How to evaluate cultured pearls

Today most pearls found on the jewelry market are cultured pearls. Though not high valued at first, nowadays cultured pearls do occupied an important place on the jewelry world. When choosing a piece of pearl jewelry, it is important to learn how to tell the quality of the pearls. In this article, we will talk about how to evaluate cultured pearls.
1. Examine the luster of the cultured pearls. The beauty of pearls exists in its soft, moonlight-like luster, in other words, the ability to reflect the light. High-quality pearls should have perfect pearl luster and will show your reflection in the curved surface, while pearls in poor quality look dull without giving off any shine.
2. Examine the surface of cultured pearls. Since cultured pearls are formed inside the oysters without being interfered by human, nearly all the harvested pearls are found with some flaws. You can see the flaws on the surface of the pearls, such as discolorations, bumps and pits. High quality pearls should have as few visible flaws as possible.
3. Examine the shape of the cultured pearls. Though round pearls are the most valuable, pearls are rarely found in perfect sphere pearl shape. Rounder pearls are generally more valuable. However, if you find a pearl in perfect sphere, it is probably a false one.
4. Examine the size of the cultured pearls. Measure the diameter of the pearls. Generally speaking, large pearls are more valuable than small ones.
In conclusion, when you evaluate the cultured pearls, you need to take the following aspects into consideration: the pearl luster, the surface, the pearl shape and the pearl size. Those are the major factors that influence the pearl’s quality.