How To Take Care Of Pearls
Pearls are ranked 2.5 on the Mohs hardness scale. This means pearls are soft and can be easily scratched or abraded. But with reasonable care, pearl jewelry can be a lasting treasure.
It’s true they need special care, but taking care of pearls is not at all a difficult task. You may find it easier than you imagine. In order to preserve the beauty of your pearls you just need to follow a few simple steps to maintain them regularly and be careful how you store them. But you have to be consistent. Here are some simple tips on how to take care of real pearls:
- The first golden rule is to always put your pearls last, and take them off first. Always apply your skin lotion, make-up, cosmetics, perfume, cologne, and hairspray before you put on any pearl jewelry. Also, before undressing, firstly remove your pearls.
- After removing your pearls, always wipe them with a soft and clean cloth in order to remove oils and perspiration.
- Never use your pearls as long as their string is wet (after the cleaning process). A wet string can stretch and attract dirt. It will be hard to remove it afterward, so wait until the string is completely dry.
- You should avoid wearing pearls with clothes made of rough fabrics. They may cause scratches.
- If it wasn’t obvious by now, never wear your pearls while showering, swimming, or washing dishes.
- Part of taking care of your pearls involves not performing any strenuous activity while wearing them. They are sensitive to the acids found in our perspiration.
- Pearls need moisture in order to keep their natural luster so make sure to wear them frequently. They will absorb it from the air or from the wearer’s body if placed on bare skin.
- If you want to take extra care of your pearls, you can have them restrung once a year.
How To Store Pearls?
It’s highly important to know how to store pearls.
- Never use plastic bags or jewelry boxes. Plastic bags can cause scratches. The ideal bags are made of silk of cotton. Make sure to store your pearls separately or individually-wrapped in tissue to prevent scratches.
- Organize a special space just for storing your pearls. Most of your jewels can be hung on a jewelry rack, but pearls, especially pearl necklaces, should be stored flat. Also, make sure to store them separately from other pieces of jewelry to avoid getting them scratched by other items or tangled. Fasten the claps and pins to avoid tangles. A jewelry box with compartments is ideal: you get to separate them and keep them flat.
- When traveling, you should also take care of your pearls. Carry them in a protective fabric pouch. Moreover, don’t store the pearls in a security box for a long time.
- Usually, pearls are stable to light, but you should keep them away from sources of heat or cold. High heat may burn real pearls or may lead to cracked nacre, discoloration or splitting. Caring for pearls includes knowing how to keep them stored.
- Another important tip on how to care of pearls is allowing them to breathe. Yes, you read that right. Due to the fact that pearls are organic, they tend to dehydrate without contact with the moisture content in the air. Pearls are not suitable for long-term storage in plastic bags, safes or deposit boxes.
How To Clean Pearls?
On this section, we’ll tell you how to clean your pearls at home easily and effortlessly. You may have heard that you can use some type of liquids to clean your pearl jewels, so make sure to read the whole section to find out what is permitted and what is not. Cleaning your pearls after they get dirty is only part of proper care. Maintenance is also important.
So how do you clean pearls daily? Here are some basic tips:
- In order to keep your pearls clean and unscratched, always put them on as the last final touch to your outfit.
- Each time you take your pearls off, wipe them with a soft or slightly damp soft cotton cloth to remove any trace of makeup, perfume, perspiration.
- If you forget to wipe your pearls clean after wearing them, make sure to do it before storing them again.
To clean pearls, use a solution of lukewarm water with a tiny amount of mild, unscented dish soap. Gently wipe the pearls with a soft cloth, avoiding harsh chemicals, hot water, or fully soaking them in the solution.
Key Points To Remember:
- Avoid harsh chemicals: Do not use vinegar, ammonia, bleach, toothpaste, or abrasive cleaners, as they can damage pearls.
- Use a soft cloth: Always choose a soft, clean cloth for wiping; avoid rough cloths or brushes.
- Rinse thoroughly: After cleaning, rinse the pearls with clean water to eliminate any soap residue.
- Consult a jeweler: For particularly valuable pearls, seek cleaning advice from a professional jeweler.
What Are The Various Types Of Pearls That Exist?
Cultured Pearls
Cultured pearls grow from a round implant carefully slipped into the oyster and comes in many sizes. Only approximately 1 out of 100 are perfectly round and among today’s most coveted possessions. Often grown in various sea and lake beds, these gems are the backbone of the pearl industry.
Pearl farms use oysters as their mollusk hosts and can be found in China, Japan, Tahiti, Australia, and Indonesia.
