Pearls by Angela Carol

A Very Valued Pearl

A south sea pearl is definitely a thing of beauty. The south sea pearl is the most valued of all the other pearls. It is known as "the Rolls Royce" of pearls. Its rarity makes it the most valued even more than the black Tahitian pearl.

There are several countries where the south sea pearl is found. Each area has its own color that is usually the prominent color of the region. There is Australia and the color here is white, silver-white, and cream. In Indonesia the colors would be off-white, creamy, and golden. In the Philippines you will find the colors to be again off-white, creamy, and golden. In Myanmar white, silver-white, and creamy are the prominent colors. Japan offers golden and white in colors. And finally in Thailand there are white, silver-white, and again creamy.

The oyster that produces the rare south sea pearl is known as "Pinctada Maxima" or a silver lip oyster. This oyster is the largest of the oysters in the entire world that is capable of creating a pearl. Because of the size of the silver lip oyster it takes much longer for a pearl to grow. Again the larger the oyster the longer the growing period of the pearl inside will be. The average size of a south sea pearl is around 13mm with the most of the harvesting producing pearls from 9mm to 20mm. The silver lip oyster itself is around 12 inches in diameter.

One of the reasons that the south sea pearl is larger than other pearls is because of the environment. The South Seas are cleaner than other seas and there is a plethora of plankton. That is what the oyster eats and with there being so much the silver lip oyster gets plenty to eat which makes the pearl bigger. There is also the longer cultivation period. The south sea pearl takes at least two years of growing before it can be harvested as opposed to the Akoya pearl which only takes 9-16 months.

These oysters are only found in the wild and can not be grown in any kind of lagoon like other pearl producing oysters can. They can only be found in deep ocean habitats that are rare to find. This is what makes the south sea pearl much more valued than the rest of the types of pearls. Even the black pearl is an easier find compared to the south sea pearl.

There are many sizes and shapes of the south sea pearl. They are the same in description as any other types of pearl. There is round, semi-round, button, drop (tear dropped), pear, oval, baroque, and ringed. The round is the most valued and followed in order by the rest of the shapes. The very least would be the ringed shape pearl. The luster of the pearl will also help in determining the value of the pearl. The luster depends on the refraction of light from the pearl.

When choosing a type of pearl the south sea is something that would be a great investment. If you were looking at investing in a strand necklace of pearls a south sea necklace would be the most valued. With the selection of pearls less than the selection of other types of pearls, a necklace of south sea pearls would be very rare. There are a certain number of pearls that have to be made to choose from for a necklace. Since it is a rarity to cultivate that many south sea pearls finding single pearls of the common shape and luster is difficult. That makes a necklace of these pearls extremely valuable. If you have the means to invest in a pearl necklace like that though you should seriously consider doing it.