Like new! See photos for condition.
18" Necklace with 6.5mm snow white freshwater pearls.
Excellent lustre with eye-clean surfaces.
Only the faintest blemishes can be seen under a loupe.
Pearls look perfectly round from regular distance.
Only under close examination will you a very slight egg shape.
About Freshwater Pearls
Freshwater pearls are almost entirely cultivated in China.
Over the years they have improved greatly from the irregular 'rice' pearls they used to be.
Unlike saltwater oysters, freshwater mussels need much less ideal conditions and care.
They are most often from small family farms and can grow in former rice fields.
The mussels can also grow many pearls at a time compared to oysters who grow only 1.
Freshwater pearls have a wide range of natural colors including white, yellow, pink, and purple
Freshwater pearls have no bead nucleus. They are solid pearl nacre.
That is why they have more irregular shapes.
Like all pearls, they cannot be polished into a round shape. What you find is what you get.
Only a very small percent of freshwater pearls are round or near round and
are good enough quality to be used in jewelry.
A technician may have to sort through 10,000 peals to get enough with matching
shape, size, color, and quality to make a single necklace.
China, however, produces around 15,000 tons of unsorted pearls per year.
Thus they can be a more affordable alternative to saltwater pearls.
That said, a perfect freshwater pearl is still less than 1 in a million
and will command a premium price.
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