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Congratulations to Aly Smithe Cole who won our latest contest on Facebook. She had a guess of 2.8mm of pearl nacre per side and the actual reading was 2.64mm of pearl nacre. As with all of our contests, we want you to enjoy them and have fun with your guesses or posts, but at the same time, it is ultimately a way to illustrate specific points about our gems. With this pearl specifically, it was 11.43mm, which for a Palawan golden, that is about average! However, as we have discussed in past posts, the size of a pearl should ALWAYS come from layers of pearl nacre, not from simply using large nucleuses to achieve above average sizes. The result of this way of culturing pearls for higher nacre content is a higher emphasis on organic shape, natural luster and color, and orient. Higher nacre content will also result in heavier and more valuable pearls. For the particular pearl we selected for the contest, the nacre content makes up about 46% of the pearls size with 5.28mm of total nacre on each side and a 6.15mm nucleus. This is a big reason why we choose to partner with the farms in the province of Palawan in the Philippines vs. other farms where the emphasis is not always on the specific character of the pearl, but rather pushing a certain quantity to meet quotas.
As you all know, nothing ever comes easy or is guaranteed with pearl farming, so with that in mind, remember that nacre doesn’t come easy! You need to think about the location of the farm, the cleanliness of the water, richness of the plankton and marine life, land practices of the inhabitants around your culturing area, and the work of the farmers who are working on your mollusks among many other things! We often think about the time “required” to culture a pearl of this size, but the more accurate way to look at the pearls size is to look in to the dedication of the farmers who are producing the pearls. If the farmer is culturing responsibly and sustainably, the chances are higher that the quality of the nacre will lead to a beautiful pearl! Bottom line is, when it comes to pearls, natural color, luster, and weight must come from pearl nacre, not treatments or large nucleuses!
Kwan Collections 