Cultured Pearls

Pearls we see nowadays in fine jewellery shops are mostly cultured pearls. Natural pearls are rare and mainly seen in antique jewellery.

Cultured pearls, like natural pearls, develop and grow within pearl oysters in a natural environment. While the formation of a natural pearl is the result of a small particle accidentally getting into an oyster provoking the growth of nacre around the particle, the growth of a cultured pearl is initiated by man through the implant of a piece of mantle tissue often together with a round shell bead. The oyster envelops the implant with layers of nacre and yields a cultured pearl.