Kasumi Pearl
A large freshwater pearl from Lake Kasumigaura in Japan, known for soft metallic apricot and lavender tones.
True kasumi pearls come from a hybrid mussel farmed at Lake Kasumigaura, in very small numbers.
They are usually slightly baroque, often with a dimpled or rippled surface, in muted pinks, apricots, golds and greys.
Chinese-grown pearls in a similar style are widely sold as kasumi-like, which is a description of appearance rather than origin.
When you are buying
Ask whether a kasumi pearl is Japanese or kasumi-style. Both can be lovely; only one is rare, and the price gap between them is large.
Edison Pearl
A large bead-nucleated freshwater pearl grown in China, reaching South Sea sizes at freshwater prices.
Freshwater Pearl
A pearl grown inside a mussel in a river or lake, rather than an oyster in the sea. Most pearl jewellery sold today is freshwater.
Baroque
Any pearl with no axis of symmetry. Once treated as a reject, now the shape most associated with contemporary pearl design.
Overtone
A translucent secondary colour lying over a pearl's main body colour, most often rose, silver or green.