Re: Is it true that freshwater pearls have the thickest nacr
Yes, freshwater pearls are nucleated with a small piece of mantle tissue, and are nearly all pure nacre.
However, there is new technology that allows for some types of freshwater pearls to be bead-nucleated; they will be very large, nearly round, and with a layer of nacre over the bead.
Akoya, South Sea and Tahitian pearls are all bead-nucleated, so there is a bead in the middle, with nacre over it.
Re: Is it true that freshwater pearls have the thickest nacr
Ennui, thanks for the reply. So do vendors know what type of fw pearls they have: the old type or new type? I want to buy from the usual recommended ones. But I doubt any vendor will open up their fw pearls to see if they have the old type or new type. Besides fw are more cost friendly so I wouldn't want to trouble the vendors too much.
Re: Is it true that freshwater pearls have the thickest nacr
The new bead-nucleated freshwater pearls are usually marketed under a name like Ming, Edison, or ripple. They tend to be very expensive, and very large (over 10mm), so they are easy to spot. They aren't that common, so I doubt you'll run into them in stores.
I've seen some really bad ripples at TJMaxx, usually of the "pond slime" coloration. I've seen pond slime keshi pearl strands, too. And dyed black fireball pearls. In my experience, all of these look fine until you look closely. I say that as a huge fan of TJMaxx, btw. I've found some great things, but it's all buyer beware and buyer be careful.
Re: Is it true that freshwater pearls have the thickest nacr
I have seen round white 8mm good quality bead nucleated freshwater pearl strands, so smaller are certainly out there. Any decent pearl vendor should know whether their pearls have a bead or not.
There are indeed a lot of really low quality bead nucleated freshwater pearls out there at present - as well as some stunning and very expensive ones
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