By contrast, the pearls sometimes labeled as “Chinese akoyas”, “baby akoyas”, or “freshwater akoyas (AK)” are freshwater ...

A great irony of pearl history is that the least expensive cultured pearl product in the market today rivals the quality of the most expensive natural pearls ever found. The price-value anomaly is ...

North American freshwater mussels were first recognized for their commercial value in the 1800s by the American button industry. The mussel’s pearly shell was used for buttons while the meaty interior ...

GEMS, precious stones and metals are mostly mined from Earth. To bring out their beauty, they are cut, cleaned and polished in various ways and a number of times until they attain the perfect shine.