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Often called
black pearl, the Tahiti Cultured Pearl is rarely
black and comes in an array of natural colour,
from pale grey to black with green, pink, blue and
gold overtone.
 The
grafting operation is very delicate. It is the
introduction of a perfectly round nucleus, made
from the shell of a mussel from the Mississippi
River, into the gonad of an oyster, along with a
small piece of mantle taken from another oyster
and called « graft ».
Twenty out of one hundred oysters die
immediately after the operation or during the
following months and 30 reject the nucleus. Of the
50 remaining oysters, 20% make pearls of poor
quality that unsaleable. Only 30% of the
production is of commercial value and one or two
pearls are perfect.
This is the reason why a large round pearl
with a perfect surface and a rare colour has no
price. And, also why it is so difficult to match
two pearls for a pair of high quality earrings or
30 to 40 pearls for a fine strand. |
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