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Weight

A few days ago on our Facebook page, I was discussing the differences in the weight of certain pearls based on the size.  This was a reference to one of our giveaways where I showed a picture of 43 specific 11-12mm semi- baroque Tahitian pearls (the equivalent of an 18” necklace) and asked our fans to guess the weight.  About a month ago, in anticipation of our Today’s Top Value 8-10mm and 11-13mm Tahitian pearl semi- baroque necklaces I posted a blog listing various numbers, one being the approximate weight of the pearls used in each necklace option.  Well, as one of our viewers pointed out, the weight of the 43 pearls I posted listed a heavier weight than the 11-13mm necklace which, brought in to question the weight of pearls.

First, let’s take a quick look at why weight of a pearl is important.  Traditionally, when pearls are purchased as a raw material, they are not purchased by the pearl, but purchased by the gram, or the “momme, “ which is a Japanese measurement.  For the sake of this blog, I will use grams.  The weight of a pearl is proportionate to the amount of pearl nacre and (if applicable) the size of the nucleus used to culture a saltwater or sometimes a freshwater pearl.  That being said, the nacre should make up a substantial amount of the pearl to give it luster and color.  The value per gram is determined by the size, shape, luster level, amount of blemishes, and even color.

Now that we have briefly covered the importance of weight, let’s take a look at how the weight is formed.  As we stated above, weight of the pearl should be mostly due to the weight of the accumulated levels of pearl nacre.  Most often, we use the metric of time as the benchmark for accumulation of pearl nacre.  While time is extremely important, there are a few more things that are even more important!  The most important being the quality of water.

Purity of water is the most important thing when culturing pearls.  Clean water will give you thriving marine life, which requires balanced and non- acidic waters with plenty of nutrients to nourish the marine life.  While time and patience are hugely important, with thriving nutrient rich waters, you can either drastically cut down your culturing time, or allow your mollusks to stay in the water for longer periods of time, giving you larger and heavier pearls.

I have visited several of the best pearl farms in the world.  The one thing they all have in common is care for the waters and the desire to do all things possible to keep the waters and marine life thriving.  To be more specific, when I brought the “Raroia” exotic color Tahitian pearl earrings and necklace to air last year, these pearls were actually cultured for only 10-11 months, where the average Tahitian pearl is cultured for 1-1.5 years.  What was astounding about these pearls was not only the color, but the weight and size for such a short time in the water.  Currently, in the world of Akoya pearls, we are seeing culturing times as short as 4- 5 months, but the finished product, more times than not is a very lightly coated “pearl” (many times as light as .01-.1mm of nacre) with little luster or tone, but perfectly round shape.  For those of you who have been reading this blog for a while or have watched our shows, you know that I always believe that round shape is not always the best pearl- for this specific reason.  Contrast this practice to the Raroia pearls we brought and you have a difference of a few months in the water, but hugely different results!  Since our Tahitian pearls are all x-ray inspected, we know that these pearls have AT LEAST .8mm of pearl nacre.

Let’s take this a step farther.  In the private lagoons of Robert Wan, pearls are cultured for at least 2 years up to 3 years maximum.  Robert Wan is known as the “Emperor” of Tahitian pearls for his extremely large sizes, high luster, vivid color, and intense orient.  The pearls that he harvests rarely happen anywhere else in the islands of French Polynesia.  How can he do this?  It is directly relatable back to the purity and bio certification of his water in Marutea- his private island.  Culturing for 3 years in most other farms would actually be detrimental to the pearl culturing as the pearl would get too large and either kill the mollusk or the pearl sack would become acidic and carbonate the pearl- eating away the layers of nacre.

In the South Sea pearl farms in the Philippines, the farms of Jewelmer are some of the most proactive farms in- terms of education for island residents.  Jewelmer sponsors initiatives and strives to better educate rice and produce farmers to protect the waters and the land allowing marine life to thrive.  The results of their efforts in the vast islands of Palawan are restored vitality in the waters and of course the most beautiful Golden South Sea pearls in the world!  With a varied culturing time of 1-3 years also, the time these mollusks stay in the water is due to the health of their waters.

Acidic waters, which has been a real hot button topic where I live in Seattle is a huge problem in the pearl culturing environments.  (It has been my intention to post a blog I wrote about this for some time now, but I am waiting for one of the local shellfish farms here in Washington State to collaborate with me on this.)  When we talk about pearl care 101, the first thing I always tell you is to keep acidic substances away from your pearl nacre because it will eat the delicate nacre.  Acidic waters post the same problem, but on a larger scale.  Acidity in the water (which really is a whole blog on it’s own!) on a larger scale can destroy marine life for the same reasons it can harm a pearls nacre.  Imagine trying to accumulate layers of pearl nacre as the very waters you are culturing in are literally taking them away.  This is what happens with acidity.

As we sit and take a look at what is going on around the world with the waters, it is important to note that with the acidity becoming a bigger issue of concern, this will affect the pearls that are harvested.  We have already seen substantial decreases around the world in mollusks used for pearl culturing.  The bottom line is, without healthy marine environments, there are no pearls!