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.