Things You Should Know Before Buying Pearl Jewelry

Pearls are an enduring classic of romantic beauty and sophistication suitable for almost any occasions or celebrations. Pearls may be worn with formal eveningwear, with a business suit, or casually with a sweater and jeans. The official June birthstone provides an ideal choice for brides, young women looking for a touch of elegance, or a cherished gift for birthday, Christmas, graduation, sweet-sixteen, anniversary, or just to say I love you.

Once rare and expensive, modern cultured pearls have become an affordable luxury. To choose consider six factors contribute to the value of a pearl: luster, nacre thickness, shape, surface texture, size, and color.

Luster- the Essence of Pearl Beauty

Pearls gain their unique beauty from the play of light reflecting through layers of fine crystalline nacre gradually deposited by an oyster. Nearly transparent nacre gives the deepest luster and the highest reflection. A high-quality pearl will have a brilliant even reflection with a fine warm glow or radiance. Lower quality pearls have a dull sheen.

High-quality Akoya saltwater pearls have a higher luster than South Sea or Tahitian pearls, which tend to have a softer, more diffuse reflection.

Color and Overtones

The dominant color of a pearl comes from the main reflection from the pearl surface. The deeper reflected light draws the inner color from the pearl, called the overtone.

Light colored pearls are available in shades of white, cream, and golden. White with pink or silver overtones are generally the most valuable. The most desirable dark colored pearls are black with green or blue overtones. Color matching is also important when buying pearl jewelry. Perfectly matched pearls in color and size are more valuable than poorly matched pearls.

Shape and Surface Texture

The highest quality pearls are perfectly round with smooth surface, very few surface imperfections, and even coloration. Lower quality pearls may be nearly round, or show more surface imperfections, such as wrinkles or large pits on the surface.

Pearl Size and Necklace Length

The pearls in a strand are measured in a range, such as 7-7.5mm. They are strung with the largest pearls at the center of the necklace and gradually smaller towards the clasp. Larger pearls are more valuable and they create a more dramatic look. High-quality pearls larger than 9 mm are scarce and very expensive.

The classic and most common pearl necklace length is the 17-19 inch princess. It is a good choice for a first pearl necklace because it can be worn with many things.

Decide Pearl Types

There are four types of pearls:

1. Classic Akoya Pearls
2. Large Exotic Black Tahitian Pearls
3. Large Golden or White South Sea Pearls
4. Inexpensive Decorative Freshwater Pearls

The above four types of pearls are all cultured pearls. Akoya, Tahitian and South Sea pearls grow in ocean saltwater so they are also called saltwater pearls.

Akoya pearls are the most popular type for their appealing high luster, luxury and affordability.

Decide Pearl Quality

Pearls usually have four grades: A, AA, AAA, and AAA+ quality. AAA and AAA+ quality are the highest quality.

AAA and AAA+ quality pearls are the most desired pearls for gifts. They have high luster and very clean surface skins.

AA quality pearls have medium luster and slight to medium surface imperfection. They are ideal gifts for someone who will be happy to own a piece of fine pearl jewelry.

A quality pearls have low luster and medium to heavy blemishes. They are not popular for gifts due to their low quality.

Decide where to buy pearls

You can buy pearls from retail stores, online shops or online auctions. When shop for pearls, it is recommended to buy pearls from these places: stores that grade pearls carefully; stores that provide certificate and offer money back guarantees.

The New Look For Pearl Jewelries

When diamonds, crystals, and other different kinds of colored-gemstones are popular, designers and jewelry fans never abandon pearls due to their enormous range of shape, color, size, and the variety of other jewelry they easily mix with. Not only this, but they are more affordable than ever. Nowadays, pearl jewelry design is becoming more and more diverse, rather than staying simple.

With the rapid development of production technology and fast change of consumer's interests, now you can find pearls in any colors. Other than traditional black and white, colors such as yellow, gold, pink, violet, green, blue, purple are available. Also many shapes besides round, such as stick, teardrop, square, heart, star, diamond and asymmetrical can be found.

