Hi Everybody! 

Our Summer Sale is raging hot, hot, hot!! Many thanks to all of our wonderful customers for making this Summer amazing! For this edition of our weekly blog, I’d like to show off our Featured Strand for August! A South Sea Pearl Necklace fit for a Queen, and exclusively at PurePearls.com! These stunningly large, perfect pearls are the epitome of luxury! Our perfectly round, perfectly rare White South Sea pearls are graded AAA to GEM-Quality, and have exceptional luster and depth that dazzles the eyes! Tinged with lovely shades of Rose and Silver and intense Orient, our White South Sea pearls have smooth, unblemished surfaces and thick nacre measuring between 4-6mm in depth! This gorgeous necklace is composed of 35 perfectly matched pearls that are painstakingly collected by our Australian pearl farming friends; over a span of years the pearls are set aside to wait until their sisters are found. A necklace of this quality and caliber is a very rare treat- so feel free to feast your eyes!

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Hi Everybody! I have a fantastic Prominent Pearl Sighting for July, and it goes to Angelina Jolie! She was spotted wearing these gorgeous White South Sea Baroque Pearl Dangle Earrings for the Venice, Italy red carpet premiere of Ocean’s 13 with Brad Pitt, and as we just finished creating a similar pair I thought this would make a great post. The drop-shaped baroque pearls have an elegant simplicity that I have always admired: rare, lustrous and perfectly matched, these earrings are the essence of classic luxury. Angelina has been featured on the PurePearls.com blog before when we found an absolutely elegant image of her wearing Akoya Stud Earrings in a black and white advertisement for St. John’s; her love of fine pearl jewelry is very well-known. From the exotic Black Tahitian Strands that she favors for their dramatic flair, to the timeless and classic White South Seas and Akoya pearls that can be worn day and night, it is easy to see why these lustrous treasures are a regular feature of her wardrobe! Psst, Angelina… We love your pearls!!

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Hi Everybody! 

Father’s Day is around the corner, and our Monthly Special for June is a PurePearls.com favorite! Our 11-12mm AA+ Quality Tahitian Baroque Pearl on Leather is perfect for almost every occasion, and a gift that he is sure to treasure forever! The Tahitian pearl on leather neckpiece is consistently one of our hottest sellers and has been spotted on celebrities from Pierce Brosnan to Randy Jackson! Be sure to order yours soon; Father’s Day is just around the corner, and priced at just $120.00 you can’t go wrong!! Call us to reserve yours today!

Hi Everybody!

Ashley McNamara here, and I have some terrific news! Amanda Raab, the owner of PurePearls.com, has delivered her first baby girl into the world! Welcome Avery, we can’t wait for you to come out and play!! May is the month for Mothers all over the world, and we just want to say “Thanks, Mom!” for all of the love, hard work, blood, sweat and tears that go into raising a strong and wonderful families.

Mostly, I’d like to say: Congratulations, Amanda on your very first Mother’s Day!!

Hi Everybody!
 
I have noticed a recent commercial popping up featuring two political personalities: none other than Nancy Pelosi and Newt Gingrich sitting next to each other on a couch! The two politicians put their differences aside to talk about something that matters to us all: Global Warming and the effects of Climate Change on the planet, as part of the “We Can Solve It” campaign sponsored by former Vice President and the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize Winner, Al Gore. While the two hard-hitting politicos don’t see eye to eye on every issue to confront the American government, it is fantastic to see them agree on all of us actively taking responsibility to reduce our environmental impact on the planet we call home!
  
Pelosi, wearing her Signature strand of mixed Golden, White and Black South Sea pearls looks elegant and refined as always! I couldn’t resist tracking down a color image of the commercial to feature here on our blog. As a business woman in the spotlight, Pelosi instinctively understands that pearls are the accessory- understated, a classic and no-nonsense statement, while very much accentuating her beauty and character!
 
Out of all the gems in the world that are worn- diamonds, rubies, sapphire and emeralds among others, pearls can easily claim to be the most eco-friendly gem available to consumers world wide. Mollusks- be it Freshwater or the Saltwater varieties- that are used to culture pearls depend upon pristine waters and a stable living environment in order to thrive and produce. Unlike most faceted gems, pearls require zero destructive mining, chemical leaching and other hazardous activities in order to bring their natural beauty to shine in the world.  Psst, Nancy… We love your pearls!!                                                 **Photo Courtesy of newt.org

What are the differences between Japanese and Chinese Akoya pearls? How will I be able to spot them in a jewelry store?

Pamela H.-Missoula, MT  Hi Pamela!   In order to answer your question correctly, I need to give you a little history first… The Japanese were the very first to pioneer cultured pearl technology, and have had many more years than the Chinese to perfect their culturing and processing techniques. To this day, they are considered by many to be the undisputed masters of their art. From the early 1900’s through the 1990’s, Japanese Akoya pearls were the only option when purchasing Akoya pearls as well! Additionally, they are still the only source for Gem-Quality Hanadama, or ‘Flower-Pearls’ as they are also called.  The Chinese decided to try their hands at culturing Akoya pearls and grabbing a share of the saltwater pearl market starting around 1980. At first, the pearl farmers focused solely on flooding the market with cheap pearls as quickly as they could harvest them, similar to the Freshwater ‘Rice Crispy’ pearls that flooded international markets during the 1980’s. Many consumers and jewelry insiders quickly shunned the Chinese Akoya and Freshwater pearl products as cheap and poor quality, incomparable with that of their Japanese counterparts. Blinking, poor coloration, heavy chemical bleaching and over-treatment, as well as a heavy ratio of pearls displaying an unacceptable rate of blemishing all too easily became the widely-acknowledged reputation for Chinese Akoya.  However, Chinas’ rapid technological advancements in perfecting their culturing process as well as their new outlook regarding the quality of the pearls that are allowed on the market have become important factors for Chinese pearl farmers and exporters over the last decade. Quality has vastly improved, to the point that it is nearly impossible to tell the difference between Japanese and Chinese Akoya; indeed, it is impossible to distinguish origin for gemological laboratories around the world! Although they have not yet mastered the nucleation techniques of larger Akoya, 8.0mm and up, the Chinese have done an admirable job of attaining quality craftsmanship levels in Akoya pearl sizes ranging from 4.0-8.0mm.  The Japanese, meanwhile have decided not to compete with China any longer for market share in the smaller sizes, choosing instead to specialize on larger Akoya 7.5/8.0mm through 9.5mm (10.0mm has been seen on the market, but this size is rare for Akoya and command a premium.) where their cultivation and processing techniques are still recognized as being of superior quality. So, the standard rule of thumb is: if the pearls are under 8.0mm in size, the statistics say it is probably Chinese in origin.