A genuine pearl ring for $180 to about $200, with a pink, lavender, silver or white pearl that’s anywhere from 8mm to 12mm around, set in solid 18k white or yellow gold, is a very good deal, especially considering one such creation can be ordered online and will be shipped for free anywhere in the US, the UK or Australia! But how is it possible to have a gold and pearl ring so affordably? Who offers them for sale at such bargain prices? And most importantly, are they genuine pearls? Are these items good enough to be bought as pearl engagement rings? What kind of pearls are there? Where do they come from? Where does it all start?
To answer all these very pertinent questions, we need to look at how pearl rings are made from start to finish because the process doesn’t begin in a factory or jewelry store, but in the sea, or in a lake or river, at large pearl farms, mostly throughout Asia, especially China.
Culturing Pearls In Farms
Pearl farms are unique habitats for mollusks: the mother’s of pearls. In the case of freshwater pearl cultivation, there are three main kinds: the Cristaria plicata, the Hyriopsis schlegeli and the Hyriopsis cumingii, which probably means nothing to you as a buyer of pearl jewelry, and also means nothing to the little crustaceans who have no idea they have Latin names. But to those who must choose which pearls they hope to harvest, the type of mollusk matters, a lot! In fact, the three mentioned above are only suitable for freshwater farms, and they produce small freshwater pearls that are really affordable, and may grow relatively quickly.
On the other hand, saltwater mollusks or oysters are numerous and here are some of their fun Latin names: Pinctada maculate, Pinctada maxima, Pinctada fucata, Pinctada imbricate, Pinctada margaritifera, Pinctada mazatlanica, Pinctada radiate, and as you might notice with names like “maxima” they can produce larger sized pearls.
The Start Of A Pearl – Nucleating
Nucleating an oyster is a technical procedure, where mature oysters, either freshwater or saltwater varieties, are implanted with a small pearl seed, a little bit of mother of pearl or a small bit of mantle tissue, actually an irritant or an object foreign to the oyster, which will induce the creature to secrete precious “nacre” around such irritation. The nucleating of an oyster is a procedure not unlike a small surgical operation, and is conducted by technicians who are experts in the implantation of the nucleus. This is not a simple job especially if there are thousands of mollusks that require nucleating, grafting or seeding on a farm. Then, during a long time, often 2 or more years, the oysters are looked after, cleaned, protected and monitored, be it in lakes or rivers or the sea. That requires patience. Just as in the wild, a beautiful lustrous pearl may be created inside the tissue of the oyster or may simply end up as something deformed, an unusable item even after all the hard work. It’s not unheard of for oyster beds to suffer due to no fault of the farmers. Just as farms on land have good crops and bad ones, pearl farmers risk the loss of their “crops” due to such things as overheating or extremely low temperatures. Storms can affect the growth and life of the mollusks and mussels, as can illness or even water contamination due to pollution. Like all farmers, those who grow pearls take risks and hope to get good harvests, but it’s not always the case.
Breeding Oysters
In order to maintain the most control over their product, many farms breed oysters as well, which means that long before the mollusk or mussel can be nucleated for a pearl to grow in its tissue, it must first become a mature oyster.
Breeding starts as you might imagine, with just a bit of sperm and an egg that’s united, then it becomes a larvae, then after floating freely as a youngster, an oyster must find a place to cling. In farms, oysters are provided places in what are known as collectors, where they can be protected and grow into the next phase of their lives. A baby oyster isn’t nucleated. It takes at least a year or two, and in the meantime they need care and protection to become adults. Finally they get nucleated. In the case of saltwater varieties, this means that a small mother-of-pearl-bead is implanted in another bit of mantle tissue (sometimes called a donor mantle) and then inserted into the gonad of the designated crustacean. When it comes to the freshwater varieties, which may be mussels, it is often enough to use a little bit of mantle tissue as the nucleolus and not implant a bead or bit of pearl to get started. It is placed in the tissue, not the gonad, which is very interesting because a freshwater mussel has a valve where the mantle can be grafted to both sides. Incredibly, when it comes to these active and prolific little creatures, they can offer around 30 pearls during a cycle, which also accounts for the fact that small cultured freshwater pearl jewelry is usually the cheapest, while saltwater pearls, usually larger, are somewhat more expensive.
