Pearl Shapes and Colours

Pearls come in a bewildering variety of shapes, colours and sizes. Round pearls traditionally command the highest prices but it's worth remembering that wild pearls were rarely round. Different shapes can give you a lot of pearl without breaking the bank.

Choosing a colour is largely a matter of skin tone and personal preference. Classic white, ivory and cream are usually a safe bet.
   Pearl Guide
pearl history a brief history of pearls
how pearls are formed how pearls are formed
pearl qualities and grades pearl qualities and grades
pearl shapes and colours pearl shapes and colours
pearl sizes pearl sizes and comparisons
choosing and caring for pearls choosing and caring for pearls
buying pearls buying pearls - tricks and traps
round pearlsRound Pearls are rarely perfect spheres unless they are of gem quality or imitation. The longer the pearl remains within the oyster or mussel the more chance there is of it developing an irregular shape. round pearls

Contrary to the images portrayed in films very large round pearls are uncommon - and expensive. Even pearls nucleated with a shell bead have a hard time keeping their shape as they grow.

off round pearls The term off-round is used to describe pearls which are 'roundish' to the eye but have a slightly oval or flattened shape. They can still have excellent qualities in terms of lustre or lack of blemish.
Oval Pearls

oval pearls Are sometimes known as rice pearls. It comes from the very early days of Chinese freshwater pearl production when large numbers of low quality pearls entered the market and were derided as 'rice-crispies' after the cereal.

Oval pearls can form when two pearls in the same mollusc join together.
Baroque Pearls

baroque pearls Most natural wild pearls were off-round or baroque (a general term for irregular shape).
baroque pearls
Bead nucleated pearls (pearls seeded with a round shell bead) may develop a tail on one side.

The most valuable baroque pearls are South Sea and Tahitian. Due to the length of time under cultivation a high percentage of the pearl harvest is baroque.
Button Pearls

Many people think of an oyster or mussel producing one pearl. In fact a mollusc may create over a dozen pearls depending on how it is seeded. Some of these are button pearls, so-called because of their shape - round on one side and flat on the other.

button pearls Though unrelated to button pearls, America once had a thriving industry producing mother-of-pearl buttons for coats and jackets. Plastic killed the industry but American mussel shells are still exported to Japan for nucleating seawater pearls.
keishi pearlsKeishi Pearls are accidents which happen when the mollusc rejects the nucleus and grows a 'free form' pearl.
Pearl Colours

Pearls come in a variety of colours. Natural colours are mainly down to to the breed of mollusc. Other influences include diet, water temperature and pollutants.

pearl colours
No-one can predict or control what colour pearls will be produced in any hatchery.



Black pearls are rarely jet black but blue, green, grey, aubergine, peacock and more. Green is the predominant colour.

black pearls
Naturally coloured black pearls come from the pearl farms of French Polynesia (Tahitian pearls) as well as Indonesia and the Phillipines.

Except for freaks, there are no natural black freshwater or Akoya pearls though these may be dyed or irradiated to simulate black pearls. The majority of 'black' pearls are treated in some way - it doesn't harm the pearl.
Biwa Pearls

The term 'Biwa' derives from Lake Biwa - a large freshwater lake near Kyoto in Japan. This was once the focus of the Japanese freshwater pearl industry. In the 1980's pearl production ceased due to industrial pollution.

biwa pearls

Stick pearls like those shown left are sometimes called Biwa pearls.



Biwa became a generic name for all freshwater pearls regardless of their shape. Technically it is incorrect to call pearls Biwa unless they actually come from Lake Biwa.