Perhaps the best-loved gems of all time, pearls—both natural and modern cultured pearls—occur in a wide variety of colors. The most familiar colors are white and cream (a light yellowish brown). Black, gray, and silver are also fairly common, but the palette of pearl colors extends to every hue.
The color pearl is a pale tint of off-white.
While white is a naturally occurring color in freshwater and akoya pearls, these types are routinely bleached to create an even whiter bodycolor, and then subjected to a treatment known as pinking. The latter treatment adds the slight rosé tone found in nearly all akoya pearls.
The lip determines the pearl color. While the white pearls are also priced by jewelers, the gold pearl variety is the most coveted color. The gold South sea pearl's color can range from creamy white to deep gold, and the darker the color, the more expensive it becomes.
The most common color for pearls is white, cream, pink, purple, but they also come in colors such as champagne, chocolate, blue, gold, silver and lavender. Some pearls have stunning overtones that exhibit multicolors.
Luster: Of the seven pearl value factors, luster might be the most important. Luster is what gives a natural or cultured pearl its unique beauty. Within a pearl type, when other value factors are equal, the higher the luster, the more valuable the pearl.
The luster of good quality pearls is sharp and bright. You should be able to see your reflection clearly on the surface of a pearl. Any pearl that appears too white, dull or chalky, is of low quality.
Genuine pearls are shinier than fake pearls. You can measure shine in luster, which is the intensity and softness of a pearl's surface, it generally has to do with how bright and clear a pearl looks. Natural pearls have more shine than artificial ones because they're made from natural materials.
South Sea pearls are considered the most valuable. They are also the largest pearl variety on the market. A strand of South Sea pearls can range from $1,000 to over $100,000.
It's often assumed that because something's old it must be valuable. That's rarely true and certainly not for pearls. Advances in technology and culturing techniques mean you can buy a much better set of pearls for far less money than in grandma's time.
Real pearls are cold to touch for the first couple of seconds before adjusting to your body temperature. Fake plastic pearls will be room temperature to begin with and you won't feel the coolness when you touch them.
Wear your pearls
As with all the other jewelry, if left unworn, it will oxidize and rust. Wearing them more frequently can help preserve their attractiveness; they require exposure to air and moisture. Which will keep them from becoming yellow.
A real pearl almost always has a clear outer nacre layer, while fake pearls have thin layers of artificial nacre or lack them entirely. If your pearl has a drill hole, you can check for nacre by peering in with a magnifying glass.
A natural pearl may show growth lines where concentric layers of nacre have been added. Cultured pearls on the other hand will appear to have a perfectly rounded nucleus that's surrounded by a halo of conchiolin and finally a thin outer layer.
Like many things in life, pearls age. As these precious gems age, they go through a natural process that changes the composition of the organic substances that make them up. This causes them to change color. Yellow pearls typically indicate that pearls are real, since artificial pearls don't normally change color.
Real pearls are cold to the touch. Regardless of the weather, they slowly warm up as you wear them. On the other hand, fake pearls are warm to the touch and don't change temperature. So if you're feeling a cold sensation when you wear your pearls, they're likely real.
Growth conditions can influence the lustre of a pearl, for example, the quicker the nacre is produced, the less translucent it is likely to be. As a result, the nacre may be thick but not lustrous. There are four categories of lustre: Excellent - reflections are bright, sharp and distinct.
Do pearls lose their luster or become dull? It's possible that pearls can lose their shimmer and shine over time, but you can prevent it from happening by learning how to clean your cultured pearl necklaces, bracelets, rings and earrings.
Saltwater pearls tend to be more expensive than freshwater pearls because they are more difficult to cultivate. However, freshwater pearls are not as durable as saltwater pearls, so they may not be a good choice for everyday wear.
To try it for yourself, put a drop of vinegar on the pearl or submerge the pearl in a small cup of vinegar. If you can see bubbles forming from the release of carbon dioxide in the chemical reaction, your pearls are authentic.
How Much Does a Real Pearl Necklace Cost? A real pearl necklace can cost anywhere from $150 to $10,000+ or even more for exceptional examples. Affordable Freshwater necklaces can go as low as $150, while a classic Akoya necklace will cost anywhere from $250 to $5000+.
Freshwater pearls are cheaper because they are easier to extract, making sea pearls more valued. Why? Sea pearls are larger, more beautiful in shape, luster, smoother surface and, of course, much more expensive than freshwater pearls.
The best quality of pearl is known as Lingha pearl obtained from marine oysters. The duration of formation of pearl is about 7 years. The pearl oyster belongs to genus Pinctada, family pteriidae, and class bivalvia and phylum mollusca.