Freshwater Pearls

Freshwater pearls are non-nucleus pearls, which compare to nucleus pearls such as Tahitian pearls, South Sea pearls and Akoya pearls. Freshwater pearl cultivation primarily involves implanting mantle tissue(cell sheet) into freshwater mussel's mantle to stimulate the secretion of nacre, thereby forming "nucleus-free pearls", which we also call "Tissue-nucleus pearls".

Freshwater pearls are created in freshwater mussels in lakes, rivers and ponds. Today, most freshwater pearls on the market come from rivers and lakes in China, although USA and Japan have a small fraction of the market. Chinese freshwater pearls production accounts for 95% of the world's total. A freshwater mussel produce up to 50 pearls at a time (compared to the two to five pearls that saltwater oysters can contain).

All freshwater pearls in the market you can see are freshwater cultured pearls, meaning they were grown in pearl farms using science and technology rather than in nature by accident. The current scientific cultivation technique involves trained technicians implanting stimulants in the mussels to stimulate pearl formation. Unlike the nuclei commonly used in Akoya and other saltwater pearl cultures, the nuclei of freshwater pearls are usually tissue from donated mussels.

The fresh water pearls cultured by the above cultivation techniques do not contain nacreous nuclei, but are entirely composed of nacreous layers. The advantage of a thick layer of nacre is that pearls are more durable and beautiful.

Freshwater Pearls Color and Overtone

The main colors of freshwater pearls include white, cream and gray, as well as pastel hues such as canary yellow, lavender, pink and orange. High quality freshwater pearls have pink, green, and blue accents, while low quality gemstone pearls do not have any desirable accents. White, cream, mauve and black are the most popular colors for freshwater pearls. However, black freshwater pearls are artificially dyed. Only Tahitian pearls are naturally charcoal gray to black. The pink freshwater pearls and purple freshwater pearls are unique colors and white freshwater pearls are hot sale.

Freshwater Pearl Shapes

Although the shape of pearls is typically spherical, only 5% of pearls are perfectly round. The rest of the pearls are nearly round, button-shaped, semi-baroque and baroque. In the past, only round pearls were considered worthy of inclusion in jewelry. But with the development of art of The Times, more and more people have noticed the unique beauty of irregular shaped pearls.

Freshwater Pearl Sizes

The size of a freshwater pearl is determined by the growing season of the pearl. Freshwater pearls generally range in size from 2.0 mm to 15.0 mm, with more than 15.0 mm very rare.

Freshwater Pearl Luster

Luster is an crucial consideration when buying pearls. The luster of a pearl is proportional to its value. In general, Akoya and South Sea pearls (saltwater pearls) have a better luster than freshwater pearls. But there are exceptions, and it depends on each pearl.

Freshwater Pearl Value

Freshwater pearls are the most affordable and most abundant pearl variety on the market. While they look similar to Akoya pearls, freshwater pearls can be up to 80% less expensive than Akoya.

We mainly provide high and mid-high quality Freshwater pearls wholesale. Freshwater pearls in loose, pairs and strands for jewelry making.

Shape: Round | Near Round | Rice | Keshi

Color: White | Pink | Lavender(Purple) | Grey(Irradiated) | Black(Dyed)

Luster: Good | Very Good | Excellent | Aurora

Type: Loose pearls | Strand pearls | Paired pearls

If you need large hole freshwater pearls please contact us, we provide large hole drilling service.

As we have many Freshwater pearls in different sizes, colors, shapes, and grades, you can use the filter function to quickly filter out the Freshwater pearls you want.

First, determine whether you are looking for Freshwater pearls in loose pearls, strand pearls, or paired pearls, then select the desired color (you can also select multiple colors), and if the result is not accurate enough, you can select the shape or even the size to get the desired result.