Perhaps the better question might be: What’s the difference between natural pearls and cultured pearls? And the answer is… not a whole lot. Let’s first take a look at how pearls are formed, then talk about the differences between natural and cultured pearls.
A pearl occurs when some sort of irritant works its way into an oyster. Once the oyster recognizes a foreign element, it begins secreting a substance to surround that irritant to protect itself. It continues doing this, creating layer after layer and the final result is a pearl.
Okay, so the difference between natural and cultured pearls?
A natural pearl is created when the process occurs without any human intervention. That is, when an ocean current causes an irritant to become lodged in the tissues of an oyster. A perfectly round or white natural pearl is extremely rare and priced as such. Like diamonds, natural pearls need perfect conditions to form on their own.
Cultured pearls on the other hand, can have the ideal conditions created. A cultured pearl is created when a person places the impediment–usually a mollusk shell called the “bead”–into the oyster or other mollusk. From there, the same process of pearl creation occurs as the oyster begins secreting the substance that eventually becomes the pearl.
