Pure Pearls Glossary
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.
A cultured pearl forms exactly the way a wild one does. The mollusc coats an intruding object in layer after layer of nacre. The only human contribution is placing that object rather than waiting for chance.
Culturing was commercialised in Japan in the early 1900s. It is the reason pearls stopped being aristocratic and became something anyone can own.
Cultured is not a euphemism for imitation. A cultured pearl is nacre made by a living animal. An imitation pearl is glass or plastic with a coating.
What you will hear
“Cultured means artificial or man-made.”
In fact: Cultured pearls are grown by a living oyster or mussel out of the same nacre as a wild pearl. The word describes how the process started, not what the pearl is made of.
When you are buying
If a seller markets pearls as natural rather than cultured at an ordinary price, treat that as a red flag rather than a feature. Genuinely natural pearls are auction-house material.
Cultured pearl jewellery
A few from the collection, from ₹400.
Pearl finger ring in black pearl for women
Rich and Traditional Pearl Studs Just like the ones made in Gold
Cute Pearl Studs in leaf like Zircon Stones
The Moonrise Ring
Lustrous Gold Finish Pendant Accentuated With 7mm Oval White Pearl
Twirled Knot Pendant Accentuated With 7mm Oval White Pearl & CZ
Pretty Flower Earrings Featuring White Mother Of Pearl Petals & Peach Pearls
Stunning Linear AD Studs With White Oval Pearl Drops
Read next
Natural Pearl
A pearl that formed with no human involvement at all. Vanishingly rare, and effectively absent from the retail market.
Imitation Pearl
A glass or plastic bead with a pearlescent coating. No nacre, no mollusc, no pearl.
Nacre
The material a pearl is made of: microscopic aragonite platelets glued in layers by conchiolin. Thickness determines both lustre and lifespan.
Freshwater Pearl
A pearl grown inside a mussel in a river or lake, rather than an oyster in the sea. Most pearl jewellery sold today is freshwater.
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.