At Little Sylvia, we like to use pearls in our earring pieces. All pearls used in our products are real cultured freshwater pearls, unless stated otherwise in the material details of the product.
Since freshwater pearls are grown and not factory-made, each pearl is different from another in size, shape, lustre and degree of iridescence. Blemishing is natural in pearls, though top-grade pearls have less to no visible blemishing.
The price of freshwater pearls is dependent on their size, shape, lustre, degree of iridescence and blemishing. As a general rule, the larger, rounder, higher lustre, stronger iridescence and no blemishing pearls are more expensive. Little Sylvia specialises in medium-grade (high quality, see more on grading and quality of pearls in sections below) freshwater pearls that offer a high value for money and that the average person can easily afford. So we pick our pearls based on their uses. Most of our pearls have little to no blemishing with high to very high lustre. We describe the pearls used in each product in great detail, please read the information before making your purchase.
What are the shapes of freshwater pearls?
Freshwater pearls come in various shapes, the most widely accepted shape is round, but there are also others.
What are the sizes of freshwater pearls?
Freshwater pearls are usually described in size ranges as the size of pearls can vary indefinitely. Some pearl sellers describe the pearls in a range 0.5mm larger than the actual size (i.e. rounded up). At Little Sylvia, we describe the size of our pearls in their true size measurements.
Common sizes for freshwater pearls are 4mm to 10mm.
Different types of freshwater pearls
There are two main types of freshwater pearls: cored and coreless.
Coreless is the traditional type of cultured freshwater pearl, where the pearl is grown from a small insertion of an oyster’s mantle tissue. The cultured pearls usually vary in shape and size and has a thick pearl layer.
The more recent development is to culture with a shell bead, which forms the inner core of the cultured pearl. This method mimics the cultivation of seawater pearls and has the benefit of being able to control the size of the cultured pearl. As a result, cored pearls can be much larger than and rounder than coreless pearls. The drawback is cored pearls have a thinner pearl layer compared with coreless pearls.
At Little Sylvia, we use both cored and coreless pearls in our products.
Grading of freshwater pearls
There is no official international grade of freshwater pearls. The grading of a pearl is usually assessed based on its shape, lustre, iridescence and degree of blemishing. We describe our pearls in these details so you can make the choice when shopping with us.
| Factor | Poor Quality | Good Quality | High Quality | Top Quality |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Degree of blemishing e.g. dots, lines, rings, scratches, marks | Blemished | Minor, small blemishes noticeable | Very Minor, 1-2 small blemishes, usually not noticeable unless looked closely | None, or none visible at social distance |
| Lustre i.e. how shiny or reflective it is | Low | Medium | High | Very High (mirror-like) |
| Iridescence i.e. has a rainbow tint in the reflection | No | No | No | Yes |
At Little Sylvia, we work with good to top quality pearls at a medium price point. Most of our pearls have qualities matching the highlighted cells.
We’ve excluded the shape factor in the above table, because we don’t think it’s important in describing the quality of a pearl. We use various shapes of pearls in our products and describe them separately in the product details. You can also see it clearly from the photos.
Blemishing and Lustre are our top two selection criteria when sourcing our pearls. Iridescence only occurs in pearls with very high lustre and is rarely encountered.
You probably have guessed it, if you’re looking for round, blemish-free, very high lustre pearls with iridescence, it’s going to cost an arm and a leg and it’s out of our range. We pick our pearls carefully so you get stunning quality at an affordable price. Check out our range of pearl earrings and bracelets (coming soon).