Jewellery News and Reviews

Many people have heard that wearing pearls at their wedding will bring happiness to the marriage.

The one thing that comes to mind when thinking about wedding jewellery is pearls. So, how do you go about finding and buying the perfect pearl necklace jewellery.

There are four types of pearls:Akoya pearls, Tahitian pearls, SouthSea pearls, and freshwater pearls. Akoya, Tahitian and South Sea pearls grow in oceans. The pearls that come from the sea are more valuable due to their rarity.

The most popular pearl is the Akoya pearl. These pearls are valued for their rich colour, mirror like finish,and appealing roundness.

The quality of the gemstones has an effect on its value.

A pearls quality can be A, AA, AA+, AAA, AAA+. For pearls of the same size, an ‘A’ quality pearl necklace costs only a small fraction of AAA quality pearl necklace.

The quality and value of pearls are based upon six criteria: luster, nacre, surface, colour, shape, size and matching.

Nacre: Most buyers of pearl jewellery pay most attention to the pearls’ nacre thickness. A pearl oyster produces a coating to the pearl nucleus and it is this that is classed as the nacre. It is the nacre that is the main difference between how long a pearl will last. You should look for pearls with nacre thickness over 0.4mm.

Luster and Surface: When a pearl has a reflective surface this is called the luster. A strand of pearls with high luster, mirror finish and clean surfaces is most desirable and valuable.

Colour: When buying pearls and choosing a colour it is really down to what would suit your clothing ans skin tones.

Size: The size of a pearl increases in value the bigger they get, so it is really down to your own budget as to what you can afford.

Shape: Pearls come in all shapes and sizes but it is the round ones which are the valuable ones.

Matching: For a pearl necklace jewellery set or bracelet, matching refers to the ways in which all of the pearls are similar. The more pearls that match in a piece of jewellery or jewellery set the higher the price will be, down to the difficulty of finding matching pearls.

If you do not have enough in the budget it may dictate the kind of pearls you can buy. Do plenty of research, especially online to make sure you get the perfect pearl jewellery to suit your special occasion.