Understanding Pearl Quality
So what do all these words mean? Size, luster, shape — these are the quality factors that determine a pearl’s value.
Unlike diamonds, pearls don’t have a universal grading system. Some companies use grades like AAA or AA, but these are internal labels, not global standards. One brand’s “AAA” might be another’s “A.” At The Pearl Girls, we don’t rely on these labels because we’ve seen firsthand how misleading they can be.
Here’s what really matters when you judge pearl quality:
- Luster: The shine! Luster is a very important factor — it’s what gives pearls their glow. A high luster means the pearl will look beautiful for years. But, watch out! I have seen luster painted on, in the form of glossy clear fingernail polish! Also, South Sea pearls are not known for high luster but they are still incredibly beautiful! So are Tahitians. So, luster in amazing but a high luster usually comes from colder waters. Tropical pearls are not as shiny but they are still so beautiful!
- Surface Quality: When shopping for pearls, look for clean surfaces. Tiny marks are natural, but fewer blemishes mean higher value.
We’ve seen multi-thousand-dollar pearls with visible imperfections — the cleaner ones are worth even more. But, high dollar pearls may only be accessible if they have a lot of imperfections. I once bought a strand of Tahitians from a catalog to see what a $400 strand of Tahitians would look like. The color was so dull and the surface quality was horrible! I sent them back! But, that was the trade off – a Tahitian pearl necklace for less. And that came at a cost to the pearl nacre.
- Shape: If all quality factors are the same, the pearl closest to round will be the more valuable pearl. Remember, these are organic gems — nature doesn’t always make perfect spheres. But round isn’t the only shape! Button, drop, semi-baroque and baroque are all different shapes and each one is beautiful and unique.
- Size: Size is an interesting one! The size of a pearl is a measure of its diameter, which is written in millimeters. At The Pearl Girls we sell all different sizes of white cultured pearls. We love our baby pearls (2-3mm in diameter) and we find many pearl farmers refuse to culture such small pearls! And because is the supply is low, the price can get high. Bigger pearls usually mean higher prices because they take longer to form. So, size matters but only due to your preference! Some people love small pearls and some people love larger ones. I believe this partiality is based on style and body type! The more common sizes (and more universally appealing) 6 and 7mm are easier to find!
- Color: Pearl color is another matter of preference and skin tone may play into your preference with color. Also, color can tell you where the pearls come from… as long as they are not dyed. This is the number one thing I would ask when buying colored pearls… is this color natural or is it dyed. White is by far the most popular pearl color at The Pearl Girls!.
- Matching: In a strand, bracelet, or pair of earrings, pearls should match in color, size, and luster. Baroque jewelry is the exception — the beauty is in the irregularity!
- Nacre Quality: A healthy mollusk in a clean environment produces strong, beautiful nacre. That means better pearls.
Why Trust Matters
The most important factor of all? Trust your source.
When I started The Pearl Girls in 2006, I we sold wholesale to jewelry stores all over the U.S. Often, their sales staff would call us to learn why pearls are valued the way they are — because not everyone selling pearls actually knows pearls!
I love sharing my knowledge with others! And I love telling people I have a degree in Pearls! What a conversation starter!
Over the years I have seen jewelers in Dubai selling shell pearls as genuine cultured pearls, and a resort in Fiji passing off imitation opals as real. No one wants to invest in something fake — and I don’t want that for you either.
So, know your source. Just because a piece of jewelry comes in a fancy box with a fancy label doesn’t mean the pearls inside are genuine.
✨ Good luck, and happy pearl hunting!
Let The Pearl Girls know if we can help — we love sharing our passion for beautiful, authentic pearls.
Love,
India Rows
Founder, ThePearlGirls.com