Natural pearls and cultured pearls: A basic concept and its variations

For the production of cultured pearls a small number of main options can be chosen to constitute a general method. Non-beaded cultured pearls are usually mantle-grown in freshwater mussels. Beaded cultured pearls are usually gonad- grown in saltwater oysters. Minor variations lead to a greater number of different products available in the market today. With this article the author intends to remind the basic concept and possible variations in order to use correct terms for the different products.