Why does a pearl form in the sink? For example, the ancient Greeks were absolutely sure that these mother-of-pearl stones were the frozen tears of nymphs. In this they were almost right. Only in the role of nymphs is an amazing genus of mollusks. When some foreign body, for example, a grain of sand, gets inside their shell, the pearl woman perceives this as an injury, starting to “cry” with its mother-of-pearl tears, thereby enveloping them with this foreign object. That is how pearls are born.
Natural pearls belong to the category of the rarest gemstones, therefore, its cost is appropriate. Such single stones are mainly sold at auction, and purchased by collectors.
Today, most of the minerals sold in stores are cultivated.
Description
Cultured pearls are minerals grown by humans under conditions similar to natural conditions on special farms. There, shells are looked after and monitored. Today, 99% of the stones in the jewelry market in the world are cultured pearls. Its price is $ 2000-5000, depending on whether it is freshwater or marine. It must be emphasized that this is also a natural mineral, as it is grown in pearl oysters in natural conditions, but only with the help of humans and under control. So, the breeder places the irritant in the form of a pearly ball (“core”) in the body of the oyster, and then the process of pearl formation proceeds in the same way as when natural stone occurs.
The difference between cultured and artificial pearls
Once again, cultured pearls are a natural mineral. It is a mistake to consider it artificial. The cultivation process is very delicate and complex, it takes an average of 5 years. The people who grow it are deprived of the opportunity to influence the result and growth process of the pearl in any way, they cannot imagine what the result of their labors will look like; moreover, they cannot be sure that its mollusk will not be torn away before the set time. Not all grown minerals meet quality standards, which means that this business has a fairly high percentage of rejects. And the result depends mainly only on nature.
Pearl Growing Methods
There are two main ways to grow it.
Nuclear free. This is an inexpensive method that is most widely used for growing freshwater pearls.
Nuclear. In this case, the seed (core) is placed in the sink. This method is used to cultivate marine pearls.
Nuclear way
So how exactly does this happen? Initially, there is a pearl donor. Basically, this is a young oyster with a good mantle (as the pearl shell is called). Also pay attention to the well-developed gonad (the reproductive gland that secretes nacre), which the mollusk possesses. Pearls are formed in it as follows. The sink with the pearl mussel is opened with pliers, after which a real surgical operation is performed: a special incision is made in very soft tissue with a small incision into which a graft is inserted - a piece of the donor's mantle. A small ball is placed near it, extracted from a freshwater bivalve mollusk. Further, the pearl woman goes back to the lagoon, and there she spends 2 more years in peace.
It must be emphasized that this is the most dangerous period: it can throw away the core or die - this is highly likely. If everything goes smoothly, then after a few years, pearls are formed. Here, from the visual pluses, is the ideal surface of the stone, as the nacre grows in a thin layer on an artificial even ball. On such pearls, the real thickness of nacre is 0.2-1 mm. At the same time, a 10 mm mineral grows in a year. Such pearls can be called natural with a stretch. When you take it in your hands, it immediately heats up, like a piece of plastic - a person and an inexperienced instantly distinguishes a real, cold and weighty stone from its easily warming weightless copycat.
Non-nuclear way
The advantages of this method of growing is that with prolonged growth and a sufficiently small core, the cultured mineral is not inferior in anything, and often exceeds the natural stone in color and size. At the moment, almost all freshwater cultured pearls, the size of which is not more than 8-9 mm, are grown using this technology. Here, the tiny sand grain of nacre, which is taken from the shell itself, is used as the core.
Also, the grown minerals are freshwater and marine, depending on the habitat of the pearl mussel.
Freshwater pearls
It grows in fresh river or lake water, including in the former Chinese rice fields. The fields are completely flooded with water, in this place there is a comfortable microclimate for mollusks, where they multiply quickly and also carry pearls. Farmers constantly monitor the temperature of the water, its pH and composition. During the maturation of the pearl of the mollusk, it is necessary to turn it from time to time so that the stone does not turn out to be “one-sided”. In other words, round pearls get very hard work, including in farm conditions. Cultivated freshwater pearls are a very popular mineral due to the variety of size, color and shape. Its average size is 4-6 mm. The very rare size of such pearls is about 10 mm, therefore, the price for such pearls increases sharply!
The most common shell is Hyriopsis schlegeli, which is from the Unionide family. In it, the outer sides are mostly brown, while the inside is white and smooth. Freshwater pearls do not have a core. The exception is those minerals whose size is more than 10 mm. After 1.5 years, the size of the stone reaches 3 mm, and after 3 years - 7 mm. With a diameter of 7 mm they will become in 4 years. Consequently, pearls of 10 mm or more grow for about 7 years !!!
There are the following shades of freshwater mineral: cream, white, champagne, brown, light purple, purple and pink pearls.
Forms can be from drop-shaped, ovoid, oval to potato. Large, perfectly round pearls are very rare.
Cultured Sea Pearls
This is a mineral that is grown on the same farms, but only located on the high seas. It is valued more than freshwater. No more than one, sometimes three, pearls are usually extracted from one shell. Basically, they have the right shape, beautiful shine. Why is the price for such pearls higher? Sea salt water gives it a more even color and a special shade than fresh, therefore its cost is higher.
