Which oysters have black pearls

The best quality pearls will be perfectly round with smooth, unblemished surfaces, intense and eye-catching colors, and sharp, high-contrast reflections. Pearls that display all of these things equally will be priced according to size; large, high quality pearls will be more valuable than smaller ones.

However, a flawless, top quality pearl of a smaller size will almost always be more valuable than a larger one of low quality. Even though most pearls we see today have been cultured in pearl farms, there is only so much we can do to influence the growth of these magnificent jewels.

The rest is left up to nature. Long thought of as a symbol of mystery and exoticism, black pearls are being worn by a new generation of strong, powerful women and men. The strand worn by Kamala Harris is thought to represent strength and triumph against a stigma generations in the making. Black pearls have fought long and hard against marketing uncertainty for their place in the fine jewelry industry and are now one of the most valuable, sought-after gems in the world.

Originally a rogue player set against the classic, pristine white pearl strands, the mesmerizing color spectrum of black pearls have won over the hearts of both jewelers and consumers. Maybe wearing a decadent, deep-hued Tahitian black pearl can help unlock possibilities in us, too. Your email address will not be published. Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment.

Table Of Contents. How are Black Pearls Formed? Black Pearl FAQ. How can you tell if a black pearl is real? Are black pearls more rare than other pearls? How are black pearls graded? Why are black pearls so expensive?

How do I know if my black pearl has been color treated? When an irritant, such as a grain of sand, gets stuck inside the oyster's body, the animal tries to ease its discomfort by coating the speck in calcium carbonate, which hardens to form a pearl. The pearl is made up of the same luminous, iridescent substance that the oyster lines the inside of its shell with. Black pearls are formed when that piece of sand gets stuck in the body of a very specific type of oyster, the Tahitian black-lipped Pinctada margaritifera.

The interior shell, called the nacre, of most oysters is usually a glossy white or silver but the Tahitian black-lipped oyster features a thick band of black.

If the pearl forms near that band, it will suck up that coloring. The oysters that create black pearls tend to be more delicate than other pearl-bearing oysters. It is difficult to raise them to maturity, and only roughly 30 percent of the oysters that have had an irritant introduced in them produce a pearl. Furthermore, these oysters die easily and cannot live in polluted environments - only the most pristine waters can successfully host pinctada margaritifera oysters. In the early s, the first cultured black pearls were harvested in French Polynesia, and pearl farms soon sprang up on several Polynesian islands.

Today pearls are French Polynesia's biggest export and are vital to the area's economy. It is a popular assumption that all black pearls are Tahitian pearls , but this isn't so.

While it is true that the majority of these pearls hail from Tahiti, pinctada margaritifera oysters are found in other areas of the Pacific as well as French Polynesia, including the Cook Islands, Japan, Samoa, Philippines, Tonga, the Gulf of California and Panama. Only pearls that come from French Polynesia should be called Tahitian pearls, though many mistakenly apply this name to all black pearls. Where to Buy Black Pearls Black pearls are available from jewelry stores, department stores that have fine jewelry departments and online specialty retailers.

Judging Black Pearls A buyer should consider color, luster, size, surface quality, nacre thickness and shape when choosing pearls. Color: It's natural to assume that a black pearl is black, but that is not always, or even typically, the case. The type of oyster that the pearl came from determines whether it is called a black pearl, not the color. These pearls are known for their many different colors.

While most are gray, they can also be brown, green, blue, purple, pink and of course, black. These pearls tend to have an attractive iridescent quality about them, and a pearl of gray might have pretty green and blue overtones. Generally, darker black pearls are more valuable than lighter ones.