About

Miss Joaquim Pearls is Indonesia based pearls wholesale company. Our specialty is on:

South Sea Pearls Wholesale

Pinctada maxima is the only species that produces South Sea pearls. Currently south sea pearls are cultured primarily in Australia and Tahiti. Because these pearl oysters are so large, a much larger nucleus than usual can be used in culturing.

Pinctada maxima oysters grow very large, up to 12 inches in diameter. The two color varieties have different coloration in the outer edge of the interior. This mother of pearl or nacre is responsible for the color of the pearls that the oyster can produce. Water temperature, plankton and sediments determine which color variety is more common in a given area.

Pinctada maxima is a species of pearl oyster, a marine bivalve mollusk in the family Pteriidae, the pearl oysters. There are two different color varieties: the White-lipped oyster and the Gold-lipped oyster.

These bivalves are the largest pearl oysters in the world. They have a very strong inner shell layer composed of nacre, also known as “mother of pearl”. They are important in the cultured pearl industry as they are used to produce South Sea pearls.

Natural Pearls Wholesale

A “natural pearl” or “wild pearl” is one that forms without any human intervention at all, in the wild, and is very rare. Many hundreds of pearl oysters or pearl mussels have to be gathered and opened, and thus killed, to find even one wild pearl, and for many centuries that was the only way pearls were obtained. This was the main reason why pearls fetched such extraordinary prices.

Natural pearls are nearly 100% calcium carbonate and conchiolin. It is thought that natural pearls form under a set of accidental conditions when a microscopic intruder or parasite enters a bivalve mollusk, and settles inside the shell. The mollusk, being irritated by the intruder, forms a pearl sac of external mantle tissue cells and secretes the calcium carbonate and conchiolin to cover the irritant. This secretion process is repeated many times, thus producing a pearl. Natural pearls come in many shapes, with perfectly round ones being comparatively rare.

Typically, the build-up of a natural pearl consists of a brown central zone formed by columnar calcium carbonate (usually calcite, sometimes columnar aragonite) and a yellowish to white outer zone consisting of nacre (tabular aragonite). In a pearl cross-section such as the diagram, these two different materials can be seen. The presence of columnar calcium carbonate rich in organic material indicates juvenile mantle tissue that formed during the early stage of pearl development.

Displaced living cells with a well-defined task may continue to perform their function in their new location, often resulting in a cyst. Such displacement may occur via an injury. The fragile rim of the shell is exposed and is prone to damage and injury. After a couple of years, a pearl will have formed and the shell might be found by a lucky pearl fisherman.