Pearls are in a class all their own. The product of an irritation, the pearl begins as a grain of sand or even a parasite that has gotten inside the mollusk while it was feeding. The animal excretes a substance which coats the invader and eventually forms a pearl.

Amazingly, natural pearl producing mollusks are only one in a thousand. Each species of mollusk produces its own individual color, and that’s why there’s such variation.

Not all mollusks produce attractive pearls; in fact there are just a few varieties that produce the really beautiful specimens. But interestingly enough, all mollusks, whether salt water or fresh water are capable of making pearls.

Tags: Add new tag, pearl jewelry

This entry was posted on Sunday, August 31st, 2008 at 11:58 pm and is filed under Types of Jewelry. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.