Pure Pearls Glossary
Natural Pearl
A pearl that formed with no human involvement at all. Vanishingly rare, and effectively absent from the retail market.
Natural pearls form when a parasite or fragment gets inside a wild mollusc by accident. Historic Gulf fisheries, the source of the famed Basra pearls, were exhausted a century ago.
Surviving natural pearls turn up in estate jewellery and at auction, and they are identified by X-ray, which shows irregular growth rings with no bead or implanted tissue at the centre.
In everyday Indian retail the word natural is used very loosely, often to mean nothing more than a real pearl as opposed to a plastic bead.
What you will hear
“This strand is natural, not cultured.”
In fact: At any normal price point, it is cultured. That is not a problem, it is simply what the entire modern pearl trade sells.
When you are buying
Anyone selling natural or Basra pearls at ordinary jewellery prices is using the word loosely at best. Ask instead whether the pearl is freshwater or saltwater, and what its nacre and grade are. Those questions have verifiable answers.
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Cultured Pearl
A real pearl grown in a farmed mollusc after a technician places an irritant inside it. Essentially every pearl on the market is cultured.
Basra Pearl
Natural pearls historically fished from the Persian Gulf. The name is now used far more often than the pearls exist.
Certificate of Authenticity
A document stating what a pearl is. Useful in proportion to who issued it and what it actually tests.
Not sure what you are being sold?
Paste any pearl description — another shop’s listing, a message from a jeweller, an old certificate — and we will break it down term by term.