Do You Know Why Pearls are Considered Valuable?
What makes pearl a valuable possession? Perhaps reading this post can throw some light on this question.
Amazing gems
When an irritant enters into the soft tissue of a mollusc, to protect itself mollusc will cover that irritant by using the same material that is used for creating its shell.
Few molluscs only work those pearls from their body, while others simply cannot. As far as cultured pearl industry is concerned, technician will place the irritant on the mollusc’s body for encouraging it to form a pearl.
The molluscs are then placed in the net that both protects the mollusc from predators and also keeps it from opening its shell sufficiently wide to eject out that pearl.
A pearl is just born
It may take 18 months to even 5 years for a pearl to be born. How that pearl will look like? How does its surface will look like?
Will there be scrapes, bumps and divest? Will the colour be uniform throughout the surface of the pearl? What will be the quality of nacre, which is the mother of pearl which it used for coating the irritant? What will its size be? Will it be even round?
Pearls may look in many different ways, based on how it looks; its value can also change.
After harvesting these pearls there will be post-production treatment on them by technicians and will be graded e.g. Mikimoto pearls based on following:
- Colour
- Lustre
- Nacre quality
- Quality of surface
- Shape
- Size
The problem with grading of pearl
The real value of pearl will be determined when it is graded. However, grading cannot be done so fast and also grading can be subjective. There is no accepted standard for grading pearls. So, nobody will give a certificate for the pearl that is harvested.
If any company tells their pearl is of certain special grade then many others may disagree with them. A simple example can help you to understand.
It is almost like how a star student in any small-town school when he goes to university and realize that he was just a big fish in a small pond.
As the pond gets bigger, the star rating also begins to falter.
