"Cultured" and "natural" both describe real pearls, grown inside a living mollusk. The difference is not whether nature did the work, but how the process got started.
Natural Pearls
A natural pearl forms by pure chance, when a grain of sand, a parasite or another irritant slips into a wild oyster or mussel without any human involvement. Because this almost never happens, natural pearls are exceptionally rare and mostly found in antique jewelry today.
Cultured Pearls
A cultured pearl starts the exact same biological process, except a pearl farmer deliberately inserts a small bead or tissue graft into the mollusk to trigger it. From that point on, the mollusk does all the same work, coating the irritant in nacre over months or years. Nearly every pearl sold today, including fine jewelry, is cultured.
Are Cultured Pearls "Fake"?
No. A cultured pearl is a genuine, organic gem, just as real as a natural one. The only difference is who introduced the original irritant. Cultured pearls are not to be confused with imitation or faux pearls, which are glass or plastic beads coated to look like the real thing.
How to Tell Genuine Pearls From Imitations
Genuine pearls, whether natural or cultured, feel slightly gritty when rubbed gently against your front teeth, while imitation pearls feel smooth. Genuine pearls also tend to have tiny surface irregularities rather than a perfectly uniform shape.
Ready to see genuine cultured pearls up close? Browse our necklace collection for baroque pearl and shell designs.