Baroque Freshwater Pearls

Q: Hello. I just had a few questions about the baroque freshwater pearls. Are the colors natural, have they been treated in any way, are they tissue nucleated, and what are they graded as? Sorry for all of the questions at once. About the grading, I noticed that all of the round pearls were graded on the A scale, what is the grade on the A scale for these pearls?

A: The freshwater whites, pinks, lavenders, and multi-colours are all natural colour. They have been washed, cleaned and polished but have had no colour treatment. Freshwater pearls are tissue nucleated which is the main reason perfectly round freshwater pearls are such a rarity. The grading scale we use is the scale that was developed by the GIA in mid-century. This is the standard scale used in north America and you can view the entire scale on our site at the following link:
http://www.pearlparadise.com/Freshwater-pearl-grading.htm

The baroque pearls are still graded based on the same scale but as you can see by the listing, we do not offer a grade quality classification on these. Based on the grading scale, all baroque pearls would be in the lower quality range however, these pearls do exhibit very high levels of quality for the individual value factors. Because of this, the grade quality would not be accurate. The freshwater baroque strands we have listed on the site generally have good luster, light to moderate blemishing, and a variety of overtones. Many of the pearls will also exhibit orient which is a rainbow –like reflection on the surface of the pearls.