Freshwater Pearls---a Worthy Opponent of Saltwater Pearls.

When you think of Freshwater pearls, what comes to mind?

Do you invision a small, irregular shape? That was pretty much the case years ago. For a long time, Freshwater pearl farms only produced low quality pearls, while Saltwater pearls were more round and of better quality.

But now, the Chinese have made advances in their cultivating methods that have allowed them to match the quality of Saltwater pearls. Many improvements have been seen in the cultivation and processing techniques of Freshwater pearls. With modern freshwater cultivation methods, Freshwater pearls today are of excellent quality - with outstanding body, shape, and luster which can be on equal footing with that of Saltwater Akoya pearls. In some cases, freshwater cultured pearls exceed the quality of Saltwater Akoya Pearls. Therefore, the least expensive cultured Freshwater pearl product on the market today rivals the quality of the most expensive natural pearls.

This value is obvious to consumers wanting Chinese Freshwater bargains. The once inferior Freshwater pearls are steadily becoming a strong opponent of Saltwater pearls. Cultured Freshwater pearls are farmed in lakes, ponds and are grown in mussels.

The Freshwater pearl cultivating technique usually produces twenty or more pearls in one oyster. Recent research shows a Freshwater mollusk can create as many as 50 pearls at a time.

Saltwater Cultured Pearls are farmed in saltwater. The term "Akoya" is used internationally to signify Saltwater Pearls. Here’s how it works: the Akoya mollusk is implanted with a round bead along with a small piece of mantle tissue which allows nacre to develop around the bead. The number of beads that can be inserted into the mollusk depends on the mollusk, but usually no more than 3 beads can be inserted into one mollusk. This limited creation makes Saltwater pearls much more expensive than Freshwater pearls.

Colors

Freshwater pearls have an added attraction since they come in a wide range of colors as compared to Saltwater pearls. By adding very small quantities of metals to the water on a pearl farm, the colors of Freshwater pearls can be very unique, something not usually seen in Saltwater pearls.

Shapes

Freshwater pearls can be found in almost any shape that you can imagine: round, drop, rice, button, potato, oval, semi-round, Baroque, rectangle coin, heart-shape, and Mother-of-Pearl. Because of its popularity, the round shape is usually the most expensive, but as always, personal preference dictates the shape each customer will find most beautiful. Baroque pearls are favored by many people because of their irregular and unique shape. In fact, Baroque shapes, like color variety, offer beaders more options, despite the fact that farmers aim for smooth round cultured pearls.

Cultivation Periods

Japanese Akoya pearls take a shorter period of time - less than 2 years. The cultivation period for Chinese Freshwater pearls in the 1980s was 18 to 24 months. This short time resulted in small sizes and low quality.

Today, Chinese pearl farms have changed their way of cultivating pearls to let their mussels stay in the water for a much longer time. Freshwater pearls take from three years to as many as 5 to 6 years before they are ready for harvest. Longer cultivation periods have led to Freshwater pearls that are much bigger in size and higher in quality.

Comparable Sizes

New farming techniques and longer cultivation periods have increased the size of Freshwater pearls. Large Freshwater pearls in the range of 9 to 16 mm are now more common, and equivalent to South Sea pearls in size, yet more aggressively priced.

Quality

The shape, surface and luster of today’s Freshwater pearls have already surpassed the original Biwa quality. As testimony to China's achievement, good Freshwater pearls are now round enough, clean and lustrous enough to pass as Japanese Akoya and South Sea pearls.
To sum up, Freshwater pearl farmers have improved their cultivation methods and processing techniques. These farmers are creating a pearl that is much less expensive, yet its quality rivals that of the more expensive Saltwater pearls. In that way, Akoya pearls and their status as the pearl of choice has been significantly challenged by the outstanding quality of Freshwater pearls. The new Freshwater pearls that are now produced are clearly equal in quality to Akoya pearls but at a fraction of the Akoya price. When Freshwater pearls are round, they are magnificent - the nacre is full, the molecular structure of the nacre is tightly bound and the luster is spectacular.

Although China, Japan, and the U.S. all produce cultured Freshwater pearls, China dominates the market. The Chinese produce a massive volume of Freshwater pearls every year. Nobody knows how many Freshwater pearls are produced in China, but experts estimate that they produce 10 times the amount of all other Freshwater countries combined. Most pearl farms in China are within 300 miles of Shanghai. Lake Thaihu, where the Freshwater pearl culture began, is still used as a pearl farm site today. There are countless small, family run pearl farms all over the countryside in China, as well as large corporate-owned operations. The Chinese freshwater pearl industry is indeed the largest pearl industry in the world.

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