Pure Pearls Glossary
Peeling
Nacre lifting or flaking away from a pearl, exposing the bead beneath. Terminal, and caused by thin nacre or chemical damage.
Peeling only happens to bead-nucleated pearls, since a solid-nacre freshwater pearl has no core to expose.
It usually starts at the drill hole or at a friction point, appearing first as a dull patch and then as a visible lifted edge.
There is no repair. A peeling pearl can only be replaced.
When you are buying
This is the practical argument for asking about nacre thickness on any saltwater pearl. It is the difference between a piece your daughter inherits and one that fails in a decade.
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Nacre
The material a pearl is made of: microscopic aragonite platelets glued in layers by conchiolin. Thickness determines both lustre and lifespan.
Bead Nucleated
Grown around a round shell bead, so the pearl is a nacre shell over a core. The saltwater method, and how roundness is achieved.
Pearl Care
Pearls are soft and porous. They need to go on last, come off first, and be stored apart from everything else.
Tissue Nucleated
Grown around a scrap of mantle tissue instead of a bead, so the pearl is solid nacre throughout. The freshwater method.
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.