Tahitian Pearl Information

With the new pearl harvest being produced now, we are going to show you how to purchase the right Tahitian Pearl Necklace. With an amazing selection of natural colors, shapes and styles how does one know what the right Tahitian Pearl Necklace to get is? With nearly 7 decades of pearl selling experience to millions of customers around the world, American Pearl is going to show you exactly how to find the right Tahitian Pearls for her.

To do this we are going to go over pearl necklace shape, color, size, quality and styles. This way, you will have everything you need right here at American Pearl to make an educated purchase. After, we are going to take a look at the stunning selection of pearl earrings, rings and bracelets with Tahitian Pearls you can customize to add to your Tahitian Pearl Collection as well.

To start off with, lets take a look at the shape of Tahitian Pearls by looking at Round Tahitian Pearl Necklaces.

With the wide variety of shapes available in black Tahitian Pearls, understanding how shape affects value is important. Of course, the roundest pearls—those perfect spheres

shown on the left side of the chart—are the most valuable pearls whereas ringed pearls, shown on the right of the chart, are the least valuable when compared.

However, the shape of a pearl does not affect its beauty, it simply affects its price.

This is because round Tahitian pearls represent less than approximately 1% of all the pearls harvested in the world. Therefore, it is the roundest Tahitian pearls that are the rarest which have the best chance of appreciating over time.

Lets take a closer look at a round Tahitian Pearl Necklace up close.

Round  pearls are almost perfect spheres whose diameter variation rate is less than 2%.

Lets take a look at a round Tahitian Pearl Necklace on a model:

If your are looking for a classic Tahitian Pearl Necklace that is truly valuable and will appreciate in value over time, that would be a round Tahitian Pearl Necklace.  This is because  It takes six years, one hundred technicians and one hundred oysters to harvest just one perfectly round TRUE AAA Quality natural color black pearl shown here at AmericanPearl.com.

Now lets take a look at Semi Baroque Pearls.

Semi Baroque pearls include button, drop, pear and oval. These pearls exhibit at least one axis of symmetry and are mostly used in irregular shaped necklaces as shown. Semi Baroque pearls are valued less than round pearls.

Now lets take a look at baroque pearls. Baroque pearls do not have an axis of symmetry. That means one side of the pearl is a different shape than the other side of a pearl: Baroque pearls are valued less than semi baroque pearls because of their irregularities.

Circle or Ringed pearls are characterized by regular streaks or rings, perpendicular to an axis of symmetry, over more than one third of the pearl's surface.

Circle or Ringed pearls are valued less than baroque pearls.

For something truly stunning, lets have a look at Tahitian keshi pearls.

What could be more precious than knowing that your pearls are like natural pearls? Keshi pearls are similar to natural  pearls (no bead implant in the pearl) and consist of all nacre (nay-ker). They are called "Keshi" pearls because these pearls were found accidentally in an oyster that produced a cultured pearl. Like smooth tumbled river stones these unusual pearl necklaces are truly rare.

Now Lets take a look at pearl color. All of American Pearl's Tahitian pearls are natural color exhibiting the most vivid colors from the pearl harvest.  

Black pearls are known for their iridescent, vibrant, almost metallic colors unique among saltwater cultured pearls. Though commonly called "Tahitian" pearls, Black pearls are actually peacock to green in color, to black green, dark black even the popular eggplant or aubergine colors to the magical blue or grey color as shown.

Black Green Tahitian Pearl:

 

Aubergine Tahitian Pearl:

 

Green Tahitian Pearl:

 

Grey Tahitian Pearl:

 

Pistachio Tahitian Pearl:

 

Dark Black Tahitian Pearl:

 

Peacock Tahitian Pearl:

 

Blue Tahitian Pearl:

 

In addition, Black pearls have the unique ability to display a variety of colors at the same time, shimmering about their surfaces in varying shades of colors such as the famous Peacock pearl shown here:

Here you can see a brilliant lustrous pearl that has both green and rose overtones at the same time.

By definition, since black is the absence of light, the magic and mystery of the black pearl is how its hundreds of concentric layers of what we call nacre  (nay - ker) or the skin of the pearl produce something so brilliant, bright and lustrous.

One of our favorite quotes is from the Novella, The Pearl, by John Steinbeck. Let's look and see how one of the greatest authors in the world describes in words the simple awe and magnificence of a pearl: Steinbeck says: "Kino lifted the flesh, and there it lay, the great pearl, perfect as the moon. It captured the light and refined it and gave it back in silver incandescence.  It was as large as a sea gulls egg. It was the greatest pearl in the world."

The most highly prized Black pearls are those of the iridescent Peacock, Green, and Blue colors, followed by Dark Black, Grays and Eggplant.

 

You can see a dark black Tahitiaan necklace below:

The Peacock, Green and Blue colors are extremely rare and difficult to supply. The most common color, which still commands top value is Black Green.

