4 Main Categories of Cultured Pearl

　
Classification South Sea Pearl (SSP)
Sea water pearl, in sea		 Akoya Pearl (AP)
Sea water pearl, in sea		 Freshwater Pearl (FWP)
Fresh Water Pearl in river/lake		 Mabe Pearl (MP)
Sea water pearl, in sea
　
Type White-Lipped Gold-Lipped Black-Lipped Japan Akoya China Akoya Japan China White Black
Origin Australia, Indonesia, Philippines, Myanmar Philippines, Myanmar, Australia, Indonesia French Polynesia (Tahiti), Cook Islands, Fiji Japan China Japan- Lake Biwa, Lake Kasumigaura China – northern part of China (lakes, rivers, ponds, rice fields Australia, Japan, Thailand, China, Taiwan, Indonesia French Polynesia
Size 8-16 mm, rarely 20mm 2-9mm, rarely 10mm 2-12mm, rarely 13-16mm 8-24mm
6-9mm 2-8mm
Color White, Silver, Silver Pinkish, Silver Blue Golden, Champagne, Yellow, Cream Peacock Green, Blue, Grey, Brown, Black, Dark Grey, Pastel, and in rare cases, Silver and White
Original Color (before processing):
  • Mainly cream, yellow, green, white
Finished Product (after processing):
  • White Group (White, Silver White, Silver Pink)
  • Black Group > Dyed Color
  • Grey Group > Radiation
Original Color：White, pastel colors, cream, champagne, light pink, purple, orange, light brown
Original Color：White, Silver White, Pinkish White, Black Tahitian Color

Dyed Color： black, grey, blue, strong purple, strong pink, dark brown, green  　　
Dyed Color：Grey, Black, Purple
Shape Round, Semi-round, Oval, Button, Baroque, Circle, Drop, Semi-baroque
Round or near-round, baroque, Pear (% of round and near-round Akoya C.P. is larger than that of S.S.P.)
  • Round, Semi-round, rice, oval, potato, egg, drop
  • Other shapes are mostly seeded, e.g. dragon, cross, bar, stick, Buddha
Farmer insert a different shape plastic nucleus in the oyster for molding mabe shape, e.g. round, oval, square, pear, heart, drop shape
Luster Strong Strong Weaker when compared with Akoya CP Stronger for Australian & Japanese Mabe
Nacreous Layer Thick, High luster, Durable pearl surface.  The thickness of nacreous layers can be up to 6mm. Thinner Thick as majority of FWP has no nucleus. composed of 3 layers
  • Top Surface Layer – a dome shape nacreous layer
  • Centre Layer –a dome shape resin
  • Back Layer – mother-of-pearl
Cultivation Period 2 - 3 years  1 – 2 years 9 months – 1.5 year 2 years – 8 years
(the longer period it is cultivated, the bigger in size)         		 8-12 months
(the dome is covered by a thin nacreous coating, and farmers glue this 1st thin coating layer with resin & mother-of-pearl backing)
Value
  • Most Expensive
  • With largest size and thick nacreous layers, they are the most expensive cultured pearl in the world
  • ($) One pc of South Sea Pearl =($) One string of Akoya Pearl Necklace
Cheaper than SSP		 Cheaper than Japan A.P. Cheap in price due to over supply.  lower in value, for the mabe pearl is combined of 3 layers into one pearl
Other Useful Information High investment risk with low pearl survival rate and large investment amount Low Pearl Survival Rate
  • 50% cannot survive during the nucleation process
  • about 20% is bad quality
  • about 25% is o.k. quality
  • < 5% can be considered as high quality (good luster) which includes blemish ones, near-round, baroque, pear, irregular shape, …
  • Out of those 5% high quality (good luster), only 1-2% is round shape w/ clean surface
 Pearl Survival Rate
  • 30% cannot survive during the nucleation process
  • Out of the survived pearl, 50% is of fair quality, 10% of good quality. Round or near round only accounts for 0.5%
  • known as doublet cultured pearl / composite cultured pearl

  • Mabe Pearl in irregular shape is called Blister Pearl : may be like a fired egg