Long considered the world’s most valuable and sophisticated gem, pearls were sewn into the robes of Chinese royalty nearly 5,000 years ago. They adorned Princess Diana’s wedding gown when she became part of England’s royal family, and brides worldwide select them as a tasteful finishing touch to their bridal wardrobe. Natural or cultured pearls scattered across the bride’s creamy white gown with a matching necklace and pearl earrings lend a distinctive aura of elegance to the occasion.

The Difference Between Natural and Cultured Pearls

Both natural and cultured pearls are created primarily in oysters. Natural pearls, once so valuable they were used a currency, are the oyster’s response to a grain of sand or some other irritant making its way into the oyster's soft inner tissue. The tiny foreign substance stimulates a process of calcium carbonate secretions and a lovely pearl is the eventual result. Perfectly formed natural pearls, uniformly round and smooth are extremely rare, hence very valuable.

Cultured pearls are created in the same manner as natural pearls except the irritant that prompts the oyster to create the pearl in its midst is introduced artificially. Both types of pearls are hard, lustrous, iridescent spheres made up of a crystalline form of calcium carbonate. Outwardly identical, but structurally different inside, natural pearls can be undisputedly distinguished from cultured pearls only by gemmological X-ray.

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