Pearls

South Sea white, Tahitian and akoya are three saltwater animals and three nacre habits. South Sea pearls are large, usually thick, with rose, silver or gold orient. Tahitian body colour is dark; peacock green and violet are orient, not a white pearl dyed black. Akoya is small and tight. Its lustre can be metallic, and its skin is easier to hurt.

Read lustre first: does light slide, or stop in a haze? Then nacre: flaking, bumps, grooves. Roundness is a result, not a start. A slightly drop-shaped pearl with intact skin is often worth more than a round and sleepy one. Chenlu does not chase the perfect circle as a rule.

Separate the treatments. Bleaching is common in white pearls; its depth varies, and so should the honesty of disclosure. Dye, irradiation and coating are another matter. Undyed is the default. A colour that comes from treatment does not enter the main line of Chenlu. The eye takes lustre. The report takes the history the eye cannot see.

Care is not myth. Perfume, sweat and abrasion eat lustre. Store softly, apart from diamond faces. A pearl is organic. Luxury here includes admitting that it ages. It ages slowly when it is treated well, not because it is metal.

The three peaks should not be strung together just to look abundant. The size of South Sea, the dark of Tahitian and the edge of akoya often cancel one another. If Chenlu sets them together, the distance is tried on paper first, and each pearl’s size and treatment is written separately. A vague saltwater pearl is not an ending.