Pure Pearls Glossary
Twin Pearl
Quality & GradingAlso called siamese pearl, double pearl, conjoined pearl
Two pearls fused together during growth, sharing a nacre skin.
Twin pearls form when two nuclei sit close enough that the mollusc coats them as one.
They are usually classed as baroque, since the outline has no symmetry, and they are priced as curiosities rather than by size.
Well-balanced twins are used as single dramatic pieces where the doubling is the design.
Baroque
Any pearl with no axis of symmetry. Once treated as a reject, now the shape most associated with contemporary pearl design.
Keshi Pearl
A pearl that forms by accident with no nucleus at all, so it is solid nacre. Irregular in shape and unusually bright.
Surface Blemish
Pits, bumps, creases and dull patches on a pearl's surface. Some marking is present on essentially every pearl.