A “salt water cultured pearl” is one in which a bead nucleus is inserted into a mollusk to provide a structure for the pearl’s formation. Mantle tissue inserted with the bead begins the pearl sac formation. Calcium carbonate, crystallizing as aragonite, bound by conchiolin, deposits around the bead in overlapping layers creating a nacreous coating. Most freshwater cultured pearls have only donor mantle implanted to start the pearl process.
Tahitian Pearls
Tahitian black pearls are very much sought after in the Pearl World as they are believed to act as powerful magnets for attracting wealth and love in our lives.
These pearls are a product of the Pinctada Margaritifera and are a dark silvery or rich charcoal color with green or purple overtones, usually larger than 10mm. Tahitian pearls are farmed in the French Polynesia region, Gambier Islands and Micronesia.
Abalone Pearls
An abalone shell is a popular addition to any collection. These pearls have beautiful colors and a pleasing shape, somewhat resembling the shape of an ear. Abalone pearls are often referred to as “ears of the sea” and are used as natural vessels in many healing and shamanic rituals. It’s also a stone that will offer protection and security. You can go about doing your everyday tasks knowing that protective energies surround you.
Whether worn or held or just placed around the home, Pearls give you a sense of inner confidence and serenity that allows you to tackle any of life’s unexpected challenges.
Abalone pearls are also known for their powerful calming effects and its ability to balance your aura. It will ground and center you no matter how chaotic your world gets.
You will be firmly anchored to reality, but you will not become jaded or cynical. This stone will enlighten your mind and help you determine right from wrong. It will make you realize that not everything is black or white, and not everything is set in stone. It will also make you realize that learning to love yourself will help you learn to love others.
Abalone pearls form in the very colorful abalone Haliotis gastropod mollusk. Found in rocky coastal waters world-wide they very rarely produce pearls. The mollusk coats intruders with nacre to encapsulate their threat to the mollusk resulting in a “pearl”. They can be quite large but are always baroque. They are difficult to culture due to their delicate nature.
Natural Pearls
Natural pearls form by chance when an irritant enters a mollusk and sticks between the shell and mantle. Mantle tissue forms over the intrusion forming a pearl sac. Calcium carbonate crystallizing as aragonite, bound by conchiolin, is secreted by the mantel and deposited in layers over the irritant. The thicker the nacre the more lustrous the pearl. Natural pearls are very rare today. Sometimes referred to as fine, wild or oriental pearls.
Saltwater Pearls
Saltwater Cultured pearls are those cultivated in mollusks that thrive in saline environments. This would include Akoya, South Seas, Tahitian, and Sea of Cortez pearls. While all shapes are possible, round, baroque and mabe would be predominant.
Akoya
Akoya pearls are cultured in the Pinctada Fucata Martensii mollusk. They are farmed in Japan and China. Usually under 10mm in size and white or cream color with rosé or silver overtones.
South Sea Pearls
South Sea pearls are produced in either the silver lipped Pinctada Maximaor the gold lipped variety. The Pinctada Maxima is also the mollusk farmed for mother-of-pearl. Always over 10mm in size, South Sea pearls are white, gold or silver in color with rich nacre as a result of growing in the warm waters of the South Seas
Sea of Cortez Pearls
The only marine cultured pearl farm in the Western Hemisphere is in Mexico’s Gulf of California. Sea of Cortez pearls are cultured in the Pteria Sterna mollusk and the color runs the gamut from white to nearly black with rainbow overtones. They range from 8mm to 14mm, with those over 10mm being very rare.
Freshwater Pearls
Freshwater pearls, natural and cultured, form in mollusks commonly found in freshwater. They are typically baroque and can occur in a variety of colors.
Mississippi Pearls
Mississippi pearls are a type of natural baroque freshwater pearl found in the Mississippi River. These pearls usually have an elongated “tooth-like” appearance with low luster.
Round Pearls
A round pearl is a nearly perfect spherical pearl.
Baroque Pearls
Baroque pearls are any pearls that have a non-spherical irregular shape.
Blister Pearls
Blister pearls are attached to the mollusk’s shell as they form.
Mother-of-Pearl
Mother-of-pearl is the iridescent inner lining of a mollusk shell formed from layers of nacre secreted by the mantle.
Seed Pearls
Seed pearls are very small round or nearly round pearls. These pearls are generally used in clusters, tassels and sewn in patterns.
Keshi Pearls
Keshi forms when the mollusk rejects the bead nucleus or as an accidental non-nucleated by-product that can form during the cultured pearl process. The Keshi pearl is 100% nacre and therefore is more lustrous than bead nucleated pearls.
