Originally, pearls refer to natural pearls, but now almost all pearls sold in the market are cultured pearls, so for the sake of simplicity, many businesses are called cultured pearls. When people talk about pearls, it refers to cultured pearls, and here I only use pearls to represent cultured pearls and natural pearls.

Generally speaking, pearls can be divided into two categories: salty water beads and fresh water beads. Salty water droplets are cultivated in oysters produced in the sea, ocean, bay and bay, such as Japanese pearls and South China Sea pearls. Freshwater beads are found in mollusks in rivers and lakes, and most of them have different shapes. The following are the common names of various pearls. (Many dealers use the name of the place of origin of beads to describe the characteristics of pearls in this place, and pearls that gradually have certain characteristics are also called pearls produced in a certain place. )

* There are pearls like pearls.

Oriental Pearl: This is a natural pearl from the Persian Gulf. This term is sometimes used for natural salt water droplets or pearls produced in western Asian waters, such as the Red Sea and the Ceylon Sea. The U.S. government believes that the use of "Oriental Pearl" in some natural pearls not produced in the Persian Gulf is an unfair commercial act and an illegal transaction. Koji Wada, a pearl researcher, further explained rigorously that Oriental pearls can only refer to the natural pearls produced by mollusks "Pteria" in the Persian Gulf.

Akoya):Akoya is the name of an oyster. Although there are many such oysters in Japan, there are mollusks in Korea, China, Sri Lanka and Hongkong. Now this kind of beads on the market are called Japanese beads, because most of the cultured beads are exported from Japan. Its characteristics are round and white, and its common size is between 2 and 9 mm, and most of them do not exceed10 mm.

South China Sea Pearl: Generally speaking, its name can refer to any pearl produced in the South China Sea (from Myanmar to Australia and French Polynesia). In fact, the South China Sea pearl is only used for a kind of white pearl, which is often produced in an oyster called Pinctada maxima, also known as silver-lipped oyster or golden-lipped oyster. The size of beads is generally between 9 and 16 mm.

Lake Biwa Pearl: The largest lake in Japan is Lake Biwa, and the freshwater pearls produced in this lake are called pipa pearls. Lake Biwa is the first lake to cultivate freshwater pearls, and the quality of pearls is quite high, so some businessmen call high-quality freshwater pearls Lake Biwa to impress buyers with their brands. Recently, the water quality of this lake has been greatly polluted, so the production of pipa beads has stopped.

Black Pearl: Natural black pearl or cultured pearl, usually black-lipped oyster in Tahiti.

Blue Pearl: Dark gray and blue beads cultivated in Japanese oyster or silver-lipped oyster. Pigment is caused by foreign matter polluting nacre, which is different from melanin in black pearl.

Horse nose pearl: Mabe is just a translation, and it is a kind of "combined" pearl. Semicircular nuclear beads (usually made of glue or soapstone) stick to the inner shell of mollusks, which secrete nacre to surround them. After harvesting, the core beads in the center will be taken away and replaced with glass, wax or shells to fill the holes; Then put the mother-of-pearl layer on the bottom of the bead to make it look more beautiful and prevent people from seeing the indecent objects in the middle. Large horse-nose combination pearls are mostly cultured in silver-lipped oysters or black-lipped oysters. In fact, strictly speaking, horse nose beads should only be used to refer to pearls produced by a mollusk called Ma Bei Oyster.

Ma Bei soaked pearls: an informal term used to describe a kind of horse-nosed pearls. The pearls are very thin and have a circle in the middle, which looks like an fried egg.

Seed Pearl: A very small natural pearl, with a weight of less than 0.06 calories and a diameter of less than 2 mm, generally asymmetrical and round in shape.

Dust beads: smaller than beads and less than 0.0 1 calorie. Because it is too small, it doesn't play much role in inlay jewelry.

Keshi): Keshi originally meant poppy seed, and Ji Shu was just a translator. It refers to the occasional growth of tiny pearls in the soft muscles or closed shells of oysters, which is usually an extra product when cultivating Japanese pearls. After being collected, auspicious tree pearls are often exported to countries with cheap labor for keyhole and beading, and most of them are ground into powder and transported to China, Hongkong, India and other places as medicinal materials-pearl powder.

