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STORY B SHEUNG
Quality pearls for the budget conscious.
PEARLS are often depicted as ocean gems. In actual fact, pearls can also be found in freshwater ponds and rivers. Several species of freshwater mussels are known to yield lustrous pearls, including the Biwa Mussel in Japan, the Cockscomb Mussel in China, the Washboard Mussel in North America and the European Mussel.
If you are shopping for your first piece of pearl jewellery, and your budget is modest, freshwater cultured pearl is the perfect choice. Many people have no idea that freshwater pearls offer high value for little money. Whenever I give a freshwater pearl to someone, whether it is a birthday, Christmas or simple thank-you gift, the recipient inevitably finds the gift extravagant.
Recently, I gave Antonella, my hairdresser, a freshwater pearl bracelet for her birthday. Antonella was dazzled, and all her friends asked if she had met a generous banker. You do not need to be a banker to offer some fine freshwater pearl jewels to yourself and to those who beautify your life.
Best value for money
China is currently the world’s veritable source of freshwater cultured pearls. Chinese freshwater pearls have a pastel palette that ranges from white, pinkish white, cream, peach, to pink, greyish pink and dark lavender. For those who love pastels, freshwater pearls have a definite appeal. In addition, they come in the widest possible size range seen in any category of pearls: from 2mm to an impressive 15mm.
The cost of labour in China is low and production volume big, as the country is so vast. Hence, Chinese freshwater cultured pearls are highly affordable. They are sometimes so affordable that some people may ask, are these pearls real? Why are they so inexpensive? The truth is, such pearls are inexpensive because they are not rare. Indeed, their accessible prices do not imply an inferior quality.
Versatile and omnipresent
Whether you like your jewellery simple, classic, fanciful, fashionable or ostentatious, there is a broad spectrum of jewellery with freshwater pearls to choose from. Most jewellery designers are delighted to include these soft-looking gems in their creations. You will find freshwater pearls in costume jewellery shops, in fashion boutiques offering colour-matching accessories, in department stores and chain stores, and in fine jewellery shops. Some of the finest freshwater beauties find themselves in collections signed by exquisite haute joailliers in Paris’s Place Vendome.
Scarcity of rounds
Freshwater pearls have one major shortcoming for those who insist that pearls should be perfectly round. The basic cultivation method of freshwater pearls, unlike other sorts of cultured pearls, does not require the insertion of a round bead to grow the pearl. Therefore the all-nacre pearls have the lowest percentage of rounds in an entire crop – less than 5% compared to 80% in akoya pearls, 30% in South Sea pearls and 20% in Tahitian pearls.
If you want a necklace of perfect round freshwater pearls, and in large sizes, be ready to pay a hefty price as they are extremely rare. Most freshwater pearls are off-round (the pearl trade calls them potatoes), button, oval, drop and baroque.
Most Chinese freshwater pearls are of strong lustre when they are small, but the longer and bigger they grow inside the mussels, the duller they become. It is therefore not surprising to find a significant price difference between a necklace of low lustre and one with brilliant lustre. Whatever the case, avoid all chalky pearls.
If you do not have any freshwater pearls in your jewellery box, it’s high time you shopped for your first freshwater pearl jewellery. The only regret you would likely have from the purchase is: what took you so long?
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