Tahitian Pearl Buying Guide - 1Earth Antiques and Appraisals Magazine

Tahitian Pearls Buying Guide
By Yan Berry

Tahitian Pearls

Tahitian pearls, symbols of luxury and perfection, are long sought for their exceptional beauty and value. Tahitian pearls are valued as queen of pearls and creation of the sea. Tahitian pearls are named after the tropical island of Tahiti. Tahiti’s black lipped oysters yield a unique array of iridescent black, gray and greenish black pearls. Employing Japanese cultured akoya pearl cultivation techniques, farmers in French Polynesia began cultivating large black pearls in 1965. Nowadays, Tahitian pearl farming has spread over thousands of miles around this island. Due to Tahiti’s government promotion, demand for black Tahitian pearls rise 5-10% a year.

Tahitian Pearl Quality
Six factors determine Tahitian pearl quality: luster, nacre thickness, surface, color, size, shape.

Nacre Thickness
Nacre thickness is the most important factor when measuring Tahitian pearl quality. It determines how long the beauty of Tahitian pearls will last. Tahitian pearls with thick nacre will last a life time, while Tahitian pearls with thin nacre won’t last long, their nacre will wear off over time.

French Polynesia Government has set up a minimum nacre thickness of 0.8mm for Tahitian pearls. Tahitian pearls with less than 0.8mm nacre thickness are prohibited from exporting.

Surface Quality
There are four grades to rate the surface quality of Tahitian pearls: A, B, C, D. A quality Tahitian pearls are the highest quality and they are the most valuable.

A Quality: Tahitian pearls with very high luster and clean surface (one to a few slight flaws are distributed over less than 10% of the pearl surface)

B Quality: Tahitian pearls with medium to high luster and slight surface imperfection (some slight flaws are distributed over 30% of the pearl surface)

C Quality: Tahitian pearls with medium luster and medium surface imperfection (some slight flaws are distributed over 60% of the pearl surface.

D Quality: Tahitian pearls are heavily spotted (many slight flaws or several deep flaws are distributed over 60% of the pearl surface)

Luster
Luster is the best expression of a pearl's beauty. It is the quality of the light reflections from the pearl’s surface. Luster measures pearl surface shininess. High quality Tahitian pearls have high luster and mirror-like finish. Thick nacre results in high luster. Tahitian pearls with sharp and intense light reflection have high luster and a metal-like steely look.

Size
Most common sizes for Tahitian pearls range from 8mm to 14mm. Some Tahitian pearls are 16mm and very rarely over 18mm. The largest Tahitian pearl in the world is 21mm for a round pearl and 25mm for a semi-round pearl. The larger the pearls, the more valuable the pearls are.

Shape
Tahitian pearls have the following shapes:
• round
• semi-round
• semi-baroque
• baroque
• ringed or circled

Among all shapes, round is the most desirable and valuable. Other shapes may have special appeal to jewelry artists.

Round pearls are almost perfect spheres. Round Tahitian pearls are rare and the production rate only accounts for 5-10% of Tahitian pearls produced each year.

Semi-round pearls are nearly round.

Semi-baroque pearls are subdivided into four shapes: drop, button, pear and oval.

Baroque pearls are described as irregular shapes.

Color
Black-lipped oysters produce the natural black color of Tahitian pearls. Although Tahitian Pearls are famous for their black natural color, they have a wide range of colors including black, grey, blue, green and brown. These colors are referred as body color. Body colors are enhanced by at least one overtone colors. Overtone colors include blue, gold, silver, pink and reddish purple.

Different names are given to a combination of overtone and body colors.

Peacock: greenish black
Pistachio: greenish gray
Cherry: purplish black
Champagne: yellowish gray
Lavender: bluish black
Tahitian gold: golden black
Pigeon grey: purplish gray
Silver: gray
Moon grey: pale gray

Among these colors, peacock and Pistachio are the most popular colors. Tahitian pearls with peacock and pistachio colors have a higher value than pearls with other colors.

Buying Tahitian Pearls
When buying Tahitian pearl jewelry, color, quality, size, design, setting, and matching of Tahitian pearl jewelry need to be paid attention. Low quality Tahitian pearls (medium or heavy blemishes) are only worth small fraction of top quality Tahitian pearls (flawless or very slightly spotted). It is important to ask the stores you shop to provide detailed information on their Tahitian pearl quality.

Real Tahitian Pearls and Imitation Tahitian Pearls
Be cautious about imitation Tahitian pearls sold in the market. Here are some tips about the differences between real Tahitian pearls and imitation Tahitian pearls.

Real Tahitian pearls have the following characters:

1. Real Tahitian pearls have overtones or hue: green, gray, blue, peacock, eggplant or magenta. Real Tahitian pearls have a faint reddish glow when viewed through crossed filters.
2. Real Tahitian pearls are cold to the touch. They can quickly adopt body temperature.
3. Real Tahitian pearls are gritty when rubbed across the teeth.
4. Drilled holes are smooth around the edges.
5. Real Tahitian pearls are heavy to hold.

Imitation Tahitian pearls have the following characters:

1. Imitation Tahitian pearls only have one body color; they don’t have any overtone colors or hues. The color looks very flat.
2. Imitation Tahitian pearls always have the same temperature as their environment. When touching them on your skin, you won’t feel coolness from the pearls.
3. Imitation Tahitian pearls are smooth on teeth.
4. Drilled holes are bumpy, as if pearls are melted during drilling.
5. Imitation Tahitian pearls are light in weight.
6. When viewed under a 10 x lens, bubbles or mat patterns will be seen under the surface of imitation Tahitian pearls.

Provided by Premiumpearl.com.

About Premiumpearl.com:
Premiumpearl.com is a leading online provider of Tahitian Pearls and cultured pearl jewelry. For more information on Tahitian pearls, visit us at http://www.premiumpearl.com/