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 are
most popular. These pearls are valued for their rich color, mirror-like finish, and appealing roundness.
As with any other gemstones, 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, have best quality and they are most valuable. For pearls of 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 to pearls' nacre thickness. Nacre is coating that a pearl oyster produces to cover pearl’s nucleus; it is key to how long pearls last. You should look for pearls with nacre thickness over 0.4mm.
