Freshwater Pearl Grading
posted on 28 January 2011 | posted in
Fashion
Only the highest quality pearls are using when making freshwater pearl jewellery. This takes into account various properties of the pearl including, shape, luster, surface quality and blemishes, nacre thickness and how the pearls match on the strand. At the moment there is no international standard for grading pearls so each individual supplier and jewellery maker may grade them slightly differently. Also each pearl on a string of pearls may be graded differently and so it can be quite difficult to provide an overall grade for that piece of jewellery which is why it is so important to purchase pearl jewellery from a reputable supplier. Most suppliers use the A, AA, AAA grading system with AAA being the best(Tahitian pearls may be graded A – D) and will follow the industry’s accepted guidelines and conventions. A grade AAA pearl will be round, have a high luster, be 95% free from blemishes, have over 0.5% nacre and be very well matched to other pearls in the piece.
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