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Freshwater Pearl Jewelry
| A pearl is conceived when an oyster begins to coat a foreign particle with a soothing substance called nacre. But to create a gem-quality pearl, the oyster needs a quiet habitat in warm, clean water, the proper nutrients, protection from parasites or other natural threats, and a minimum of two or three years. Pearl cultivation provides these ideal conditions, resulting in a predictably superior harvest of pearls. Cultivated pearls are known as cultured pearls. From the 1930s into the 1970s, freshwater pearls were known as “biwa” pearls because their sole source was Lake Biwa in Japan. Today's freshwater pearls come mostly from inland pearl farms in China, where pristine waters and new techniques can yield pearls as round and luminous as the best saltwater pearls. |
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