MINERALOGICAL CLASS: organic substances

COLOR: white, champagne and silvery

DESCRIPTION: they are noble pearls, equipped with a thick and homogeneous layer of mother-of-pearl. Their diameter varies from 9 to 17 mm. In addition to their size, which is larger than that of other commercially grown pearls, South Sea pearls are characterized by a layer of nacre of considerable thickness, a satin shine and soft, natural colours. They are divided into white and black pearls. They are generally used in their natural state and do not require artificial treatments and colours. White pearls are grown in Australia, Indonesia and the Philippines. The black ones are farmed across a wide swath of the South Pacific. The pearls with golden or champagne shades are produced by the Maxima species of the Pinctada genus, called "golden-lipped" (north-eastern Pacific area: Philippines, Indonesia, Australia), while the silvery pearls derive from the Pinctada Maxima whose edges the outside of the valves are white and is called the "white-lipped" mollusk (Australian coasts and south-eastern Indonesia).

OTHER CHARACTERISTICS AND USE: even today in Australia the Pinctada Maxima is collected by divers at variable depths (8-30 m); in Indonesia and the Philippines, however, most pearl-bearing molluscs are raised in nurseries.

COMMENT: these pearls are grown in the seas north of Australia in the Pinctada Maxima ; it is a decidedly larger oyster than the Akoya-gai . This mollusk in fact has a diameter of about 25cm (compared to the 7-8cm of the akoya-gai). Pearls ranging from 9 to 16mm (and in some rare cases up to 20mm) are produced in this oyster. The colors are similar to Akoya pearls, but with a greater presence of silver as the background color. It is not uncommon to find Australian pearls tending towards metallic blue or even golden yellow (the latter defined as " gold pearls "). Their production, as well as their presence on the market, is significantly lower than akoya pearls. They are, in fact, the pearls that reach the highest prices.

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