Hi Everybody!
 
Since our inception, PurePearls.com has been heavily involved in giving to various charity organizations- the ones that are nearest and dearest to our hearts deal with the children who need the most help of all! Autism, cancer treatments, speech development and diabetes are just a few of the charities and organizations that we donate or try to raise awareness of every year. We’ve added a new one to our list!
 
We are proud to announce that we’ve begun working with the Foundation for Children with atypical HUS. This amazing foundation was formed and administered by Linda Burke and her brother Steve Greene, who are trying to fund the search for a cure for aHUS. Atypical HUS is a rare genetic disorder that affects the kidneys, and children diagnosed with aHUS are at very high risk for chronic complications like kidney failure and severely high blood pressure… not much is known about this deadly disorder that can devastate the lives of children and their families, except that aHUS disorder involves mutations on a chain of proteins called factor H. Factor H contains 20 chain proteins that allow our bodies to fight infections; in aHUS patients, the last 5 of proteins in that chain do not process amino acids properly, resulting in deadly illness.
 

It was this chain of proteins that led to a “Eureka!” moment for Linda Burke and Steven Greene; they decided to contact a pearl company (Us!) to see if they could have a very special bracelet made that symbolized the 15 white (known) proteins and 5 black (unknown) proteins using Freshwater pearls. The bracelet below is the result of their brilliant idea and our collaborative efforts, and can be found on their website: atypicalhus.org. The black and white Freshwater pearl bracelets have a 14K Yellow Gold Filigree Disc clasp and a laser-engraved 14K Gold charm inscribed with aHUS. The charm bracelets retail for $295.00 each and the proceeds go directly to funding research for a cure for aHUS, and we’d like to take a moment to urge everyone to follow the link to the atypicalhus.org website and either purchase a bracelet or donate today to help Mrs. Burke and Mr. Greene in their search for a cure.

Hi Everybody! Well this is it! In case you hadn’t noticed, I just finished marking every single one of our brand new Tahitian pearl necklaces On Sale today! That’s right- starting today, all of our new Round Tahitian pearls necklaces and our always unique Baroque Tahitian pearl necklaces in inventory are now 10% Off for a limited time only! Be the first to snag an amazing deal on a fun and playful Multi-Color Round Tahitian Pearl Necklace, or our to-die-for AAA Quality Cherry Overtone Baroque Pearl Necklaces! Come on in and take a look around the new inventory, and remember if you have any questions just give us a call! We’re happy to help! Enjoy!!!                                                        

Hi Everybody! We are beginning the creative process of re-vamping our Round Tahitian Pearl Necklace page- so look for new additions to our inventory soon! In the meantime, I wanted to share a small taste of the pearls (and Amazing deals!) that we’re so proud to be offering! An assortment of ten strands will be going up on the site, ranging in price from $800.00 (that’s right, $800.00!!!!) up to $2,500.00, and some of these pearls are just to die for!

Playful Multi-color pearls and perfectly matched, non-graduated Classic Tahitian pearls are the order of the day, so without futher ado, I present a taste of beauty for all… Enjoy!

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Hi Everybody! 

Summer is nearly here, and with it- Wedding Season! I know, I know- brides get married all the time, but with the endless blue summer skies, greenery, flowers and sunshine, the summer months always seem so… perfect for tying the knot. The latest custom design piece pictured below was dreamt up by one of our lovely brides to be (in June- congratulations, Mary!), and it turned out so lovely that I’d thought I’d share with you. The double-strand pearl bracelet consists of our gorgeous Elite Collection Freshwater pearls, 7.0-8.0mm, White with a Subtle Ivory Overtone and very crisp, sharp luster; she chose to finish the bracelet using our Diamond Double Figure Eight clasp in 18K Gold, which I think lends a very Old-World, Victorian-era feel to the whole piece. Enjoy!     

To Whom This May Concern,
 
I just bought a pearl necklace and set of pearl earrings, but I was unable to ascertain the nacre on those pearls. Will all the specs of the pearls come with the purchase? Otherwise, can you tell me the nacre level?
 
