Pearls are the birthstone for the month of June. Pearls are formed from organic minerals within the shell of a sea mollusk. Similar to our abalone article, pearls are considered gemstones that are formed from living organisms. Its mostly calcium carbonate. They are rare and are normally very expensive.
How Pearls are formed
Fresh water and salt water pearls are formed the same way. An object whether it be a speckle of sand or an organism enters into the oyster or sea mollusk. The object disturbs the delicate layer of Nacre in the oyster, an iridescent lining in the shell. Nacre (pronounced Nay-ker), is also known as 'mother of pearl' because it takes layers and layers of nacre to form one pearl. Nacre is calcium carbonate and can be as hard as cement that forms in layers around that foreign object that gets lodged inside it. Over time, minimum 6 months, that layer becomes spherical in shape and a pearl is formed. Pearls are basically formed from oysters trying to protect itself from foreign objects within it.
Freshwater Pearls
Freshwater pearl earrings made by Joanette (custom order)
There are oyster farms around the world that raise oysters to produce pearls. These pearls are genuine pearls, however, they are normally sold at a more affordable price point. The foreign object is inserted by people vs by nature into thousands of oysters at one time, and take a minimum 6 months before pearls are able to be harvested. The oysters recover for a few weeks (if they survive) and the process is repeated. In freshwater pearl farming, multiple objects can be inserted into one oyster to increase the yield from the harvest.
Saltwater (Ocean) Pearls
Saltwater pearls are formed naturally in the ocean. It is said there is a 1/10,000 chance of a pearl forming naturally, simply because it takes years for those pearls to develop, and the odds of finding it is so slim. This explains why one ocean pearl can be sold as high as $3 Million dollars!
We offer several products with abalone and mother of pearl options in our store. I also offer customizable rings with pearl insets!. Contact us for custom requests on your next pearl piece!