Who knows the worth of Orient pearls?
Wednesday, February 20th, 2008 04:46 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
rolanniOn my sixteenth birthday, it having been the fashion when she turned sixteen, my maternal grandmother gave me a string of white cultured pearls.
I hated it. I thought,in fact,that it was creepy, every single pearl in the string exactly the same as the ones on either side of it. It was explained to me that this was "grown-up" jewelery and that I would soon come to appreciate the gift for what it was; that the pearl string would become the necklace I reached for first and wore most often.
Sadly, this never happened, which doubtless says volumes about my psyche (ooh! shiny!), and eventually I gave the pearls to a friend who adored them, and who treated them as they deserved.
Several years ago, I came into ownership of a pair of white cultured pearl studs, which I wear pretty often -- they're comfortable earrings, and there are only two of them, so I don't experience the squick that facing 24 identical clones strung shoulder-to-shoulder engenders.
I enjoy my pearl earrings enough that I was motivated to click when a link to this site went past me.
I've been looking at the first three (left to right) pairs of earrings since November, I guess. I like that the pearls are irregular and don't necessarily match. But, having deliberately cut myself off from the Fine Life, I'm confused about "freshwater" pearls and, subsequently, if the prices being asked are anywhere near reasonable.
Anyone care to undertake a quick Pearl Tutorial?
I hated it. I thought,in fact,that it was creepy, every single pearl in the string exactly the same as the ones on either side of it. It was explained to me that this was "grown-up" jewelery and that I would soon come to appreciate the gift for what it was; that the pearl string would become the necklace I reached for first and wore most often.
Sadly, this never happened, which doubtless says volumes about my psyche (ooh! shiny!), and eventually I gave the pearls to a friend who adored them, and who treated them as they deserved.
Several years ago, I came into ownership of a pair of white cultured pearl studs, which I wear pretty often -- they're comfortable earrings, and there are only two of them, so I don't experience the squick that facing 24 identical clones strung shoulder-to-shoulder engenders.
I enjoy my pearl earrings enough that I was motivated to click when a link to this site went past me.
I've been looking at the first three (left to right) pairs of earrings since November, I guess. I like that the pearls are irregular and don't necessarily match. But, having deliberately cut myself off from the Fine Life, I'm confused about "freshwater" pearls and, subsequently, if the prices being asked are anywhere near reasonable.
Anyone care to undertake a quick Pearl Tutorial?
no subject
Date: 2008-02-20 10:43 pm (UTC)Freshwater pearls tend to be less rounded than saltwater pearls, but just as pretty -- I actually prefer them for earings, because they have more 'personality.' I remember reading somewhere that freshwater pearls come from bivalves that are prone to a different type of irritant that causes the shape, but I don't know if that's true or not.
If they're cultured, it means they were grown on farms, with the irritant placed there by hand, as opposed to wild-harvested. Cultured pearls are generally worth less, because they're 'produced,' even if the quality is otherwise the same.