Sincerely, Seth B.
 
Dear Seth,
 
Thank you for shopping with PurePearls.com! The Akoya pearl’s nacre thickness can really only be measured using X-rays at a gemological laboratory like GIA, which charges between $125.00-$150.00 for the service and complete gemological certification. While we can certainly send your pearls to GIA for testing, we do not regularly have all of our pearls X-rayed or certified scientifically due to not only the added expense but also the basic parameters vis-à-vis nacre thickness in Akoya saltwater pearls. The exception is our Hanadama grade Akoya pearls which are all examined by the Pearl Science Laboratory (PSL) in Tokyo, Japan and issued a gem certification that details attributes such as luminescence, nacre thickness, refraction and reflection rates, blemish rates and such. I can assure you that we purchase only the finest quality Akoya on the market and our AAA Quality are equivalent to Mikimoto’s A-1 Grade, which is quite excellent by today’s standards.
 
Typically, saltwater Akoya pearls are left to accrue nacre for a period of 8-12 months inside the oyster; this cultivation time is drastically shortened from the early days of pearliculture (1915-1940ish) when many farmers would leave their oysters in the water for a period of 2 to 2 ½ years or so, slowly depositing nacre around the bead nucleus. This is due to a variety of reasons, but the biggest reason is the most obvious- the faster turnover a farmer can have in getting his harvests to market, the more money he makes. However this shortened time frame (which has occurred gradually over a period of decades) also results in pearls with nacre deposits literally measuring in the microns. Even the very finest Akoya pearls (Hanadama Quality) have minimum nacre standards of between 0.4-0.8mm; standard Akoya are closer to about 0.3-0.4mm approximately which is true whether you are purchasing Chinese or Japanese Akoya pearls. That said, the larger the pearl is, the longer the farmer must keep it in cultivation and does accrue more nacre out of sheer necessity- so, a 9.5mm pearl will have thicker nacre than a 6.5mm pearl, etc.
 

Nacre thickness is an important factor when trying to decide which pearl types to purchase, and a quick and easy way to visually evaluate whether a pearl has enough crystalline material around the bead nucleus to last through the years is to gently roll sections of the strand between your thumb and forefingers and look for what we call “blinking”, which is best described as a light or dark flicker of the bead nucleus visible beneath the surface of the pearl. With the 6.0-6.5mm and 6.5-7.0mm pearls, you may see some blinking in our pearls, but our AAA Quality is very fine, and for the most part our pearls err on the side of 0.4mm; the larger pearls such as 8.0mm and up almost never show this kind of phenomenon.

The picture below is of a black saltwater Tahitian pearl, but the cross section clearly shows the interior bead nucleus and the measurable nacre surrounding the bead… As you can see, the nacre on the Tahitian pearl is rather thick, measuring about 3.0mm; an Akoya pearl’s skin would be much thinner than this. French Polynesia (where Tahitian pearls are cultivated) have export laws that screen out any pearl with less than 3.0mm nacre thickness in order to maintain very high quality standards for the exotic Black pearls.

 
I do hope that you enjoy the pearls that you purchased from us, and found my answer helpful to you. Please feel free to contact me anytime if you have other questions or you would like additional information regarding the famous Akoya- I am always happy to be of assistance! Thank you again for shopping with PurePearls.com, and have a wonderful day!
 
Sincerely,
 
Ashley M.

Sales VP, PurePearls.com

Hi Everybody! 

We finally finished adding our new Tahitian Baroque Pearl Necklaces to our site, and boy do we have some doozies for you! Ranging in size from 8.0-11.0mm, they are all seriously saturated with Peacock and rare Cherry Overtones that are drool-worthy! Even better, we were able to get an amazing deal on these pearls- some of which are practically flawless- to pass onto you! Feel free to browse to your heart’s content, and as always, if you have any questions, contact Ashley McNamara our sales diva.

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