Saltwater Pearls - Black Pearls/Tahitian Pearls
For Those Who Love the Exotic
Black pearls look exclusive. They add drama to what you wear. They are the basis of any interesting piece of jewelry. They are exotic.
The first large
cultured black pearls were grown in French Polynesia around 1969. Tahiti cultivates 96% of all black South Sea Pearls. The rest are from the Cook Islands. Marketing black pearls required special skills, and most of the success with consumers is credited to Sal Assael in New York, who has devoted his life to making the black beauties popular. Individual pearls may be 18mm or more and sell for $2000 to $4000 apiece.
Most black pearls are not "black" but range from a medium to very dark gray. They are called black pearls because they come from the Black-Lip oyster (Pinctada margaritifera). Black lipped oysters can produce the most beautiful pearls in an array of colours: silvery-gray, bronze, ranging from copper to light browns, peacock green, deep purple and different hues of iridescent greenish black pearls. Because of their large sizes and unique colours, they command premium prices. Right now, pearls that are uniform in size and colour are most popular, more so than graduated strands in tones of the same colour. Slightly off-round to completely freeform black pearls in necklaces and earrings are preferred by many jewelry designers and their clients. Always look for gem quality and the unique pieces that reflect the beauty of pearl.
When you are comparing black pearls of the same size, shape and overall quality, you should examine them to see if they are dyed. Here is a list of things that may indicate if the pearls are dyed (compare pearls that are the same size, shape overall quality):
1. If the price is low, consider the possibility that the pearl or pearls may be dyed. Natural coloured black pearls are expensive.
2. Black pearls are usually 9mm or more. If the pearl or pearls are less than 9mm, they may be dyed Akoya pearls or black pearls with thin nacre. Even so, a large black pearl could be dyed and large round South Sea pearls are sometimes dyed.
3. Most natural coloured black pearls are grayish with an overtone. Dying these pearls usually makes them very black. It is very unlikely to find a strand which has black pearls of exactly the same even colour.
4. Tahitian black pearls usually have distinctive shapes (baroque) and uneven surfaces. They can have a ring-like formation around them. If they are perfectly round and low in price, suspect that they are dyed.
5. Sometimes the dye concentrates around the drill hole. You can see this by examining the drill hole with a loupe. Also, while doing this, if you notice that the bead inside looks dark and the nacre inside the pearl looks white, the pearl could have been irradiated. The nucleus could have been dyed.
6. If you photograph natural coloured pearl with coloured infrared film they will tend to look bIue. Pearls coloured with silver salts generally look yellow (or range from greenish blue to yellow green).
