Freshwater Pearls vs Saltwater Pearls
Freshwater pearl vs Saltwater pearl, which one should i choose? You may also ask the same question. Today we are going to share you the differences between freshwater pearls and saltwater pearls to help you make the decision.
First of all, let’s introduce the types of pearls briefly.
Freshwater pearls: freshwater cultured pearls incunding the Edison pearls, Freshwater pearls, and Freshwater AK Pearls.
Saltwater pearls: saltwater cultured pearls include japanese Akoya pearls, tahitian pearls and southsea pearls.
You may ask “is there any difference between freshwater pearls and freshwater cultured pearls”? The word “Cultured Pearls” means that the pearls are cultivated by human beings. Nowdays, most of the pearls you see in the market are cultured pearls, and saltwater pearls are under the same situation. Like cultured akoya pearls, cultured tahitian pearls and cultured southsea pearls. Natural pearls are rare, so the pearls we are talking about in this artical, refers to the cultured pearls.
The differences between fresh water pearl and saltwater pearl are mainly in the following points:
Freshwater Pearl Origin vs Saltwater Pearl Origin
Literally, we can see the difference between freshwater pearls and seawater pearls easily. Freshwater pearls are mainly produced in the freshwater like the lakes, rivers and ponds while seawater pearls refer to pearls produced by saltwater clams.
Freshwater pearls are cultivated in the pond
Freshwater pearls: are mainly produced in China, Japan, United States, Europe and etc. With the continuous improvement of the china pearl cultivation technology, 95% of the freshwater pearls are produced in China.
Akoya pearls：are mainly produced in Japan and China. There are pearls inside a clam.
Tahitian pearls：are primarily cultivated around the islands of French Polynesia, around Tahiti.
Southsea pearls:are grwn in the warm, tropical waters of the South Pacific, primarily in Australia, Indonesia, and the Philippines.
Freshwater Pearl Cultivation vs Saltwater Pearl Cultivation
Our traditional freshwater pearls are seedless, which means the freshwater pearls are with the pearl nacre from the inside to the outside. Pieces of tissue mantles will be inserted into the freshwater mussels when we cultivate the freshwater pearl, and the oysters will secret the pearl nacre along the mantle, years later, the freshwater pearl is formed.
Saltwater pearls are nucleated pearls, a piece of round bead is implanted and layers nacre will wrap around the bead.
Tips：Edison pearls, a kind of nucleated pearls which are cultivated in freshwater. They are with similar cultivation method with saltwater pearls'
Read more----- What are cultured freshwater pearls ?
Read more ------What are cultured edison pearls?
Freshwater Pearl Quantity vs Saltwater Pearl Quantity
A freshwater pearl mussel can produce 10-30 pcs non-nucleated fresh water pearls at a time. While the edison pearls same as the saltwater pearls, there are only 1 piece of pearl inside.
Compare to the freshwater pearls, saltwater pearls are cultivated in the oceans and the worse cultivation environment makes the output of the saltwater pearls is much lower than freshwater pearls.
Freshwater Pearl Value vs Saltwater Pearl Value
When it comes to freshwater pearls, people always label them as bargains. However with the appear of the edison pearls, freshwater pearls are getting their new position.
Pearl value, there is no official quality standard yet to identify. But the following factors you may need to know when you consider where to buy your pearls.
Freshwater Pearl Size vs Saltwater Pearl Size
The size of a freshwater pearl generally range in size from 2.0 mm to 15.0 mm.
Southsea pearls size range can be 8-20mm.
Tahitian pearl size range is from8-18mm.
Akoya pearl size range can be 2-10mm.
Freshwater pearl and saltwater pearl size comparion chart
Freshwater Pearl Shape vs Saltwater Pearl Shape
Freshwater pearls can be divided into 2 types, one is the seedless freshwater pearl and the another one edison pearl is nucleated. The tissue mantle inserted cultivation way makes the freshwater pearls are with abundant shapes: round shape, near round shape, rice shape and baroque shapes. Pearl with different shapes can be well designed and bring you with the gorgeous pearl jewelry. I think this is one of the unique value of the freshwater pearls.
