Freshwater Pearl Earrings

What's the deal with pearl prices?

Shopping for pearls can be very confusing. Terms like 'freshwater' and 'cultured', are confusing enough. The huge difference in prices make purchasing even more confusing.

There was a time when all pearls were expensive, and pearl jewelry the luxury of the rich. In the past, the only option was for ocean divers to search for naturally produced pearls. In more recent times, pearl 'farmers' make the conditions within the oyster that create a pearl. By increasing the chances of oysters producing pearls, the numbers of available pearls increase, which lowers the cost of pearl jewelry. Pearls which are 'encouraged' by farmers are referred to as cultured.

Freshwater pearls are basically made of the same minerals as their saltwater cousins, but the host mollusk is found in freshwater areas, rather than the ocean. When the pearls were first introduced onto the market, the quality was terrible, they looked like tiny pieces of shriveled rice. In the last few years, however, advances in farming techniques have made pearls of good quality available for almost everyone. Now freshwater pearls are smooth and beautiful, with very good luster. By changing the diet and water conditions of the host animal, they can even be different colors. The white and pink pearl earrings above are examples of the differing colors. The peacock pearls are treated to look similar to South Sea pearls, at a fraction of the cost.

The shape, luster and color of freshwater pearls varies greatly, even in 'sorted' batches.
We hand match each pair of earrings from our entire stock of similar shapes and colors to ensure the closest match for each pair. Pearls are hand-selected for smooth finish, very little to no marks, and good natural-looking color. When ordered with a jewelry set, we also match the pearls in all items as close as possible.