Pearl Guides: Size, Value & Authenticity

Use this library to compare pearl types, understand price and grading, verify authenticity and choose jewelry with the right size, color and setting.

Pearl types and comparisons

Start with the defining traits of South Sea, Tahitian and other cultured pearls.

South Sea Cultured Pearls: The Complete Guide

Learn what South Sea cultured pearls are, how to assess color, luster, surface, nacre and matching, what to ask before buying, and how to care for them.

Tahitian Cultured Pearls: The Complete Guide

Learn what Tahitian cultured pearls are and how to assess their natural colors, luster, surface, shape, classification, treatments and care.

Tahitian vs Freshwater Pearls: What Changes

Compare Tahitian and freshwater cultured pearls by mollusk, culture method, natural color, shape, quality factors, treatments, and value drivers.

Saltwater Cultured Pearls: South Sea, Tahitian, Akoya

Compare South Sea, Tahitian, and Akoya cultured pearls by oyster, color, size tendency, luster, matching, and the jewelry you plan to wear.

Price and value

Understand the physical and market factors behind pearl price differences.

How Much Are Pearls Worth? A Value-Factor Guide

Learn how pearl type, size, luster, surface, nacre, color, shape, and matching affect value—and how retail, appraisal, and resale differ.

South Sea Pearl Prices: What Actually Sets the Cost

Learn how size, luster, surface, shape, color, nacre quality, and matching affect South Sea pearl prices, then compare current catalog examples.

Pearl Price per Gram: Why Pearls Are Priced Differently

Pearl price per gram isn't the standard: gem-quality pearls are valued by size, luster, color, and matching. Compare loose South Sea and Tahitian pearls.

Golden South Sea Pearls: Natural Color and Quality

Learn how Golden South Sea pearls get their natural color, how luster and surface affect quality, and what to check before choosing jewelry.

Why South Sea Pearls Cost More: The Real Factors

Learn why South Sea pearls cost more, from Pinctada maxima culture and biological risk to luster, surface quality, rarity, sorting, and matching.

Size, color and grading

Compare millimeters, nacre, color, matching and quality frameworks.

Pearl Earring Size Guide: 5–16 mm on the Ear

Compare 5–16 mm pearl earring sizes with a practical scale table plus guidance on earlobes, settings, weight, posts and secure backs.

Pearl Color Guide: Bodycolor, Overtone and Orient

Understand pearl colors, bodycolor, overtone and orient; compare South Sea, Tahitian and Akoya palettes and ask informed questions about treatment.

South Sea Pearl Necklace Quality: A Strand Checklist

Use this South Sea pearl necklace checklist to assess luster, surface, matching, graduation, drilling, knotting, clasp security and length.

Tahitian Pearl Colors: Bodycolor and Overtone Chart

Compare Tahitian pearl colors by bodycolor, overtone and orient, including green, blue, Tahitian peacock and Tahitian aubergine appearances.

Tahitian Pearl Grading: Official and GIA Systems

Compare official Tahitian pearl categories, GIA’s seven value factors and retailer A–AAA scales, with practical questions for evaluating any grade.

South Sea Pearl Grading: How to Compare Quality

Learn how to compare South Sea pearl grades using seven value factors, clear luster and surface descriptions, strand matching, and seller questions.

Pearl Nacre Thickness: Quality, Durability and Limits

Learn what pearl nacre thickness means, how it differs from luster and surface quality, what buyers can inspect, and when laboratory evidence helps.

Tahitian Pearl Bracelet Size and Fit Guide

Measure your wrist for a Tahitian pearl bracelet and learn how wearing ease, 9–14 mm pearls, clasps, strands, chains, and bangles affect fit.

How Pearl Pairs Are Matched for Earrings

Learn how pearl pairs are matched for earrings by size, shape, color, luster, surface, and orientation, with practical guidance for buyers.

Authenticity and disclosure

Learn what visual checks, treatment disclosure and reports can—and cannot—prove.

How to Tell if Pearls Are Real: Safe Tests and Limits

Learn how to tell if pearls are real using safe observations, why popular home tests fail, and when x-radiography or a laboratory report is needed.

Are Black Pearls Real? Tahitian vs Imitation

Learn how to identify real black pearls, distinguish Tahitian cultured pearls from imitations, assess disclosure, and know when lab analysis is needed.

Pearl Treatments: Color, Luster and Disclosure

Understand pearl treatments, natural-color claims, seller disclosures, and the limits of laboratory reports for bleaching, coating, dye, and irradiation.

Pearl Certificates and Lab Reports: What They Prove

Learn what pearl certificates, appraisals, and independent lab reports prove, including identity, classification, treatments, scope, and limits.

Oysters, formation and meaning

Explore the mollusks, cultivation processes and cultural context behind pearls.

How Pearls Form: Natural vs Cultured, Step by Step

Learn how pearls form through mantle tissue, pearl sacs and nacre, with a clear comparison of natural, cultured, South Sea, Tahitian and Akoya pearls.

Pinctada maxima: The South Sea Pearl Oyster

Meet Pinctada maxima, the silver- and gold-lipped South Sea pearl oyster, and learn how its pearls are cultured, described and tested.

Pinctada margaritifera: The Tahitian Pearl Oyster

Learn how Pinctada margaritifera creates Tahitian cultured pearls, from naturally dark nacre and overtones to species and origin naming.

Black Pearl Meaning: Culture, Symbolism and Fact

Discover black pearl meaning, documented Tahitian context and modern symbolism, with clear guidance on quality, spiritual claims and meaningful gifts.

Jewelry, pendants and settings

Plan settings, drilling, pendants and pearl-and-diamond combinations.

Pearl Guides: Size, Value, Authenticity & Care