Pearls have been found to adorn the deceased going back 4,000 years in Persia, yet even today so many people have no idea as to the difference between natural and cultured pearls. We take the mystery away as we work with a client to find the best pearls for them by their colour choice, pearl shape and size, type of pearl, and most important their budget and the fact that natural pearls are being threatened to extinction within our lifetime due to Oceanic viral infection. The country of Sri Lanka offered me a car and home in the Tea High Lands above Colombo to work saving the prized Ceylon Pearl, but then the Islamic radical Tamil Tigers rules the area of the pearl farms and natural pearl producing mollusks beds and the Tamil Tigers loved capturing Westerners for financial support so I reluctantly did not accept the letters from the government. Natural pearls are less than 1% of known pearls whereas cultured pearls were really begun by Kokisho Mikimoto in Japan making the Mikimoto name prized in major stores and Mikimoto stores. He also was involved with the nucleation of Japan's finest fresh water pearl, the BIWA from Lake Biwako which was extinct over a decade ago due to pollution, however, BIWAs are back and stronger than ever. The late Mr. John Latendresse, of Camden, TN took over a decade to totally overhaul the Chinese Yangtze River pearls which were awful with deep gouges due to currents and today after his work they rival BIWAs and to some are impossible to distinguished, depending upon the grade and now Chinese pearls do come with an AAA rating.
Every person attempting to buy pearls should know 8mm is a benchmark in pearls. It is ultra common for a natural pearl to cost over a hundred dollars, but for this example, let us say a single pearl in black is worth a hundred dollars at 8mm. For each mm thereafter, the value squares itself, or an 8.25mm pearl of the same quality and colour and shape would cost four hundred dollars, an 8.5 pearl of same qualities would be sixteen hundred dollars and so forth.
I like to teach my clients all I can about pearls so they may choose within their budget whether to buy natural or cultured, one singular statement strand ala Nancy Pelosi, or an entire wardrobe of pearl jewellery, each custom designed with their likes, desires and needs in my mind as we work together to create a one-of-a-kind piece.
I have men in approximately 18 nations wearing my pearl pieces custom made for each one and no two are alike. I love working with bridal parties where anything from a bracelet for each party member to a pearl crush necklace matching the party dresses are created all within the desires and guidelines of the bride's budget.
I teach first and then advise and the client becomes the overall boss with my advice to make their statement and self esteem grow into unique, individual qualities. Pearls are easy to learn about and each article, pardon the pun, will drop a few pearls for the reader to learn the who, what, when, where, and why or how of pearls.