Freshwater Pearls

A great irony of pearl history is that the least expensive cultured pearl product in the market today rivals the quality of the most expensive natural pearls ever found. Indeed, pearls from freshwater mussels lie at the center of the liveliest activity in pearling today.

Natural freshwater pearls occur in mussels for the same reason that saltwater pearls occur in oysters. Foreign material, usually a sharp object or parasite, enters a mussel and cannot be expelled. To reduce irritation, the mollusk coats the intruder with the same secretion it uses for shell-building, nacre. To culture freshwater mussels, workers slightly open their shells, cut small slits into the mantle tissue inside both shells, and insert small pieces of live mantle tissue from another mussel into those slits. In freshwater mussels that insertion alone is sufficient to start nacre production. Most cultured freshwater pearls are composed entirely of nacre, just like their natural freshwater and natural saltwater counterparts.

The Chinese were the first to culture a product from freshwater mussels, though the first cultured freshwater pearls originated in Japan.

As Japanese freshwater pearl production diminished after WWII, China filled the vacuum. China has all the resources that Japan lacks: a huge land mass; countless available lakes, rivers, and irrigation ditches; a limitless and pliable work force that earns less than a dollar a day; and an almost desperate need for hard currency. In 1968, with no recent history in pearling, China startled the gem world with prodigious amounts of inexpensive pearls.

Starting in the 1990s, China surprised the market with products that are revolutionizing pearling. The shapes, luster, and colors of the new Chinese production often match original Japanese Biwa quality and sometime even surpass it; certainly the new orange and peach-colored pearls are unique. As testimony to China's achievement, their freshwater pearls are round enough and good enough to pass as Japanese Akoya China already sells round white pearls up to 7mm for perhaps a tenth the price of Japanese cultured saltwater pearls. back to top

Caring for Pearls

Your pearls are a wonderful investment. Take care of tem.

Pearls can keep their beautiful luster for many, many years, if the generations of owners remember how these jewels of the sea differ from other precious gem materials.

Proper care of pearls is not difficult, and it is merely a matter of remembering that these gems are organic by nature, grown in water from living cells of a living creature. Like the oysters which formed them, they require moisture, but because they usually are worn on a silk string which will deteriorate when wet, the pearls will need to be re-strung more frequently if they are taken for a swim in salt or fresh water. Never expose to chlorinated water. Like their "organic" owners, pearls are prone to damage from pollution and injury.

Taking care of your pearls:

• STORE PEARLS SEPARATELY from other jewelry, in a cloth bag or jewelry pouch. Storage in slightly damp linen will help prevent pearls from drying out in low-humidity atmospheres including central heating.
• APPLY COSMETICS, PERFUME AND SPRAY PRODUCTS FIRST, before putting pearl jeweler on. (Remember although sun creams and insect repellents are good for you, pearls need to be protected from these protectors.)
• REMOVE SPILLS IMMEDIATELY if pearls come in contact with food acids. Use a soft cloth moistened in fresh water, and then dry pearls with another soft cloth.
• WIPE PEARLS AFTER WEAR, using a soft cloth. Avoid commercial jeweler cleaners unless specified on the label.
• RE-STRING pearls regularly, for the sake of the pearls as well as to avoid a broken string. Makeup, powder and grime will form a soft, gluey paste on the string, attacking both the silk and the pearls.
• REPLACE INDIVIDUAL PEARLS when a competent pearl-stringer recommends it. Pearls which always lie against the neck when worn will absorb acid from the skin and eventually lose luster as well as their spherical shape.

What To Avoid:

• Perspiration.
• Acids in the skin and elsewhere
• Makeup and skin creams.
• Perfume.
• Hair spray and insect repellent.
• Talcum powder.
• Dust and grit.
• Ultrasonic cleaners.
• Steam cleaning.
• Soap.
• Detergent.
• Chlorinated water in shower or pool.
• Scratches from crystalline gemstones and metallic jeweler.
• Dehydration from being wrapped in cotton wool or from exposure to light and heat, especially spotlights in shop-windows and showcases.
• The dinner table, with a variety of acidic hazards from vinegar to salad dressing to fruit juice.
• The kitchen, with all those acidic ingredients and the high heat used in cooking. Pearls will tolerate temperatures up to 100°C for a short time, but hot fat and stove/oven temperatures often reach a very damaging 180°C! For the same reason, pearls should not be stored near a radiator or a sunny window.

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