Pearls are the oldest gemstone known to man and are the only gemstone produced by a living organism. Pearls are believed to bring good fortune, ward off evil spirits and protect the wearer from illnesses. Pearls are also associated with femininity, chastity and purity making them a popular and traditional choice for bridal jewellery.

Pearls are the official birthstone for the month of June and are the birthstone for the Sun signs of Gemini and Cancer. Freshwater Pearls are traditionally given on the first wedding anniversary and are also given on the 3rd 12th and 30th anniversaries.

Pearls may be Freshwater or Saltwater and may be cultured or naturally grown. Pearls are produced by certain animals, primarily molluscs such as pearl oysters and are cultivated or harvested for jewellery. One of the main factors determining the value of a pearl is it's lustre, which depends upon the reflection and refraction of light from translucent layers and becomes finer in proportion as the layers become finer and more numerous. Pearls are also valued by their shape, with the round shaped pearls being the most valuable, their size, with the larger pearls being the most valuable and rare, and whether they are naturally grown or cultured, with naturally grown pearls being by far the most rare and valuable.

Natural pearls are so rarely found today that the vast majority of pearls available today are cultured. Freshwater pearls are formed in freshwater mussels and saltwater pearls are grown in oysters. A natural pearl forms when a tiny foreign object such as a grain of sand or tiny parasite makes its way into an oyster or mollusc. As a natural defence against the foreign object, the oyster secretes nacre and deposits layers of this nacre (mother of pearl) over the object. This layering process is repeated for many years, becoming increasingly larger with each coat of nacre creating a pearl.

Natural Pearls are 100% nacre. Cultured pearls are formed when a larger foreign object is artificially placed into an oyster, thereby nucleating it. The oyster then secretes nacre in exactly the same way, with fewer layers of nacre forming over the object. Advances in pearl cultivation have made it increasingly difficult to determine whether a pearl is natural, however an X-ray of the pearl will show the structure of the pearl clearly and is the only sure way to determine the pearls origin. The Jenny Gutierrez designer pearl jewellery collection features both cultured pearls and rare natural pearls.

Pearls are valued according to their colour, shape, size, type and grade.

Pearls are available in a vast choice of colours, both natural and colour enhanced. Natural pearl colours are tones of lavender, peach, pink, yellow, silver, cream, white, copper and black with these natural colour pearls often having rainbow overtones or peacock overtones. Natural colour pearls often have variances in colour across their surface and are rarely found in one uniform colour. If the pearl has a uniform colour it is likely to be dyed. There is no right and wrong when it comes to choosing a Pearl colour, only personal preference however pearls in natural tones will always be more valuable than dyed or colour enhanced pearls. Jenny Gutierrez designer pearl jewellery is handmade using natural colour pearls and selected colour enhanced pearls. All of our colour enhanced pearls are cleared described as so.

Pearls are available in a large variety of shapes with perfectly round pearls being the most coveted and valuable along with the more unusual and rare shapes such as keishi petal pearls. ‘Potato’, ‘Rice’ and ‘Button’ shaped pearls are widely available, are very inexpensive and are the pearl type most often used by many pearl jewellery designers. Jenny Gutierrez designer pearl jewellery is handmade using only the most coveted and most valuable pearl shapes; unlike other pearl jewellery designers we do not use any inferior quality pearls in our pearl jewellery.

There are many types of pearl available from the popular white cultured freshwater pearls and Saltwater Akoya pearls through to black Tahitian Pearls and South Seas pearls to the more unusual Keishi Pearls, Mabe Pearls and Biwa Pearls and ultra rare pearls like Kasumi pearls, Paua Pearls and Conch pearls (found only naturally and in only 1 in 10,000 conch shells).

Black pearls, commonly known as Black Tahitian Pearls are highly valued due to their rarity. Before the days of cultured pearls Black pearls were incredibly rare due to the fact that white pearl oysters rarely produce black pearls, and black pearl oysters rarely produce any pearls at all.

The Akoya Pearl is a Saltwater pearl from the Akoya oys ter. Akoya Pearls are known for their aesthetic qualities and are the classic pearl variety used in fine jewellery.

South Sea Pearls are the rarest and most valuable variety of pearl.

The size of a pearl will depend greatly upon the type of pearl.

Freshwater pearls range in size from about 1mm upwards, Akoya pearls range from about 3mm upwards, and South Sea and Tahitian pearls can reach sizes larger than 15mm. Exotic shape pearls such as keishi pearls (also called keshi pearls) can vary massively in size with the larger and thinner keishi pearls being much more valuable.

A pearls value is largely determined by its grade. Pearls without surface blemishes are extremely valuable and the value of these pearls increases considerable with the size of the pearl due to the rarity of pearls in larger sizes with smooth blemish free skin. Although there is no industry standard way of grading a pearl, the most commonly used pearl grading system grades pearls between AAAA to C grades. The majority of pearl jewellery sold today is created using grades B to C pearls. Jenny Gutierrez pearl jewellery is handmade using pearls of only AA+ grade and above.

When buying Pearl Jewellery take great care to ensure that you are buying genuine Pearls rather than artificial pearls such as glass pearls or Swarovski Pearls. When buying your Pearl jewellery you should always ask your jewellery designer whether the Pearls are genuine. You should also check the quality of the pearls; most pearl jewellery sold today is created from low grade pearls. A reputable Pearl jewellery designer will always be able to provide you with a written guarantee that you are buying a genuine Pearl and will provide you with information about the grade of the Pearls used in their pearl jewellery.

Pearl Jewellery Care: Do not allow contact with household chemicals, perfume, hairspray or make up as these can damage the pearls. The best way to care for your pearls is to wear them as pearls are enhanced by the skins natural oils.