Rice shapr freshwater pearl strands
Saltwater pearls are nucleated pearls, a piece of round bead is inserted into the pearl oyster and later the pearl mussel secrets the pearl nacre along with the bead, this process makes the saltwater pearls are with round shape. Or we can say the percentage of the round shape pearl is higher than freshwater pearls (non-nucleated freshwater pearl).
Freshwater Pearl Luster vs Saltwater Pearl Luster
Among the 7 well known pearl’s value factors that we use as a standard to grade pearls and identify the pearl quality. The pearl luster is the most important point, if the pearl doesn't have beautiful luster, the pearl jewelry looks very dull and it is not going to be worth a lot.
Saltwater pearls are famous for their sharp pearl luster, specially the japanese akoya pearls. While freshwater pearls are with more soft pearl luster.
Akoya Pearls vs Freshwater Pearls
Freshwater Pearl Surface vs Saltwater Pearl Surface
Pearl surface quality is another point decide the pearls’ value. Both freshwater pearls and saltwater pearls are with different grade imperfections.
The most common imperfections or blemishes including:
Pinpoints Pit: These tiny dots actually are not visible with the social distance.
Scratches: Scratched lines on the pearl surface , usually fine straight or crooked lines. It is acceptable If it’s only with slight scratches and not affect the pearl luster.
Chipping and Gaps: These occur when some layers of the nacre flake off and are very common in pearls with thin nacre.
Bumps: Raised areas or welts, either alone or in groups. When the raised areas occur in groups, they can cover most of the pearl's surface and sometimes wrinkles appear due to the grouping of bumps.
Discoloration: An uneven hue on the surface of a pearl due to the concentration of protein substances that bind the nacre's layers together.
Freshwater Pearl Nacre vs Saltwater Pearl Nacre
When the pearl nacre reflects the light, the pearl luster and overton appears. In the case of cultured freshwater pearls and cultured saltwater pearls,they are with different pearl nacre thickness.
Freshwater pearls, here refers to the non-nucleated pearls are with the pearl nacre from the inside to outside.
And when it comes to the saltwater pearls,a bead is inserted for cultivating a pearl. These layers produced outside the beads, is eventual the thickness of nacre in the pearl.
If the pearl nacre is not thick enough, the pearl skin may peel easily and also the pearl nacre will affect the pearl luster. The more layers of nacre, the higher the luster of the pearl. Or in other words, the thicker the nacre, the better the luster.
Freshwater Pearl's nacre vs Saltwater Pearl's nacre
Freshwater Pearl Color vs Saltwater Pearl Color
The body color of pearl is its pearl nacre color. When the pearl nacre reflect the light, the high-quality pearls reveal a layer of transparent accompaniment color, it’s “overtone”. As the pearl rotates, the overtone will change. When there are more than 2 overtones on the pearl, then we call it as “orient”.
Freshwater pearls are usually with body color like white, champge, purple. And the overtone can be pink, green, gold,bronze and etc.
Saltwater pearls like Tahitian pearls usually with body color black, grey, white. And with the overtone peacock, green, blue, silver, bronze and etc.
Southsea pearls are usually with the gold and white color. And with the overtone like neutral gold, silver, rose and etc.
Akoya pearls are usually with body color white, gold, blue. And with the overtone like rose, silver, and cream.
Freshwater Pearl Color vs Saltwater Pearl Color chart
Whether freshwater pearls or saltwater pearls，each type of pearl has its own unique beauty. And nowdays the price of seawater pearls is rised sharply, freshwater pearls are good choice. Freshwater pearls are not only with nice quality but also with affordable price.
Feliz Pearl is a professional freshwater pearl wholesaler, if you are interested in buying pearls, pearl jewelry online, feel free to contat us, we are always here.