Pearl Luster

Pearl Luster: the brilliancy and soul of pearls.It displays the pearl's unique beauty and helps people discover this precious water-grown gem gift from the Mother Nature.

Sometimes, people get so involved in examining the shape and blemishes of pearls that they overlook the pearl luster. In other words, they are overlooking the beauty source of a pearl. A chalky pearl might look like nothing more than a plastic bead. The stronger the luster is, the higher the pearl value. Luster is one of the most important factors in determining pearls value for all types.

As a natural attribute, the luster of a pearl depends on the quality of the nacre -- its transparency, smoothness and overall thickness as well as the thickness of each of the microscopic layers of nacre.

Luster is also a light phenomenon depending on the quality and quantity of the reflected light. Therefore when people judge pearl luster, lighting condition must be taken into account. Gemologists and appraisers normally grade pearls under standardized lighting conditions. However, people will encounter various lighting situations when shopping for pearls. The stronger and more direct the light, the more lustrous the pearls will look.

The pearls very gradually change in luster as we went down the lines. There isn't any distinct dividing point in those strands of pearls. That is why the pearl industry has not yet adopted a standardized system for grading pearls until now. The luster grading standard will differ from one dealer to another for the uninformed standard luster reference.