From natural pearl to cultured pearl

«God’s te­ars», as pearls are cal­led, are a mi­ra­cle of na­ture from the depths of the ocean. Ir­re­si­sti­ble and cap­ti­vat­ing, a pearl is the re­sult of a na­tu­ral de­fense re­ac­tion of the oy­ster against a for­eign body which has grown (na­tu­ral pearls) or has been pla­ced (cul­tu­red pearls) in an en­ca­se­ment of mo­ther-of-pearl-forming tis­sue. Na­tu­ral pearls are ex­tre­mely rare and pre­cious. The oy­sters are sear­ched for un­der dif­fi­cult con­di­ti­ons by di­vers and brought to the sur­face. To­day we mainly use cul­tu­red pearls. The length of the bree­ding phase de­ter­mi­nes the thic­k­ness of the mo­ther-of-pearl layer. The oy­sters are kept and cared for in nets or bas­kets in an op­ti­mal wa­ter en­vi­ron­ment. Few of the pearls har­ve­sted af­ter ye­ars of work of­fer top qua­lity, ma­king them as the pre­cious as they are today.

Quality characteristics of the pearls

The cri­te­ria for cul­tu­red pearls are shape, size, lu­ster, sur­face qua­lity and co­lor. The lu­ster is in­fluen­ced by the thic­k­ness of the mo­ther-of-pearl layer as well as the sur­face qua­lity and is de­cisive for the be­auty of the pearl. The pearls are coll­ec­ted over many ye­ars, sor­ted ac­cor­ding to shape, size and co­lor and then com­bi­ned into pairs for ear­rings or used for neck­laces. The per­fectly round pearls are traded at the hig­hest pri­ces. Other shapes like «but­ton» or «ba­ro­que» are char­ming as well. The range of pearls on of­fer is as va­ried as the ta­ste of our customers.