Modern pearl jewelry style is not limited to the pearl strands any more. Designers mix pearls with other stones, such as crystals, diamonds, and other various colored-gemstones. Even simple creations with just pearl and metal, such as gold, platinum or silver, designers can still think of numerous new ideas to make the piece of jewelry in many different stunning styles. Stones or metals add more life to pearls. On the other hand, small pearls sometimes can be used as decoration for other stones. For example, medium size grey silver oval pearls, each of which is half surrounded by a few small size green and white crystals, are connected by a thin platinum chain together with another pair of same style earrings, is a perfect set for bridals. A string of three-layer small size bright pink pearls decorating nine or ten big size light pink quartz, which radially display at the lower part of the whole piece, is a good choice to wear in your birthday party.

The various designs of pearl jewelry make it suitable for all occasions. For a formal business banquet, stylish you can wear a bright black or gold pearl strand. In your office, you can just wear a simple chain with a pearl pendant. A strand of multicolor pearls connected by sterling silver set off casual jeans. When you go to visit friends or eat out, a necklace of pearl with multiple stones, such as crystals, beads, agate, or even corals is suitable.

Pearls are not old-fashioned, only old designs are old fashioned. Anytime and anywhere in the world, when you step into a jewelry shop or open a jewelry magazine, there are always some pearls to catch your eyes.

Simple Tips for Men Buying Pearl Jewelry for Women

Lately pearl jewelries seem to be making a come back resulting it to be a must-have jewelry in each woman's wardrobe. Why don’t you surprise her by giving her a piece of pearl jewelry on that special day of yours… anniversary, birthday, you name it.

However, I do understand how hard it is for some men to pick out that perfect piece of jewelry that will make your woman happy. Yeah, they do say that it’s the thought that counts. But that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t bother trying. So, here are some basic tips for men out there to buy pearl jewelry.

For the quality, there are five factors to remember: nacre, surface, luster, shape and size. A good quality pearl is always thick in nacre (nacre thickness higher than 0.4mm is highly recommended), smooth in surface, high in luster (mirror like luster is best), round in shape and big in size. Shape, size and color on the other hand are up to personal preference.

If you are looking for a strand, you also need to pay attention to its matching. Lay the strand into a straight line. Compare the size, color, surface, shape and luster of each pearl. A good match in these aspects results in a good strand. Also, you can compare a few strands with each other, to find out the best one.

When you are deciding on the style, there are so many aspects to consider, such as color, pearl size and shape, pearl strand or designed pearl necklace, etc.

You should pay attention to the clothes and jewelry she often wears, perhaps by sneakily looking into her jewelry collection could give you some ideas.

Take her to shop around. Take note regarding kind of shops that she prefers or better still the kind of jewelry design that catches her eyes.

So gentlemen, go out there and get her that pearl!

A glimpse at the history of pearl

Human probably discovered pearl while looking for food at the seashore. The existence of pearls was first documented on 2200 B.C. Enchantment and immaculate shape made them a cherished symbol of elegance for ancient and modern cultures. There are countless of references regarding pearls that can be found in the religions and mythology of cultures from the earliest times. The ancient Egyptians treasured pearls so much that they were buried with them. Cleopatra was reportedly dissolved a single pearl in a glass of wine and drank it in order to win a wager with Mark Antony that she could consume the wealth of an entire nation in just one meal.

Meanwhile in ancient Rome, pearls were considered as the ultimate symbol of wealth and social standing. The Greeks held the pearl in high esteem for both its unrivaled beauty and its association with love and marriage. During the Dark Ages, while fair maidens of nobility cherished delicate pearl necklaces, gallant knights often wore them to battle. They believed the magic of these lustrous gems would protect them from harm. The Renaissance saw the royal courts of Europe awash in pearls. Pearls had such an outstanding reputation therefore numerous European countries actually made a law to forbid commoners to wear them.

Queen Elisabeth I used to wear heavy strands of pearls constantly. She was the vain owner of magnificent gowns embroidered with a treasure of 3000 pearls!

Until the early 1900's, natural pearls were only accessible to the rich and famous. And in 1916, a famous French jeweler Jacques Cartier bought his landmark store on New York's famous Fifth Avenue by trading two pearl necklaces! Imagine that!

Today, however, pearls are available and affordable for all of us to enjoy.