The English word ‘Pearl’ comes from Middle English and old French ‘Perle’, and Greek word “Margarites”.

Other Names-: Moti, mukta, sasi-ratna, gem of the moon, taraka, falling star, jiva-ratna

Color-: White, blue, green, yellow, orange, brown, pink, purple, grey, black, multicolor.

Streak-: white.

Hardness-: 2.5-4.5 on the Mohs scale.

Luster-: Pearly.

Zodiac Sign-: Gemini and Cancer.

Birthstone-: June.

Occurrence– : Persian Gulf, India, Sri Lanka, Philippines, Malaysia, Australia, Tahiti, Mexico, Panama, Venezuela etc.

Metaphysical Properties-:

• Signifies faith, charity and innocence.
• Enhances personal integrity and helps to provide a focus to one’s attention.
• Symbolizes purity and is known as a “stone of sincerity”.
• Brings truth to situations and loyalty to a “cause”.
• Inhibits boisterous behavior.
• Pearl treats digestive disorders and the soft organs of the body.
• It relieves conditions of bloating and biliousness.
• Pearl increases fertility and eases childbirth.

Varieties-:

• Abalone Pearl iridescent blue color and commonly horn-shaped, found in the mollusk Haliotis.
• Akoya Pearl bead-nucleated Cultured Pearl produced from Akoya.
• Black Pearl any Pearl that is in dark color are often dyed.
• Cortez Pearl dark Pearl grown in the Pinctada Maxima and Pteria Sterna mollusks in Mexico.
• Cultured Pearl grew with the influence of human intervention.
• Freshwater Pearl grew in a non-saline environment in a freshwater mussel.
• Keshi Pearl 100% nacre and therefore technically not true pearls.
• Mabe Pearl rounded Pearl that grows attached to the inside of the oyster’s shell, rather than within its tissue.
• Melo Pearl formed from a marine snail called Melo Melo, Southeast Asia.
• Natural Pearl formed naturally within a mollusk without any human intervention.
• Oriental Pearl synonym of Saltwater Pearl.
• Saltwater Pearl produced by a mollusk such as an oyster in a body of saltwater such as the ocean.
• Scallop Pearl produced by any member of the Pectinidae (scallop) family, technically not considered a true. .
• South Sea Pearl produced by the Pinctada Maxima mollusk.
• Tahitian Pearl is a highly regarded type of Pearl produced in the Black-Lipped Oyster (Pinctada margaritifera).
•  Imitation Pearls look like pearls, but do not have either the composition or structure.

Enhancement-: Bleaching. Coating, Colored Impregnation (Dyeing), Irradiation, Skinning.