Freshwater Cultured Pearls & Organic Beads
Our selection of specialty Freshwater Cultured Pearl beads now includes hundreds of Premium Pearls previously only sold on our wholesale store at PearlBeadSale.com.
Look for great values on all your favorite pearl shapes in a wide variety of sizes and colors. Mother of Pearl and Coral Beads are also included in this section.
For lower cost pearls, check out our Economy Pearls located in our DailyBeadSale section.
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| About our Pearls
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Choose from colorful Keishe, Coin, Stick, or Teardrop pearls along with all the more standard shapes including Rice, Potato, Button and Nugget Pearls. Our pearls are all hand selected from our Chinese Manufacturers to help ensure the highest quality and consistency between strands of the same type.
Our Specialty Pearls include dozens of mixed color strands as well as small batch colors or styles we find that only available on a very limited basis. We also have Mother of Pearl & Coral products available in their own categories. |
Pearl Shapes
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Today pearls come in an ever-growing variety of shapes. While there is no standard definition for many of these shapes, some of the most common include:
- Round: Perfectly spherical, or very nearly so. These are primarily saltwater pearls, although the Chinese have recently succeeded in creating round freshwater pearls.
- Semi-round: Almost round, as the name implies. These are primarily saltwater pearls.
- Symmetrical: Any symmetrical non-spherical shape, including teardrops or pear shapes. This term has traditionally been applied to saltwater pearls.
- Baroque: Nearly any non-round shape. This term has traditionally been applied to irregularly shaped saltwater pearls.
- Stick: Long and thin with many irregularities.
- Rice: Small ovals drilled lengthwise.
- Potato: Often lumpy, these are typically rounder
than rice pearls and may be drilled either lengthwise or widthwise.
- Nugget: Typically a little more square or
pebble shaped than rice or potato pearls, with a flat side.
- Coin: Large, circular and flat, often about the size of a dime, with the hole drilled end-to-end. Coin pearls, unlike most freshwater pearls, are created using a bead
nucleus.
- Keishi: Sometimes called "cornflake" pearls, these are flat and highly irregular. Keishi pearls are formed when an oyster manages to expel a bead nucleus, but continues
to make a pearl.
- Drop: Teardrop, pear or even peanut shapes,
drilled either lengthwise, or widthwise at the narrowest end.
- Button: Rondelle shaped, often with a flat side,
and drilled through the "hub" of the wheel.
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