Jewelry 101: Different Types of Pearls

Jewelry 101: Different Types of Pearls

woman wearing a black hat and oversized pearl necklace

Pearls have been a classic favorite; coveted for their natural beauty, rarity, luster, and shine. Today, they are regarded as both classic and contemporary, coming in many more fashionable styles than your mother's traditional strand of pearls. For those who didn’t know there are several types of pearls. These are some of them:

Akoya Pearls

The Akoya is the most popular pearl, commonly seen in pearl strands and is considered as one of the well suited fashion jewelry, in which you can wear in almost all of the in-trend fashion outfits. Cultured in the Akoya oyster and primarily found in Japan and China, they are lustrous and are generally white or cream colored with overtones of rose, silver, or cream. Akoya pearls are renowned for their incredible luster and are considered the classic pearl. They are smoother and rounder than Freshwater pearls.

Freshwater Pearls

Freshwater Pearls are grown in freshwater lakes, rivers, and ponds. Although they resemble the akoya cultured pearls in shape and size, they can be in various shapes and different pastel colors. Many freshwater pearls don't have a bead.

South Sea Pearls

South Sea cultured pearls are larger than your average pearl which features a whitish, almost silver color. They are considered as the rarest of all the pearls. They usually come from white-lipped oysters which are very rare, making them difficult to cultivate.

Tahitian Pearls

The Tahitian pearls possessed the characteristics of mysteriousness and enchantment. It also has a natural dark color, unlike the usual pearls.  You can find pearls like this in metallic colors and also in bluish, purplish and greenish hues. They are cultured in black-lipped oysters which are hard to cultivate, making them as expensive as South Sea pearls.

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