New developments in cultured pearl production: use of organic and baroque shell nuclei

Cultured pearls can be produced both with and without a nucleus. Marine pearl oysters that produce Akoya, South Sea and Tahitian cultured pearls typically use nuclei for their pearl products. The nucleus material used for these beaded cultured pearls is traditionally from freshwater Mississippi mussels. In recent years, there have been a number of attempts to use alternative pearl and shell materials as nuclei. This includes different types of shells, Bironite, laminated/powdered shell, freshwater cultured pearls and even natural pearls. The most recent development, detailed in this article, is the use of organic nuclei for the production of 2nd generation beaded baroque cultured pearls. Pearls cultured in this way first appeared on the market at the 2012 BaselWorld show. This paper examines how these pearls are linked to this new type of nucleus, how it is used in the pearl farming process, and details a gemmological study of the different generations of final pearl products.