Button Pearls
A button pearl is round and has a flattened outline, like a button, but is coated with nacre on all sides. Also known as a bouton pearl.
Three Quarter Pearls
Whether cultured or natural, a three quarter pearl results when a spherical pearl forms with one small flat side. In the case of a cultured three quarter pearl, the nucleus remains after sawing the pearl from the shell.
Half “Mabe” Pearls
In modern terms a half pearl often refers to a mabe pearl. These half pearls are generally mounted in jewelry as accents or framing for another gem or feature.
Rare Natural Pearls: Non-Nacreous Calcareous Concretions
Conch Pearls
Conch “pearls” are not truly pearls but are non-nacreous calcareous concreations. Usually conch pearls are pink to peachy in color with a flame-like pattern. They typically form in the Queen Conch aka Strombus Gigas.
Melo Melo Pearls
Melo Melo “pearls” are not truly pearls but are non-nacreous calcareous concreations. Formed in a marine snail as the result of an invading foreign substance, these “pearls” are very rare and range in color from tan through orange to brown. They can grow to be extremely large.
Quahog Pearls
Quahog pearls are purple to purplish gray “pearls” that can be found in the Mercenaria Mercenaria clam shell.
Scallop Pearls
Scallop pearls develop in a mollusk called Mano de Leon for its lion’s paw shape. These scallops are native to the West Coast of North America and the Baja region of Mexico.
Cave Pearls
Cave pearls develop in limestone caves when calcite deposits itself on a nucleus (such as a sand grain) while spinning in water current.
Pearl History and Lore
For thousands of years, natural pearls have been coveted as symbols of wealth and status. The first written mention of natural pearls dates back to 2206 BC, as recorded by a Chinese historian. Throughout the centuries, the allure of natural pearls has persisted, with royalty and affluent individuals in Asia, Europe, and beyond cherishing them and passing them down through generations. Before the discovery of the New World in 1492, key sources of natural pearls included the Persian Gulf, the waters around Ceylon (now Sri Lanka), Chinese rivers and lakes, and European rivers.
During Christopher Columbus’s third (1498) and fourth (1502) voyages to the New World, he encountered indigenous peoples adorned with natural pearls, uncovering sources in the waters of present-day Venezuela and Panama. This discovery heightened European demand for pearls. However, within a century, these natural pearl sources dwindled due to overfishing, the advent of pearl culturing, plastic buttons, and oil drilling.
The initial steps toward pearl culturing began in China centuries ago, with Japanese pioneers successfully cultivating whole cultured pearls at the dawn of the twentieth century. By the 1920s, cultured pearls gained commercial significance, coinciding with a decline in natural pearl production. Pearl culturing expanded and diversified globally from the 1930s through the 1980s.
Pearls, emerging from the Earth’s ponds, lakes, seas, and oceans, have always represented the mystery, power, and life-sustaining essence of water. Their spherical shape has led many cultures to associate pearls with the moon. In ancient China, they were thought to offer protection from fire and fire-breathing dragons, while in Europe, they symbolized modesty, chastity, and purity.
What Are Mabe Pearls?
Mabé pearls, also known as blister pearls, are half-pearls that are cultivated on the inside of a mollusk’s shell. A small nucleus, usually made out of mother of pearl, is attached to the shell of the mollusk and left to accumulate nacre over a period that usually runs about two or three years.
White mabé pearls are the most commonly cultured of all mabé pearl types. The Pteria penguin, or winged oyster is used to bring these pearls to life. Photo courtesy of Wikipedia.
Once the pearls are ready for harvest, they are cut out of the shell and their nucleus is removed, leaving a hollow pearl. The pearl is then filled with a colorless resin to reinforce the pearl’s structure and sealed with a mother-of-pearl backing to close everything up.
How To Tell If Tahitian Pearls Are Real?
To determine if Tahitian pearls are genuine, one should assess their color, luster, weight, and other characteristics. Authentic Tahitian pearls exhibit a vivid iridescence with multicolored overtones that shift as the pearl is moved. Their body color can range from black and dark gray to light gray and silver. In terms of luster, genuine Tahitian pearls have a deep, mirror-like sheen that effectively reflects light, as well as a layered structure that imparts a vibrant appearance. When it comes to weight, real Tahitian pearls feel noticeably heavier than their imitation counterparts. Additional characteristics of authentic pearls include natural irregularities and ridges that make them unique, a slightly cool temperature when initially held that gradually warms up, and a surface that can be examined with a jeweler’s loupe or microscope. Finally, requesting a certificate of authenticity can provide valuable details about the pearls’ origin and quality.
