Freshwater Pearl Bead Category Index
We often have more than 180 styles and shapes of cultured Freshwater Pearl Beads in stock. We hand select all of these pearls to help ensure the highest quality and uniformity across a lot. Our premium pearls were previously only sold on our wholesale website at PearlBeadSale.com.
Our Freshwater Pearl Beads are all temporarily strung on 15.5-16" strands. We do sell a few selections by the piece in the Stick Pearls section and matched earring pairs are available by the pair.
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Pearl Categories
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| We have organized the categories by the style of pearl: Keishi, Coin, Nugget, Button, Rice, Potato, Stick, and Teardrop. We also have a "small" category that includes all available shapes for pearls less than 4mm in size. The pearls previously sold on abeadstore.com are included in the Specialty Pearls Category.
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| The Color of Pearls
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Pearls come in a variety of lovely but relatively limited shades naturally. The color of a pearl is controlled by the
species of mollusk and environmental factors—primarily the water's composition. Freshwater pearls come in white, pink,
peach, mauve, cream, white and gray, among others. Saltwater pearls may be white, cream, yellow, pink, black, silver or gray.
Pearls have three primary color characteristics:
- Bodycolor: the underlying color of the pearl, such as white, gold, gray, etc. All pearls have a
bodycolor.
- Overtone: a translucent "coating" of color. A silver pearl may have a blue overtone or a green
overtone, for example. Not all pearls have an overtone.
- Iridescent orient: the variable play of colors across the surface of the pearl like a rainbow. Not
all pearls have iridescent orient.
Because pearls naturally come in a somewhat limited selection of colors, humans have invented numerous ways to alter
their color, including dying, bleaching, chemically treating and irradiating. This means that pearls can be found in nearly
every shade imaginable. |
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