South Sea Pearls 101

South Sea Pearls are widely known as the "queen of gems" and for good reason. These pearls are known worldwide for their natural colors of Silvery-White and Gold, have a reputation for their large size and luxurious luster. They are highly revered in the world of jewelry due to their rarity and beauty. The glowing luster of these pearls is unmatched by any other gemstone, making them a popular choice among collectors and fashion enthusiasts alike. Whether worn as earrings, necklaces or bracelets, South Sea Pearls add an elegant touch to any outfit with their unique colors and sizes.

They are grown on pearl farms in the pinctada maxima saltwater pearl oyster, which grows to over a foot in diameter at maturity. 
These pearls are cultured in warm tropical waters of Northern Australia, Indonesia and The Philippines. The gold-lipped pearl oyster produces the Golden South Sea pearls, and the silver-lipped oyster produces White South Sea pearls.
The nucleated oysters are carefully placed in mesh baskets and suspended from floating rafts. This allows the oysters to have access to a clean ocean current, which helps them filter feed and produce high-quality pearls. The process of cultivating these precious gems is delicate and requires skilled techniques to ensure the best results.
The pearls are harvested after a period of 2-3 years and have thick, beautiful and lustrous nacre, averaging 2 – 4mm in depth around their bead nucleus.
This mother of pearl thicknesss offer up a softer, more satin-like luster that appears more to glow rather than shine. 
They are famous as being the largest of all cultured pearl types. Both White and Golden pearls generally start at 8 – 9 mm and regularly get as big as 17 mm … and larger, reaching over 20 mm at their biggest sizes.

As with all other pearl types, perfectly round pearls are the most highly valued, but both White and Golden South Sea pearls have a very wide variety of pearl shapes to choose from including baroques, drops, ovals, buttons and free-form baroques.
Their colors are completely natural and stunning without any color-treatments or dyes of any kind.
White South Sea pearls feature a white body color for the vast majority of pearls  with overtones of rose, silver or cream.
Rose – rose overtones are the rarest overtone for White South Sea pearls, and typically show up as a pastel pink tint that appears to float over the core white body color.
Silver – silver overtones are the most prevalent overtone for White South Sea pearls, and help boost that “bright white” appearance these pearls are most known for. Silver shows up as a white sheen, tinged with blue.
Cream – cream is a “warm” overtone and shows up as a slight yellowish tint, usually over a warm white body color.
Golden South Sea pearls have natural golden colors hues that can range from pale lemon yellow to the darkest 24kt golden tones.
Golden South Sea pearls feature a rather muted range of overtones which include gold, silver, rose and green.
Gold – This is the most common Golden South Sea pearl overtone.
Silver – the second most common Golden South Sea pearl overtone. Silver is a pale white sheen that shimmers over the main golden body color of the pearl.
Rose – rose is a pinkish tinge over the main golden body color, and can help enhance the pearl’s warmth and wearability.
Green – green (bronze) overtones are one of the most interesting, unique and complex overtones available.