The Distinctions between Freshwater and Saltwater Pearls

Generally speaking, saltwater pearls refer to Akoya pearls, south sea pearls and Tahitian pearls. Freshwater and saltwater pearls are differentiated by several aspects. 

1. Shape

Saltwater pearls are nuclear and the shapes are mostly very round. The various shapes, such as drop, off-round, and baroque are often attributed to one kind of freshwater pearls which are cultivated without nuclear.

2. Origin and color

Saltwater pearls

Akoya pearls---Japan and China

South pearls---Hepu city, Guangxi province, China

South Sea pearls--- Australia and Indonesia

Tahitian pearls---- French Polynesia

Saltwater pearls vary white, golden from black and silver

Freshwater pearls are mainly from the lakes in Zhejiang and Hunan provinces, which are located in the middle and lower areas of Yangtze River in China. White, pink and lavender are common.


3. blemish

Spiral is uncommon for saltwater pearls, which is very often seen in freshwater pearls. The blemishes on saltwater pearls are generally like needle-eyes.

4. Luster

Due to the different growing years, their lusters are special. It usually takes 2-3 years for freshwater pearls and 3-4 years for saltwater pearls. The high density leads to sharp and bright luster for saltwater pearls. And freshwater pearls look shiny and mild.

5. Yield

The advanced cultivation skills and easy growing environment request offer high freshwater pearl yield, which reach to 1500 tons annually. It is said that an oyster produces more than 10 freshwater pearls each years. However, saltwater pearls are easily affected by circumstance and hard to control the growing surroundings. The longer growing year and high requirement on the circumstance make saltwater pearls expensive. Plus, each oyster in saltwater only produces a pearl.

How to Tell If a Tahitian Black Pearl's Color Is Dyed or Natural

Tahitian Pearls are cultured in French Polynesia. Because of its natural black color, they are also called black pearls. Tahitian Pearls are very valuable due to the level of complication involved in their production. Because the “right black” color is not always smoothly obtained, some of them need to be dyed to be “right”. The value of dyed black pearls is much lower than the natural black pearls. It is common for speculators to mix up dyed black pearls, even freshwater or fake pearls, with natural black pearls.

Here are some tips for how to differentiate natural or dyed black pearls.

Color
The natural colors of Tahitian Pearls are from grey to black, such as green, blue, lavender, brown and so on. All natural color pearls have overtones. If you roll a Tahitian Pearl, you will see an overtone circle above its surface. The overtones of Tahitian Pearls are mostly purple, pink, violet, blue, and so on. Tahitian Pearls tend to not only have one single color of overtone. The multi-overtone is called “rainbow” or “peacock”. Overtones vary between individual pearls. The dyed black pearls tend to not have other colors of overtone but black. If the color around the pearl hole or blemish area is darker than the body color, then it is a dyed pearl.

Size
The average size of Tahitian Pearls is 12 mm. It is normal to see size over 13mm. The smallest Tahitian Pearls are around 8mm. Black pearls smaller than 8mm are mostly artificially colored.

Shape
Tahitian Pearls are classified into round, semi-round, pear, oval, baroque and circle. The perfect round black pearls are extremely rare and valuable. It is less likely to find them displayed in an ordinary counter at a jewelry store; otherwise they are not the natural color.

Price
Tahitian Pearls are defined as the most valuable pearl type. It belongs to South Sea Pearls. It is impossible to find natural color Tahitian Pearl jewelry at a low price. The lowest price for an 8mm natural color Tahitian Pearl is not less than $100.

It is suggested that purchasing pearl jewelry from a reliable jeweler may save time and effort on checking the quality.