Pearl jewelry is an all occasion jewelry that goes with any type of wardrobe. Pearl is the birthstone for June and a symbol that shows deep love. Pearl is a very rare, very fine, very admirable and very valuable object of beauty. Pearl jewelry is elegant and classic as well as hip and trendy.

A pearl is a hard, roundish object produced within the soft tissue of a living shelled mollusk. It is secreted by the epithelial cells of the mantle, a curtain of tissue between the shell and body mass. It is made up of calcium carbonate, which is also a common substance found in rocks and shells of mollusks. Calcium carbonate found in pearls is in minute crystalline form, which has been deposited in concentric layers.

A pearl is formed inside when a parasite or an irritating microscopic object becomes trapped within the mollusk’s mantle folds. The mollusk, being irritated by the intruder, secretes the calcium carbonate and conchiolin to cover the irritant. This process is referred to as encystation, which eventually forms a pearl. This secretion process continues such that the pearl keeps increasing in size, as long as the animal lives.

Nacre, also known as mother of pearl, is an inner shell layer that is strong, resilient and iridescent. Secretion of nacre around the irritating object builds a pearl within the body of the mollusk. But not all mollusks have nacre, some mollusks have an inner shell layer that is porcellaneous. This type of mollusk can also produce pearls, which may even be highly valued commercially.

There are freshwater pearls and saltwater pearls. Pearls from the sea are valued higher than freshwater pearls. Freshwater pearls are a kind of pearl that comes from freshwater mussels, while several species of marine pearl oysters produces saltwater pearls. Cultured pearls are pearls grown by humans in pearl-producing mollusks. Scarcity of pearl supply is the main reason why culturing and farming of pearls became popular. Still, the valuable pearls are those that come from the wild.

Valuable pearls are those that occur in the wild, but these are scarce. An because of its scarcity, culturing or farming of pearls has become successful. Cultured pearls are pearls grown in pearl-producing mollusks. Though produced with the aid of human intervention, they are also considered genuine pearls as they do not differ from their natural pearl counterparts.

There are freshwater and saltwater cultured pearls. Cultured freshwater pearls are produced by making small incisions to the mantle organ of the host mollusk. Saltwater cultured pearls are cultured in a saline environment. To produce this, a rounded bead of freshwater mussel shell is introduced into the gonad of the host oyster.

Pearls come in a various shapes. The ideal pearl is perfectly round and smooth. Other shapes is rice-shaped, pear-shaped, irregular (baroque) or button-shaped. Pearl gemstones are valued for their luster, translucence and for the delicate play of surface color.

Pearl grade or the quality of the pearl, is determined by luster, color, orient, size, shape and surface perfection. A pearl’s luster is finer if it has thinner and numerous layers. If successive layers overlap, the pearl displays iridescence due to the breakup of the falling light on the surface. Luster depends upon the diffraction, refraction and reflection of light from the translucent layers.

The largest pearl was discovered by an anonymous Filipino Muslim diver in Palawan, Philippines in’34. It was found from a non-nacreous giant clam. The pearl has a china plate like gloss but is not pearly as it did not come from a pearl oyster. It has a weight of– lbs. or 6.4 kilograms. It is known as the “Pearl of Allah”.

A pearl is the oldest known gem, considered to be the most valuable. For thousands of years, this organic gem, though delicate has been successfully used in jewelry. It is the only gem which requires no polishing or cutting before use and is the only gem created by a living creature.

Author Fred Gagnon specializes in providing tips and information on jewelries. He owns a wide collection of beautiful, glamorous and elegant jewelries. To learn more about jewelries, accessories, precious metals and gemstones, visit Horse Jewelry and Small Gold Hoop Earrings.