Nowadays, the larger seedless pearls cultured in the South China Sea and freshwater lakes are also called "Jishuzhu", some of which can reach10mm, and are often used for setting jewelry. High-quality auspicious tree beads, with high gloss, many color changes and unique shapes. Compared with round beads, the price of beads is much cheaper. Whether Ji Shuzhu belongs to natural pearls is still controversial. Although it is an accidental product and there is no artificial nucleus bead inserted, it always occurs in oysters cultivated with pearls. Arabs in the Middle East are particularly fond of this kind of pearl, so they are more inclined to think that Jishuzhu is a natural pearl.

Mikimoto Pearl): Mikimoto is a famous Japanese pearl production company. Mikimoto pearls are of high quality, usually with high gloss and small defects. The pearls of this brand are selected before export. Some merchants use this brand to make high-quality pearls. If you want to buy the pearls produced by this company, you can ask a jeweler for a certificate, because every real royal pearl has a "birth paper".

Panama Pearl (La Paz): Usually black, light gray or yellow. The appearance is similar to that of Persian Gulf pearls.

Pippi Pearl: "Pippi" is interpreted as "treasure" in Tahiti. Bead is a natural round South China Sea pearl, about 3-4 mm in size, yellow, orange or honey in color, and produces Pinctada punctata, which is small since childhood. Because the output is not much, it is usually limited to domestic sales, and the price is much cheaper than that of large Nanyang pearls, which is suitable for making petite and exquisite jewelry. This South China Sea pearl may be on the verge of extinction, so there is not much market, and this small oyster is getting smaller and smaller because of seawater pollution.

* pearls that are not pearls.

In the past, people called pearls produced by shells pearls. Now the definition of pearl is very strict, and no pearl can be called a pearl. The following three kinds of beads produced in snails are all called pearls in English, and some of them are of high value. Here is a brief introduction.

Abalone Pearl: Beads produced in abalone are brightly colored, like the color of Aobao, with a combination of green, blue, pink and yellow. It has different shapes, sometimes like teeth or ice cream cones. The value of high-quality abalone beads can range from 4 to 65,438+10,000 Hong Kong dollars. 1990 Korea produced 20,000 such beads and sold them in Singapore, with the highest price of HK$ 3,000. Origin: New Zealand, Asia, California, Mexico, Japan and South Korea.

Conch pearl: produced in a large pink conch that lives in the Caribbean, it is very famous. Beads are usually pink, occasionally white or brown. They have unique flame-like surface traces, high-quality shapes are symmetrical on both sides, usually oval, and the price ranges from 80 million to 80 thousand Hong Kong dollars. Arabs and Europeans have a soft spot for this kind of pearl.

Oss Myna Pearl: White or gray pearl produced in the Philippines, also called Nautilus Pearl. This kind of beads, like horse nose beads, are filled with glass in the middle and a layer at the bottom. The price is very cheap, about 40 to 80 Hong Kong dollars each, mostly used for earrings and pendants.

* The shape and name of the pearl

You may have heard that jewelers use different names to describe the shape of pearls. Knowing and understanding these names will make it easier to buy pearls. Pearls come in many shapes:

Cyst pearl or round pearl: round, the more round, the more precious.

Non-circular pearl: an oval or flat pearl, which is close to a circle in shape and looks more like a circle from a distance.

Baroque pearls: beads with irregular shapes, usually with uneven surfaces and different shapes, can be like anything.

Semi-baroque style: there is some symmetry and balance in abnormity. Such as pear shape, egg shape, drop shape and button shape.

Semi-bead: It is only half of a round bead, so it is called a semi-round bead. When cultured, the nuclear beads are only semi-circular. After being taken out, the mother-of-pearl layer is often attached to the side without pearls, also called horse nose beads. Bubble beads used to refer to flat beads attached to shells, but now they are confused with horse nose beads. ) Half of the round cultured pearls cut off are also called semi-circular pearls.