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About Our Pearl Jewelry
Pearls are jewels of the sea found in saltwater and
freshwater shelled mollusks. They were
discovered hundreds of years ago and the first pearl divers practiced their art
in the Indian Ocean and Persian Gulf.
The earliest description of pearl diving was provided by the famous Muslim
traveler Ibn Battuta in the 14th century. Known for their iridescence and luster,
pearls have been used for centuries in cosmetics, clothing, and jewelry.
Freshwater & Cultured Pearls
Most of today’s pearls are produced in China, with human
help. Natural pearls are rare and
difficult to find, so a process to create pearls was developed in the early
1900’s. Pearls are the result of a health
defense response to an irritant in mollusks. So to start this process an “irritant”
is implanted into the mollusk. Sometimes
it’s a small bead (which creates beaded cultured pearl) or some other organic
material. After a few months of waiting,
voila, a pearl is created! After some
processing and perhaps dyeing, they are shipped all over the world and used to
produce many fine jewelry items you see today, including some items found in
Gem Avenue’s pearl collection. Cultured
pearls are very similar to the natural wild found pearl, but because of their availability
are a lot more affordable.
Swarovski Crystal Pearls
Perfectly round pearls are sometimes hard to achieve in the
cultured pearl process, therefore there are a lot of industry “faux”
pearls. A leader in faux pearl
production is Swarovski. Their simulated
pearls have a crystal core and only high quality raw materials are used to form
their crystal pearls of great brilliance and luster. Gem Avenue is proud to offer you a wide
selection of jewelry made with genuine Swarovski crystal pearls.
We offer a variety of pearl jewelry: pearl bracelets, pearl
rings, pearl pendants, pearl necklaces, pearl earrings, pearl anklets and
more. Some feature sterling silver and
gold accents. Pearls are a necessity in
everyone’s jewelry box and are a great gift for any lovely lady. Thank you for shopping at Gem Avenue.
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