Pure Pearls Glossary
Shell Pearl
A bead ground from shell and coated to look like a pearl. Not grown by a mollusc, so not a pearl.
A shell pearl starts as a bead cut from crushed and reconstituted shell, then receives a lacquer or pearlescent coating.
The result is perfectly round, perfectly matched and perfectly uniform, which is exactly how you spot it. Real pearls in a strand vary.
Shell pearls are heavier and cooler to the touch than plastic imitations, which is why they are convincing in photographs and in hand.
What you will hear
“Shell pearls are real pearls because they are made from real shell.”
In fact: The material is shell, but the pearl was manufactured on a lathe, not grown in a mollusc. That is an imitation by every gemmological definition.
When you are buying
Nothing is wrong with buying shell pearls knowingly for a costume piece. What matters is that they are sold as what they are. If a listing says shell pearl, Mallorca pearl or organic pearl, you are not buying a cultured pearl.
Read next
Imitation Pearl
A glass or plastic bead with a pearlescent coating. No nacre, no mollusc, no pearl.
Mother of Pearl
The iridescent nacre lining of a mollusc shell — the same material as a pearl, but formed as a sheet rather than a bead.
Tooth Test
Rub a pearl gently against the edge of a tooth. Real nacre feels faintly gritty; an imitation feels glassy smooth.
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.
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.