Sea pearls grow faster than river pearls. At the same time, the lifespan of such a pearl shell is 8-10 years. You need to understand that in the sea it is very difficult to protect the mollusks from sudden changes in water temperature and storms. So, when the temperature changes by 2˚, the mollusk's body immediately begins to produce acid, which corrodes the pearl, or rather its upper layer, and this loses its luster and becomes cloudy. Consequently, pearl farmers in 1 day often lose the result of work of several years. Due to this, in order to reduce the ripening time of the mineral today, many seed farms use a seed core.
Cultured Akoya Pearls
These marine natural pearls are grown in southern Japan. In late autumn, his best harvest of pearls is harvested. Then the mineral gains maximum brilliance. This stone in diameter reaches 9 mm and is very expensive. Its price begins to grow with each new millimeter in case its diameter is more than 8 mm. It is mainly cultivated in Japan, although now China has also begun to export it.
The mineral is grown in 2-winged mollusks, which belong to the genus Pinctada, their name in Japanese sounds like Akoya-kai. Actually, from here the name of this stone appeared.
These mollusks reach 7-8 cm, while the size of their pearls is 6-8 mm. At the same time, larger minerals are much less common. The bulk of the pearls is collected on the islands of Kyushu and Honshu. The oldest and most famous place of cultivation is Ago Bay.
Usually the cultivation process takes 1.5-4 g.
Pearl Akoya with its quality characteristics is called Hanadama. It belongs to the class AA and AAA. At the same time, class B and A minerals make up about 30-40% of the total volume.
The main colors of the stone: light cream, pearl white and pink pearls. Periodically, minerals of silver-greenish and silver shades are found.
The shape of pearls can be different, while the most ideal is spherical.
Pearls of the South Seas
Roads are rare, while the market occupies an elite niche. Indonesia and Australia produce golden and white pearls. Despite the fact that the growing process is almost the same as that of Akoya, these stones are much larger: for example, the size of the mineral reaches 20 mm.
This is a variety of pearls grown using the clam Pinctada maxima. Today, it is grown off the coasts of the Indian and Pacific Oceans, in the Philippines, Australia, Myanmar and Indonesia.
The bulk of the crop is 9-20 mm. This size of pearls is provided by various factors:
- Pinctada maxima mollusks are found along the coasts between South China and Australia. Excess plankton and clean warm water allows pearls to grow faster, and also speeds up the metabolism inside oysters.
- The size of Pinctada maxima in adulthood can reach 30 cm, which makes it possible to implant a nucleus much larger in gonads than Akoya.
- A core is placed in pearl mussels of Pinctada maxima at its age of 1 year, and a couple more years are required in order to grow the mineral. The long cultivation period makes it possible to obtain an elite variety of this large size.
Such stones are distinguished by a particularly large size, warm shades of color and a satin matte sheen. The farms mainly use 2 species of Pinctada maxima: gold-lipped and silver-lipped, in other words, pearls with gold and silver nacre, which determines the color of the pearl.
A unique property of this mineral is a surprisingly thick layer of nacre - 2-6 mm (the thickness of Akoya pearls is 0.35-1.2 mm).
On the world market, black pearls are sometimes reckoned among these stones, sometimes Cortes pearls. But this is completely wrong. Although according to the classification of CIBJO (International Jewelry Confederation), the concept of "Pearls of the South Sea" can be attributed only to stones that were grown in Pinctada maxima.
Also, the Australian mineral has a much better density and structure than the Japanese one.
Black Pearl
Each such pearl is an amazing work of nature, especially considering that none of them is repeated in shape. Such a mineral is perfection itself. However, he does not need special treatment, he does not need to give any other form. Each - pear-shaped, round, “button” - the mineral is incredibly valuable because it does not require chemical treatment, since pearls are extracted from the oyster already quite smooth, dry and clean. But not every black stone that can be seen in jewelry shops is actually black. Sometimes masters paint specially white minerals to create a special effect. You need to understand that this is still a fake, albeit of very high quality.
Such a high-grade mineral appears in Tahiti. It is distinguished by the ability to shimmer in the sun, in addition, an interesting "metallic" color, which is not typical for some other varieties of pearls. It is believed that it is most often “black”, hence its name appeared, but it is actually gray with its various shades. There are also stones of this variety with colors that are atypical for them: blue, eggplant, green, olive, blue and red.
The most expensive type of Tahitian pearls
It includes cobalt blue and iridescent blue colors. In the necklace, each pearl should have a rounded shape, while being at least 12 mm in diameter and, of course, ideally match its neighbors in color. Such an ornament is worth the present state, since it has been going for years, since not every master is lucky to create such a miracle. Nature creates too few such ideal black minerals. Sometimes two similar balls and earrings are not enough.
You need to understand that black pearls always remain in the first roles. His personality makes the master in his decision to build on the witching, hot, dark-pearly pearly radiance. Of course, products from it are always quite extravagant. They can make a woman unique, bright, memorable. Of course, for every girl, black pearl is a real witch's drink, a search for herself, constant updating, an eternal exploration of the depths of her own personality, as well as the discovery of an uninhabited mysterious island in the ocean of the soul.