By the way, if you’re wondering what oysters eat and how they’re fed, the answer is simple. They eat algae and small organisms, which they filter from the water, and in the case of bivalves, they have gills, and these have cilia (tiny hairs) which trap the algae and organisms as water passes through. This is one reason why only a certain number of oysters can live in a particular area of water and why the creatures must remain clean, able to filter their liquid lunches easily from the water in which they live.
Regarding human care of the oysters. It is well known that natural oysters are obtained in the wild by expert divers who go down to the depths of where the oyster beds are and collect the shells and then check for a gem. However, many people believe that diving for pearls is not part of pearl farming. How wrong that is. Divers are still required, perhaps even more so than if they were in the wild. Why? Because the oysters must be tended to regularly, cleaned etc. Pearl diving is still a very real profession, just that it is done within pearl farms instead of natural beds.
Harvest Time In Pearl-Ville
Harvesting requires opening the mussels / mollusks / oysters and removing the pearls. We’re sorry to say that in some cases, the removal of a pearl may spell the end of a crustacean’s life, but certainly not in all cases. Happily, many of the best producing oysters are grafted or re-nucleated.
First of all, the pearl isn’t usually harvested until there is a nice coat of nacre that is about 2mm or 3mm thick. The thicker the nacre, the better the pearly luster, and the better the price the gem will fetch. At the time of harvest, some of the best producing oysters may be re-seeded to give a second good size pearl, but the ones that offer poor quality or small gems will not be re-grafted.
Fresh pearls have a membrane of mucous which must be washed off. This can be done through a tumbling process, which uses nothing more than salt and water in a tumbler for about 5 minutes. That’s it! Good quality farmers will not try to fill, polish, bleach or oil the pearls to make them look better quality than they are. Treated pearls are never worth as much as a fine quality gem with a good thick coat of nacre and a smooth surface, naturally smooth and un-enhanced.
Sorting and Grading Pearls
Now pearls must be sorted and graded based on size and shape, then on luster and color. They are also graded based on orient and texture. Size will mostly determine the price, however color can also be a big factor, especially if it concerns golden or black pearls, and also the pinkish ones that can fetch a good price. It’s interesting that what determines the color will be the mantle with which the oyster is grafted, that means that a good technician should be able to graft or seed a farm with a variety of colors, not just white or silver, and certainly not the least valuable orangish ones that are not very valuable at all.
The other thing that will determine the price is the roundness. Simply put, round pearls cost more. Perfectly smooth round pearls are the best.
Good luster refers to how the nacre reflects light. When speaking of pearls, the term “good orient” doesn’t refer to a geographic region but to the way the light filters into the nacre and is then refracted to be visible, in other words, the way pearls appear to have depth. That is why a thick is important for light refraction, for luster and for depth or orient.
It’s interesting to note that only about 5% of the pearls grown on commercial farms are sold for jewelry that is of high quality. Some farmers also depend on creating mabe pearls, on the shells, and selling the shells, or mother of pearl. Sometimes in China, once the pearls have been harvested and the oyster shells remain behind on beaches or in piles, a secondary industry emerges: cutting pieces of mother of pearl, in other words the oyster shell itself, to create other items, souvenirs or for cheaper jewelry.
Now the pearls are ready for a buyer. Their first buyer may be a pearl dealer who the sells to jewelers, however, in the case of high quality discount pearl rings, many first buyers are not middlemen, but the actual jewelers and distributors who sell to the public and in wholesale lots to the world at large. This is how many people who know where to shop, find the amazing bargains we mentioned at the start of this post. When a buyer is near the farms, has jewelry facilities where fine items are crafted and also has a distribution center, both online and in showrooms, and offers wholesale and retail products, the prices of such fine items, such as solid white gold pearl ring designs may be under $200, even when sold as a single piece to a retail customer.
