Golden South Sea Pearls
Golden South Sea pearls are well known for their exceptional quality and beauty with their golden color. They are notably larger than the “average” pearls, and are stunningly smooth and round. They are likely the rarest and most extraordinary pearls to be found in jewelry.
Golden South Sea pearls come from the oyster pinctada maxima, which is a white-lipped type of mollusk. The oyster is larger than the oysters that produce Freshwater and Akoya pearls, and accounts for the larger size of South Sea pearls.
Actually, two varieties of the Pinctada maxima produce the South Sea pearls: the silver-lipped and the gold-lipped. The colour of the outer edge of their interior distinguishes the one from the other. Their shell, also called mother-of-pearl is responsible for the tint of the cultured pearls produced.
Due to the rarity and sensitivity of the pinctada maxima, the farming of South Sea pearls requires a lot of exact work and the pearls tend to be more expensive than other types of pearls.
When it comes to South Sea pearls, the larger they are, the more valuable they are. Golden South Sea Pearl cultivators hope for frequent harvests of very large pearls in perfectly round shapes. However, the formation of South Sea pearls, just like other kinds of pearls, is unpredictable, and the slightest environmental change can produce changes in shape, or blemishes, or even no pearl at all.
Hence the perfectly round or spherical golden South Sea pearl is considered the most valuable.
The three most common South Sea pearl shapes are round, semi-round, and button.
Round. These pearls are perfectly round, and when they’re measured with a caliper, the variation in the circumference is less than 2%
Semi-Round. A pearl that appears to be round to the eye, but when measured with a caliper, the variation in the circumference is 2% or more.
Button. This type of pearl has a variation in circumference of about 20%. Within this style, there are also “tall buttons” which are button pearls that appear round.
South Sea pearls are only grown in tropical and semi-tropical regions called the South Seas, usually in the areas around the coast of Australia, Indonesia, and the Philippines. They are cultured, saltwater pearls available in shades of white, silver and gold.
If you appreciate the fine quality of pearls, then Golden South Sea pearls are the ones to buy and wear.