Pearls are the surprises given by Mother Nature, they come from the excrete nacres by pallium in the bivalves. Generally speaking, pearls are divided into two categories, natural pearls and cultured pearls.
Natural pearls are rare so that seldom are seen in the jewelry market; that is also why the price of natural pearls are so high. Those shells that produce natural pearls are generally living in the sea, lake, river or any other waters. There are two types of natural pearls according to their living environment, one is natural sea pearls , the other is natural freshwater pearls. Both of them are the miracles from Nature.
Cultured pearls also includes two types, cultured sea pearls and cultured freshwater pearls, which are called sea pearls and freshwater pearls for short. Sea pearls are cultivated in the sea and the production phase is 1-2 years. Freshwater pearls are cultivated mainly in the lake and river with a production phase as 5-8 years. There is only one pearl from a sea shell, while several pearls can be attain from a freshwater shell; and most sea pearls are perfectly round. Therefore, the price of the freshwater pearls are lower than the sea pearls.
