A high luster pearl will show strong and sharp light reflections. A low luster
pearl will look milky or chalky and resemble a mother of pearl bead. Luster is
graded on a scale of very high to very low.
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Fresh water pearls appear in a variety of colors. This is one of their many attraction.
Salt water pearls typically appear in the colors pink, cream, white, yellow, gold,
gray, blue and black. Pearls can also have an overtone color. The overtone is
often rose, green, blue, or silver. Color is purely subjective. In the United
States most people prefer a white or pink color.
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Fresh water pearls appear in a variety of shapes. Salt water pearls are valued
higher the closer the pearl approaches in shape a perfectly round sphere. Terms
typically used to describe shape are; round, out of round, slightly baroque and baroque.
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There is a direct relationship between size and price. The larger the pearl, of
the same quality, the greater the value. The most popular size of salt water pearl
in the U.S. is 6mm-7mm, followed closely by the 5mm-6mm, and the 7mm.-8mm.
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Blemishes are the surface imperfections found on pearls. Like most things created
by nature they are rarely perfect. Blemishes can appear as pits, ridges, dimples,
dull spots or areas of different color. The fewer blemishes the greater the value.
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Matching refers to the degree the pearls blend with each other. Pearls in a
necklace should be similar in appearance to one another in terms of size, color, shape,
luster and blemishes. The degree to which the pearls match is graded on a scale from
excellent to poor.
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