How to care for pearls

Written by Yan Berry


Pearls are delicate and soft gems compared with other gemstones. They need extra gentle care. Here is a guide to pearl care.

• Clean - wipe pearls regularly and gently with a soft cloth moistened with water. Pearls can absorb perfume, skin oils and dirt easily. Do not clean pearls with detergents and don’t soak pearls in water.

• Protect - avoid temperature extremes and chemicals such as vinegar, alcohol and hair spray. They can damage pearl surfaces.

How to Choose a Pearl Necklace for Your Wedding Day

Written by Yan Berry


The elegant beauty of a strand of pearls has fascinated brides for centuries. People believe that wearing pearls on their wedding day will bring bliss to their marriage.

Pearls are classic wedding jewelry. How do you choose that perfect pearl necklace?

Here are some tips:

There are four types of pearls: Akoya, Tahitian, South Sea, and freshwater. Akoya, Tahitian and South Sea pearls grow in oceans. They are more valuable than freshwater pearls for their rarity and high luster.

Akoya pearls arerepparttar most popular. These pearls are valued for their rich color, mirror-like finish, and appealing roundness.

As with any other gemstones,repparttar 101479 value of pearls is determined by their quality. A pearl’s quality can be A, AA, AA+, AAA, AAA+. The last two, AAA and AAA+ pearls, haverepparttar 101480 best quality and they are most valuable. For pearls ofrepparttar 101481 same size, an ‘A’ quality pearl necklace costs only a small fraction of AAA quality pearl necklace.

The quality and value of pearls are based upon six criteria: luster, nacre, surface, color, shape, size and matching. The educated buyer uses his or her preferences to decide which criteria are most important.

Nacre: Most buyers of pearl jewelry pay most attention torepparttar 101482 pearls' nacre thickness. Nacre isrepparttar 101483 coating that a pearl oyster produces to coverrepparttar 101484 pearl’s nucleus; it isrepparttar 101485 key to how long pearls last. You should look for pearls with nacre thickness over 0.4mm.

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