Hi Everybody! 

I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving Holiday Weekend! To kick off the first official week of holiday shopping, we have decided to offer all our customers a Free Pair of Freshwater Pearl Stud Earrings with any purchase over $140.00!!! The pearls come in your choice of White, Pink/Peach and Lavender (my favorite!), and mounted on 14K White or Yellow Gold. Simply type in Free Earrings (designate your desired color, or we’ll match it to your purchase automatically) in the Special Instructions Box located at the bottom of Page 2 during the Checkout Process aka the Billing and Shipping Information Page. Any questions? Feel free to use our Live Chat to speak with Ashley, or just give us a call at 1(800) 762-0977! We are here and ready to answer any and all queries! Happy Holidays and Happy Shopping from PurePearls.com! Stay tuned for other Holiday Specials coming your way soon!

Dear PurePearls, Do you recommend purchasing cultured peasrls for investment purposes?
Many Thanks, C.B.
 

Hi C.B.! 

First, Thank you for your interest in PurePearls.com! To answer your question: I hardly ever recommend purchasing any type of jewelry as an investment (with the exception of very rare colored gemstones such as Brazilian Paraiba Tourmaline, Russian or Brazilian Alexandrites, Kashmiri and Burmese Sapphires of very certain colors, Burmese Rubies and certain Emeralds). Cultured pearls- like all jewelry- are meant to be worn, enjoyed, and possibly passed down generations. This is not to say that your cultured pearls will not be worth what was paid for them, but rather they will not appreciate in value as would a rare vintage or a work of art… Cultured pearls are a manufactured, farmed gem; control of international supply and demand are carefully monitored so that each year harvests do not flood the market and devalue existing stocks, nor that certain items become so rare that their value skyrockets.
 
The only exception to this -ever- is with Natural and Exotic pearls, in which case you would need to start searching auction houses and fine estate jewelers. Additionally, there are the early Mikimoto productions that could be valuable circa 1912-1930(ish), however, unless the pearls are accompanied by the original clasp with the famous ‘M’ Hallmark, box, appraisal papers and invoice, then the pearls would likely be valued at current cultured pearl market values as they would have no provenance. Lastly, it should be noted that neither Mikimoto’s nor Tiffany’s culture their own pearls- their pearls are purchased at the exact same auctions and production centers that everyone else imports their pearls from; indeed, Mikimoto Pearl Company stopped culturing their own pearls in the early 1960’s to focus solely on their retail operations worldwide.  

Hi Everybody!  

Today I wanted to show off just one of our new Tahitian Baroque Necklaces that we added just this week. Although all of them are beautiful, this one in particular sets my little heart a pitty-pat; the more I look at them, the more they glow and sparkle (yes, sparkle!) in the light. The necklace itself has Multi-toned body colors featuring Cream, Silver and Dove Grey and Medium Charcoal Grey, but the Overtones!! Sea Foam Green, subtle Peacock, Bronze, Mink and Silver- the colors just sparkle and shine with hints of Orient. Enjoy!!

Hi Everybody!
 
Congratulations to our new First Lady, Michelle Obama! To kick off this glorious November have I posted one of the prettiest Prominent Pearl Sightings I’ve seen in awhile- I absolutely love this shot, which I found browsing through pictures of the Obama family on the campaign trail this last year. Here she is with her oldest girl, Malia, holding on and smiling pretty!
 
I fell in love with her strand of large, luminous White South Seas pearls- they look to be around 12-13mm and non-graduated, and positively glow next to her skin! I have noticed her predilection for gorgeous pearl necklaces and earrings over this last year, and she is rapidly becoming well-known for her trademark style: sensible, stylish and shopper-savvy- just the way we like it!

Psst, Michelle… we love your pearls!!

Hi Everybody!  Happy Howlloweeen!!! I’ve been wondering what to be this coming Holiday (last year I was a vampire, which doesn’t exactly rate very high on the old originality meter!), so I started looking around for a few ideas. I came across so many examples of gorgeous costumes incorporating pearls as the major accessory; I knew I had to write about it! Whether you’re going for a Victorian look, Pirate, Gothic Bride, and yes- the Classic Witch, it seems that pearls are the perfect adornment. Who knew?!  

While I wouldn’t recommend donning your most treasured pearls out for this coming night of Thrills and Chills (that is unless you’re going to a glittering Masque Ball where jewels are expected) breaking out your Freshwater pearls, or even picking up some synthetics at your local costume jewelry store will add glamour and a splash of elegance to your costume. Wow- pearls really do go with everything!!

Dear PurePearls.com,
 
My son’s name is ____ 8 years, (DOB 31st May, 2001 time 1.49pm) as per his astrology chart, he is supposed to put pure pearl. Can you please suggest to me what type of pearl I have to give my son?
 
Thanks Regards,

S.
 
Dear S.,
 
Thank you for your interest in PurePearls.com! We get requests from time to time regarding the proper gems for people as determined by their Astrological Charts, and although I am no expert, I can say that the modern cultured pearl that is closest in nature to a purely natural pearl is the Chinese Freshwater pearl.
 
Freshwater pearls are “tissue-nucleated”, which means that a surgical technician causes the mollusk to stimulate pearl sac formation by implanting a 1mm square piece of donor mantle tissue from another mollusk into the hosts’ mantle. This irritant causes the host to form a pearl sac around the donor mantle tissue square and begin secreting nacre in order to smooth over the irritant. Gradually, a beautiful pearl is formed, and the initial piece of tissue dissolves to leave a pure, round pearl that is composed completely of crystalline material. This is the same process by which natural pearls are formed, however in nature, it is usually a parasitic worm or piece of deitrus that finds it’s way into the mollusk that will stimulate the animal into creating a pearl- there is no human intervention involved.
 
All cultured saltwater pearls such as the famous Akoya, the Black Tahitian pearls and luxurious White and Golden South Seas pearls from Australia and the Philippines are all “bead-nucleated”, which means that a large, round, smooth Freshwater bead is inserted into the host oyster along with a piece of mantle tissue to stimulate pearl sac formation. When the oyster is finished covering the internal bead nuclei with nacre (crystalline material), the farmer harvests the oyster and the pearl inside. This pearl basically consists of a few millimeters of crystal covering a round bead- this is part of the reason why some of these pearls are so sensitive to chemicals, sweats and oils- the thin covering of nacre is eaten up and wears away, exposing the bead inside.
 
Almost all of our round Freshwater pearls are ½ drilled for mounting purposes- we receive them this way from the auctions and our overseas suppliers; your best bet would be to try and find larger Baroque pearls (Off-Round, Oval-ish, or Drop-Shaped- not spherical) that have yet to be processed and drilled- we do have a selection of these that are available, and I would be happy to pick out the largest, most lustrous and luminous pearls of the lot for you to choose from, or if you must absolutely have round, un-drilled pearls, I can try to see what is available in the matched stock that I have- you never know! I wish you the best of luck in finding the proper gem for your son.
 
Sincerely,
 
Ashley McNamara
Vice President of Sales