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When most people think of pearls they picture perfectly round, smooth spheres, creamy white in colour with a shimmery iridescent surface. The reality is that pearls are usually irregular in shape, each one is different and to find one that is completely round is almost unheard of, not to mention trying to make a whole necklace of pearls that are all more or less the same. Natural pearls are the rarest and most highly valued variety, but nowadays most pearl jewellery is made from cultured or farmed pearls, which are grown on pearl farms across the world by inserting a bead nucleus inside an oyster or mussel shell to encourage the formation of a pearl. Aside from whether a pearl has formed naturally or been farmed the main difference is between saltwater and freshwater pearls, which both have their own different properties.

Saltwater pearls are found in pearl oysters which live in the ocean, and produce the classic round white or cream pearls that have remained so desirable and sought after throughout history. Comparing farmed pearls, saltwater pearls are often rounder than those grown in freshwater farms as they are made by inserting a bead into the oyster to encourage the shape. Cultured saltwater pearls like the Japanese Akoya pearl are usually more expensive than the freshwater ones as they are bigger and more regular in shape. It is still possible to find natural saltwater pearls in the ocean, but they are much less common nowadays because of increased levels of pollution.

The most common type of pearl available today are freshwater pearls, which are mostly produced in China using freshwater mussels and come in a huge variety of shapes, sizes and colours. The natural colours of freshwater pearls are various shades of white, pink, cream and lilac but they can be easily dyed any other colour to be used for jewellery. Freshwater pearls are easier to farm succesfully than saltwater pearls, and for this reason they are slightly cheaper to buy, although less likely to be perfectly round or to find enough to make a whole string of the exact same size and colour.