Pearls by Angela Carol

Black pearls and their beauty.

Pearls have always been a symbol of wealth and good society standing.  The classic white pearl has implied a symbol of purity and innocence.  These are always beautiful and very classic pearls but there is another type of pearl, and that is the black pearl.  The black pearl is an exotic and fantastic specimen of a pearl.  The black pearl always conjures up images of beautiful exotic women wearing them as jewelry and bathing in the black pearls beauty.

The black pearl is also known as the Tahitian pearl but the title of “black” pearl has always stuck with it.  When the black pearl was first discovered it was extremely rare.  You see it is a very rare thing when an oyster creates a black pearl naturally. The black pearl can only be created in a black lipped oyster.  These are found primarily in the Polynesian Islands and the Indian Ocean.  These black lipped oysters are able to grow quite beautiful black pearls in these areas because the waters are conducive to the black lipped oysters needs. Black lipped oysters tend to need a significant time to allow the black pearls to grow.  They usually take about 18 months to 24 months to grow to a thickness that is desirable for pearls.  Compared to other pearls such as the Akoya that only take around 5 months to grow, the almost 2 years of growing is a much longer time.  Of course the black pearl grows to a much larger pearl than other pearls do.

Years ago the black pearl was as popular as it is today and that brought many people to the islands to try and discover their own black pearl.  The government now has a big part in regulating much of the black pearl farming industry and make sure about many aspects of the cultivated black pearl are up to what they are supposed to be.  It is now illegal to dive for black pearls in the area and it is taken very seriously.  Natural black pearls are extremely rare and the rules must be followed.  Since the years in the 1980’s, the black pearl has become very popular once again. The government has made sure that they follow very carefully the trade market of the black pearls.  The United States, Japan and also China have been the three largest importers of black pearls as they try to meet the overwhelming demand for the exotic black pearl.

A fact about the black pearl is that it is in fact not black in color at all. The colors range from dark grays and dark greens to dark purples and blues.  These black pearls that are not black come in a range of different darker colors and they typically have a beautiful mother of pearl look to them that offers a number of different colors to the human eye.  The most common color in a black pearl would be dark grays.  The most loved color would have to be the peacock color, a combination of dark green and dark eggplant purple.  This color is the rarest of the black pearls and also the most valued.

As with any pearl the black pearl is graded in a system that will allow you to see what the value of any pearl is.  You can base this decision upon the color, shape, luster and size of a pearl including the black pearl.  These black pearls or Tahitian pearls are very popular in jewelry ranging from necklaces to earrings and everything in between.  Black pearls are truly a wonderful thing to look at and it is no wonder why the black pearl is as popular as it is today.