DINNY HALL PEARLS
One of the few organic substances used in precious jewellery,
Pearls have been prized for thousands of years. They form
inside certain species of oyster or mussel, growing when
an irritant is introduced into the soft tissue, and the
oyster or mussel secretes a substance called nacre to surround
the irritant and protect itself. Because of the way they
form, Natural Pearls are extremely rare, as they can only
ever occur through chance. Therefore man has devised a way
to culture pearls; these can be of extremely high quality
and rarity or fairly inexpensive and freely available.
Freshwater Cultered Pearls
We use Freshwater Pearls which are cultured in freshwater
lakes north of Shanghai, China, and only use natural colours;
creamy white, silvery white, grey, pink and lavender.
The larger the Pearl is and the better the lustre it has,
the longer it will take to grow, and the more expensive
it will be. For the most part, Freshwater Pearls are produced
with a much higher turnover than the superior South Sea
pearls, as the species of mussel used can grow up to 10
Pearls at a time. One can however find some very fine
specimens.
South Sea Pearls
Historically known as ‘tears of the gods’, South
Sea Pearls are truly gemstones of the sea. There are several
different kinds of oyster which produce South Sea Pearls
of various colour, shape and size. These Pearls generally
have a much thicker layer of nacre than Freshwater Pearls
and can take two years to grow or more and the species of
oyster used can grow only one Pearl at a time. The whole
process of culturing Pearls in the sea rather than freshwater
lakes is a highly skilled and time consuming craft, relying
on incredible expertise.
South Sea Pearls are farmed in the warm waters around Northern
Australia, Polynesia and other islands and are naturally
white, sometimes with a hint of cream, pink, blue or gold.
Tahitian Pearls occur only in one species of oyster, originally
found only around Tahiti. However today, they are also farmed
around Northern Australia and Polynesia. They occur naturally
in all shades of grey, with hints of green, brown, mauve
or mink and can sometimes be almost black. It is these natural
dark colours that make them unique.
Keishi Pearls
Keishi Pearls can be formed both fresh water and in the
south seas. Keishi Pearls are often irregular in shape
and rarely grow to any great size. They form without any
interference from man and with only a tiny nucleus. This
means that almost the entire Pearl is built up from layer
upon layer of nacre, giving these Pearls the most incredible
lustre. Keishi Pearls are not classified as natural Pearls
because they are a bi-product of the culturing process,
not a natural occurrence from the beginning. It is their
high lustre that makes them so desirable. At Dinny Hall
we use freshwater Keishi Pearls with 14k Gold & South
Sea Keishi Pearls with 18k Gold.
Shell Based Pearls
A beautiful pearl imitation, where acrylic or glass is coated
with a shell based solution which hardens to form the Pearl.
It can be quite difficult to tell the difference between
these and some Cultured Pearls, however shell based pearls
are all identical and have no variation of colour or form.
At Dinny Hall we use these in our Silver Collections in
shades of grey, creamy whites, pinks and minks. |