Pearls by Angela Carol

For all of those people who love and admire pearls there is but one type of pearl that is above all of the rest.  This is the South Sea pearl.  The South Sea pearl is considered to be the Rolls Royce of pearls.  The South Sea pearl is the pearl that is the greatest in size and some say the greatest in beauty too.

The South Sea pearl has been around for many, many years, although in the beginning I am sure they were not called South Sea pearls as the world and its people were some what isolated from each other.  They were more isolated from each other than they are today that is for sure.  The South Sea pearl is today found in of course the region of the South Seas.  This would include places like the Philippines, Thailand, Japan, Indonesia and Australia to name a few areas.  These are all places where the South Sea pearl thrives.  Of course there are still some natural South Sea pearls in the area but the majority of the South Sea pearl and any other pearl for that matter is of course cultured.  The natural supply of pearls could not even try to keep up with the demand of the day.  So cultured pearls are usually what you see when you look at any type of pearl not just the South Sea pearl.

Now the South Sea pearls are called the Rolls Royce of pearls for one reason, the way that it looks.  The South Sea pearl is big and it is glamorous.  And people just love big and glamorous when it comes to cars or to pearls and mostly everything in between.  The size of a South Sea pearl is simply put much larger than any other type of pearl that is found.  The average size of a South Sea pearl is 13mm.  You can find South Sea pearls anywhere from 9mm up to 20mm.  They tend to be a much larger type of pearl for a few reasons. First the type of oyster that the South Sea pearl grows in is much larger in size than the types of oysters that other pearls grow in.  The silver lipped oyster is the oyster that the South Sea pearls are found in.  These silver lipped oysters live in warmer climate waters and because of that the amount of food the silver lipped oyster eats is much greater than other oysters. This allows it to grow larger and to create larger pearls. The location of the oyster is prominent in the size that it will become.  Silver lipped oysters are found in deep ocean waters and not ponds and lagoons.

Of course when purchasing the prized South Sea pearl a person must not only look at the size of the South Sea pearl but a few other details also.  One of those details would have to be the luster of the pearl.  The luster or the shine of the pearl is probably one of the most important factors in pearl buying.  You do not want a dull pearl. You want a pearl that is shiny and has plenty of iridescent qualities. The luster is created by the amount and thickness of the nacre of the pearl.  This is the outside coating of the pearl that basically makes up the pearl itself.  A very lustrous pearl will have a beautiful deep mirror like shine to the surface of it.  A pearl with a poor luster will look cloudy or foggy and not at all like one envisions a pearl.  Pearls can be a wonderful thing to have and the South Sea pearl is definitely one of the greatest types of pearls that you can find.