Search Our Site  
Owned by Bill Platt: (405) 780-7745 9am-6pm CST, Mon to Fri



Blue Pearls of the New Zealand Paua

Copyright © 2007-2009 Yvonne Mal


The Blackfoot Paua (Abalone: haliotis iris), one of eight mollusk variety found around the Pacific Rim, is indigenous to New Zealand coastal waters. The Paua's mother-of-pearl shell lining, of iridescent multi-hued nacre, is recognized and widely used to create inlay, art, adornment and jewelry. What is not well-known is that much like a pearl oyster; the Abalone produces natural pearls by coating irritants or parasites, which it is unable to remove/expel, with its nacre. Reflections of their shells, these "nacre-coated irritants" called Paua (Abalone) Pearls are colorful and most often, highly iridescent. These natural (blister) pearls, being either of mabe or shark's tooth shape, are very rare, however.

Today, most of the Paua Blue Pearls are created by man in delicate harmony with nature and the mollusk. Culturing pearls in the Paua has been fraught with difficulties due its hemophiliac nature and its ability to quickly expel most irritants. However, these difficulties are being overcome with the use of a special process, somewhat similar to the process used with the pearl oyster, to produce unique, spectacular multi-colored mabe pearls.

The resulting pearls of 5 to 20mm in diameter are reflections of the Paua inner shells, with mirror finished or subtle reflected luster. The colors range from vibrant purple, magenta (purplish-red), greens and blues. With characteristics similar to that of a chameleon, the pearls' soft iridescent colors change from blue, purple, green to gold/yellow with splashes of silver-grey, red and pink with a mere hint of light -- the color combinations are infinite.

The New Zealand Paua Blue Pearls are graded using Gem, A or B grade point system – that has some similarities to the "Tahitian System" used to grade the South Sea Pearls, Tahitian Black Pearls and the Cook Island Black Pearls. Each Blue Pearl is graded based on its size, intensity of color; degree of luster and surface imperfection. Grading points are then allocated based on a maximum ratio point of 40% for color; 30% for luster and 30% for surface imperfections.



The Blue Pearls of magenta, greens and blues are considered the most desirable and are reflective as such in their pricing. Majority has brownish color that does not diminish or distract from the pearl's beauty which comes from their unique shapes and colors. Paua Pearls are of 100% natural color – with no dyes, lacquers or any other enhancements, and are certified accordingly with Certificates of Authenticity. These Certificates are provided to retailers, for distribution to the purchasers by the Paua Blue Pearl Hatcheries from which they originated.




About The Author:
Yvonne Mal is a Pearl Jewelry Designer and Author of articles written for Fusion Pearl. Do you need classic, yet uniquely contemporary and exotic, handcrafted Pearl Jewelry? Visit Fusion Pearl for one-of-a-kind exotic Pearl Jewelry at http://www.fusionpearl.com

VOTE ON THIS ARTICLE

Needs Work >> 0 - 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5 << Excellent Article

Tell our authors what you think about their article.


Automatically Post This Article To Your Blog by inserting your Email-To-Blog Address, as can be set up in your Blogging software:


"Link Back To This Article" Copy-And-Paste


Are You Using This Article? We want to know about it.

HTML Article Copy-And-Paste


TEXT Article Copy-And-Paste


Article Description Copy-And-Paste


Article Keywords Copy-And-Paste




*** Digital Reprint Rights ***

  • If you publish this article in a website/forum/blog, You Must Set All URL's or Mailto Addresses in the body of the article AND in the Author's Resource Box as Hyperlinks (clickable links).


  • Links must remain in the form that we published them. Clean links should point to the Author's links without redirects having been inserted into the copy.


  • You are not allowed to Change or Delete any Words or Links in the Article or Resource Box. Paragraph breaks must be retained with articles. You can change where the paragraph breaks fall, but you cannot eliminate all paragraph breaks as some have chosen to do.


  • Email Distribution of this article Must be done through Opt-in Email Only. No Unsolicited Commercial Email.


  • You Are Allowed to format the layout of the article for proper display of the article in your website or in your ezine, so long as you can maintain the author's interests within the article.


  • You may not use sentences from this article as an input for any software that steals sentences from others in order to build an article with software. The copyright on this article applies to the "WHOLE" article.



  • *** Author Notification ***

    We ask that you notify the author of publication of his or her work. Yvonne Mal can be reached at:
    yvonne.mal@thephantomwriters.com


    *** Print Publication Reprint Rights ***

    If you desire to publish this article in a PRINT publication, you must contact the author directly for Print Permission at: yvonne.mal@thephantomwriters.com


    Creative Commons License
    This work is licensed under a
    Creative Commons License.


    (You are not required to show the creative commons license notice when you reprint this work.)




    Quick Links:
    Home | Article Distributions | Ghost Writers
    Article Marketing Blog | Article Marketing Ebook
    Video Articles


    Unless Otherwise Noted, All Content On This Site Is:
    Copyright © 2001-2009, The Phantom Writers