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Pearl Types & Varieties

Know your pearls — natural and cultured, Akoya, Tahitian, South Sea and freshwater, baroque and conch, and the nacre and molluscs behind them.

Pearl

Pearl

Cultured pearl

Cultured pearl

Baroque pearl

Nacre

South Sea pearl oyster

South Sea pearl oyster

Black-lip pearl oyster

Black-lip pearl oyster

Pearl hunting

Pearl hunting

Freshwater pearl mussel

Freshwater pearl mussel

Kokichi Mikimoto

Kokichi Mikimoto

Abalone

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Pearls, understood — types and grading, sizing and care, and the calculators that take the guesswork out of buying and stringing them.

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