Many Chinese companies, which are near the farms, and have special agreements with the pearl farm owners, specialize in retailing akoya pearl rings and other freshwater pearl jewelry, as well as golden pearls and even Tahitian pearls (not necessarily from Tahiti) through online Internet sales and international distribution. In these cases, the term “discount pearl rings”, which in some buyer’s minds equals cheap reseller products, perhaps of inferior quality with low prices, is in fact not about reselling but about buying almost as direct as possible. About the only more direct way to buy is to go to a farm yourself and buy loose pearls and then have them set by a jeweler. However, it’s doubtful the prices would be much lower than what some places like Shecy pearls are charging for completely ready to wear rings and pearl jewelry sets that are very fine indeed.
At Last – Ordering a Quality Piece of Pearl Jewelry
So what’s available? Are the designs manufactured-looking items or designer crafted pieces?
The items which are for sale by at least one company that operates as a direct pearl distributor and jewelry creator, offers stunning, high quality creations. For example one of their gorgeous designs is a pink pearl ring with a 12mm AA grade pearl set in 18k gold (your choice white or yellow) and costs under $180 delivered to you!
Their pearl engagement rings start at around $200 (just a little over) and offer AAA quality pearls that are white (if you so desire) or may be freshwater akoya and cost between $175 to $230 already set in beautiful designs, in some cases with small accenting diamonds. These kind of items, these same pearls, these same settings, once resold to a wholesaler and then marketed through another outlet or sold in a jeweler’s shop, cannot possibly be as good value. So buy direct. Get what you love and enjoy the luster of what once would have cost a fortune!
Need More Details Or Specific Shopping Information?
For more information on specific pearl jewelry items and detailed suggestions on a variety of pearly topics, consult our series of related posts such as Pearl Rings (Part I) –Pearls Before Rings that discusses the varieties of natural and cultured pearls available and how to know the difference between real and fakes when choosing your jewelry. This topic also addresses some interesting questions regarding Mikimoto pearls and the origins of the Japanese akoya.
In Pearl Engagement Rings (Part II) there’s lots of useful guidance for buying engagement rings made from pearl and even recommendations where to get pearl bridal jewelry at affordable prices. Part III deals primarily with Pearl Wedding Rings, be they bands or fancier sets. There are also more ideas for bridal jewelry in general, some that incorporates pearl and rhinestone or crystal and other sparkly accents.
There are also some unique options for Mother of Pearl Rings in the forth part of the series, and ideas pertaining to some affordable jewelry selections. Then in part V, the more expensive Tahitian Pearl Rings are introduced, showing what a vast variety of colors there are to choose from and where to shop. In the next segment, part VI, the lustrous and coveted South Sea Pearl Ring creations are discussed for those interested in investment quality pearl jewelry designs. The series continues to give information on the Akoya Pearl Ring styles that started with Mikimoto and where to purchase more affordable pieces than those from the exclusive Japanese jeweler.
With the specific topic about Cultured Pearl Ring creations, we delve a little further into how to choose some of the cheapest items on the market and then follow with Freshwater Pearl Rings that deals with the most common, albeit least valuable, items that are well within everyone’s reach, including children’s styles.
We take a large leap into Golden Pearl Ring designs in the next article where some very expensive items are scrutinized, followed by White Gold Pearl Ring ideas, especially for weddings. Next we offer a glimpse into Silver styles that are more affordable and then look at Retro and Antique Pearl Rings that offer unique design options for those who want something from the past.
We don’t leave out the fun Mabe Pearl designs or the Pink Pearl Creations that have gained popularity, and we also discuss Grey and the newest Chocolate Pearl Jewelry. Amongst the topics we have for our readers are ideas on shopping for Coin Pearls, Fashion Jewelry with pearl embellishments, and even totally fake fashion cocktail rings, just for fun.
Photo Credits: Pearl farm, harvest and pearls in Zhuji, Zhejiang Province by Natalie Behrng
Related posts:
- Akoya Pearl Ring (Part VII)
- Cultured Pearl Ring (Part VIII)
- White Gold Pearl Ring (Part XI)
- Mabe Pearl Ring (Part XIV)
- Pink Pearl Ring (Part XVII)