When comparing a Black Green strand to a Peacock or Green strand, be prepared to pay up to twice as much for the Peacock and Green pearls! It is for this reason that the Black Green is the standard black pearl color that American Pearl sells.  

And next lets take a look at American Pearl's magnificent multicolor tahitian pearl necklaces. Regardless of the shape of the necklace you are purchasing or its quality, multicolor tahitian pearl necklaces are beautiful and unique.

The lip of the oyster that produces a Tahitian Pearl is like a rainbow...displaying the full color spectrum in a narrow stripe bordering the oysters rim.  Coincidentally, these are the same colors that the oyster is capable of producing each time it makes a pearl. Each pearl on our spectacular multicolor necklaces are carefully composed,  borrowing one color from each of these colors available to create a true work of art and natural marvel.

Now lets take a look at Tahitian Pearl Sizes by looking at the following chart:

Black tahitian pearls range from 8 to 19 millimeters in size, the average being 13 millimeters. As with any cultured pearl, a fine quality black tahitian pearl may be evaluated by its size. Assuming that you have a round, good quality pearl, size is the most important factor which affects value. 8mm to 12mm pearls are the most common sizes harvested.

Let's take a look at an 8mm to 9mm TRUE AAA Quality Tahitian Pearl Necklace on a model, many of which are featured in our Tahitian Pearl Necklace Gallery. Here the pearls start at 8mm on either end of the necklace and graduate to 9mm in the center. Since these pearls have a 1mm range of graduation, this is considered a uniform necklace.

Now lets take a look at the next size up, 10mm to 11mm.

Here the pearls start at 10mm on either end of the necklace and graduate to 10mm in the center. Since the pearls have a 1mm range of graduation, this is considered a uniform necklace.

Now lets take a look at a 12mm to 14mm Tahitian Pearl Necklace:

Here the pearls start at 12mm on either end of the necklace and evenly graduate to 14mm in the center. This is considered a graduated pearl necklace since the pearls have a 2mm range of graduation.

Pearls ranging in size from 13mm to 15mm are very rare.

On a neckace like this, the pearls on either end of the necklace start at 13mm and slowly graduate to 15mm in the center.

Pearls ranging in size from 16mm up to 18mm are extremely rare and priceless. American Pearl collects these larger sizes and keeps them vaulted in its private collection. If you are interested in a pearl necklace from our Private Collection, please contact us for a special request.

Farmers, who spend their entire lives raising oysters in the wild and looking after their pearl farms usually covet these larger sizes as heirlooms, passed down in a family through succeeding generations or to special dealers like American Pearl. It is American Pearl's strong established relationships with the farmers which allow us to bring these extremely rare pearls to market.

Now lets take a look at quality.  At American Pearl, we use the system the G.I.A. developed to evaluate the quality of natural color cultured pearls. All of our necklaces are TRUE AAA Quality.  A TRUE AAA Quality Pearl Necklace scores the highest in all of the factors used to value pearls. The pearls have very high luster. Luster is the amount of light that strikes the surface of a  pearl and reflects to your eye.   

At American Pearl, we always recommend consumers purchase the finest quality pearls in their price range. Finer quality pearls are more beautiful, more durable and they have the best chance of appreciating in value over time.

Each item we feature is accompanied by a Certified Identification Report as shown using the GIA Pearl Grading System

We are among the only online companies that discloses the gold weight, the gold color, the gold purity, the pearl origin, pearl quality, market value, pearl and diamond color, diamond clarity and description of the item you are buying for identification and insurance purposes. We disclose this detailed information right next to every product you are considering so you can preview the certified identification report before purchasing and know exactly what value you are getting instead of buying blindly.

And now lets take a look at different Tahitian Pearl Necklace Styles to help you with your selection.

Lets start off with the simple classic choker.

If she loves Tahitian Pearls and wants a classic timeless necklace, this round uniform color black green TRUE AAA Quality choker is a must have.

A lot of people feel that baroque pearls look more natural looking like tumbled river stones.

If you think she might like this look shown, baroque pearls are for her.

Now lets look at a long strand of round opera length 10mm x 12mm Black Green Tahitian Pearl Necklace:

This is a stunning fashionable look for a someone who understands pearls and wants to make a fashion statement.

We also feature this look with baroque pearls as shown here with our long strand of baroque opera length 10mm x 12mm black green Tahitian Pearls. The pearls are similar in look to the round ones but the baroque pearls cost a fraction of the price.

You can also get the opera length style in a tin cup, otherwise known as a station necklace, where the pearls are spread out every inch and a half or so.

And of course you can get the tin cup in a choker as well as shown in this 10m x 12mm Tahitian Baroque Tin cup choker.

 

American Pearl is also well known for its custom work through its jewelry replicator service found at the top tab on our website.