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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 roundish, hard object found within a soft tissue of a living shelled mollusk. The epithelial cells of the mantle secrete it. It is a curtain of tissue in the middle of shell and body mass. It is made up of calcium carbonate, a common substance in rocks and shells of mollusks. The concentrated layers of calcium carbonate deposits found in pearls are in very tiny crystalline form.

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.

The mother of pearl, Nacre, is an inner shell layer that is iridescent, resilient and strong. Nacre secretion around the irritating object forms a pearl within the body of the mollusk. But not all mollusks have nacre, some have porcellaneous inner shell layer. This type of mollusks also produces pearl, which may even have a higher commercial value.

There are saltwater pearls and freshwater pearls. Saltwater pearls come from marine pearl oysters. A freshwater pearl of course comes from freshwater mussels. Saltwater pearls are valued higher than freshwater pearls.

Pearls can be cultured or farmed, but valuable pearls are those that occur in the wild. Culturing or farming of pearls has become successful because of its scarcity. Cultured pearls are pearls grown in pearl-producing mollusks with the aid of human intervention. These are also considered genuine pearls as they do not differ from their natural pearl counterparts.

There are saltwater and freshwater cultured pearls. Saltwater cultured pearls are those cultured in a saline environment. They are created by introducing a rounded bead of freshwater mussel shell into the gonad of the host mollusk. By creating small incisions to the mantle organ of a host mussel a freshwater cultured pearl is produced.

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.

The pearl shows iridescence, if successive layers overlap and the light falling on the surface breaks up. A pearl’s luster is finer if it has thinner and more layers. Luster depends upon the diffraction, reflection and refraction of light from the translucent layers. Pearl grade or the quality of the pearl, is determined by its color, luster, orient, shape, size and surface perfection.

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

A pearl, although delicate, has been successfully used in jewelry for many years already. It is the only gem created by humans who can be used without cutting or polishing. For centuries, pearl is considered to be the most valuable oldest known and organic gem.

About the Author: Fred Gagnon is an expert on providing tips and information on jewelries. He owns a wide collection of beautiful, glamorous and chic jewelries. To learn more about jewelries, accessories, precious metals and gemstones, visit Black Pearl Earrings and Hip Hop Jewelry.