Pearl Formation, Types, and Market PDF

Pearl Formation, Types, and Market Key Terms Akoya—Common name for the Pinctada fucata oyster Mabé—An assembly composed of a nacre dome, filler, and the natural or cultured pearls it produces....

Pearl Formation, Types, and Market Key Terms Akoya—Common name for the Pinctada fucata oyster Mabé—An assembly composed of a nacre dome, filler, and the natural or cultured pearls it produces. and a mother-of-pearl backing. Aragonite—A crystallized form of calcium carbonate Mantle—The organ that lines the mollusk’s shell, encloses found in nacre. its soft body, and contains the cells that form pearl sacs and secrete nacre. Bead nucleus—A bead used as the core of a cultured pearl, usually made from a freshwater mussel shell. Mantle-tissue piece—A small square of mantle tissue cut from a donor mollusk and implanted in a host mollusk Coin-bead/spherical-bead (CBSB) production—A three- with or without a bead. step freshwater cultivation process involving a series of distinct growth periods. Mother-of-pearl—The nacreous layer inside a pearl- bearing mollusk’s shell. Conchiolin—The organic “glue” in nacre that holds aragonite platelets together. Nacre—The natural substance produced by pearl-bearing mollusks to make pearls. Cultured blister pearl—A cultured pearl grown around a nucleus implanted under the mantle tissue inside a Natural pearl—A pearl that forms without human mollusk’s shell. assistance. Non-nacreous pearl—Pearl with a non-concentric Cultured pearl—A pearl formed as the result of human structure of aragonite crystals resulting in different luster intervention in the formation process. and appearance from nacreous pearls. Flame structure—Optical phenomenon created in some Pearl—An organic gem that forms in the body of a non-nacreous pearls when intersecting groups of crystals mollusk. interact with light. Pearl sac—Tissue that encloses an implanted bead Gonad—The reproductive organ that produces eggs in nucleus and mantle-tissue piece, or the piece alone, and females and sperm in males. secretes nacre to form a cultured pearl. Graduated strand—A necklace with the largest pearl in Processor—A company that prepares cultured pearls for the center and progressively smaller pearls approaching the market. the clasp. Second-generation cultured pearl—Product that results Hank—A number of similar cultured pearl strands when a pearl-bearing mollusk is returned to the water bundled together. after the first harvest. Hatchery—A facility where biologists breed pearl-bearing Strand—A simple necklace typically composed of pearls; mollusks in tanks under controlled conditions. also, pearls very close to the same size strung without a clasp for wholesale marketing. Hatchery-bred—Describes mollusks bred in laboratory tanks and grown in protected areas rather than collected Uniform strand—A necklace featuring pearls that are very as adults in the wild. nearly the same size. 59