A natural pearl is pearl all the way through. A cultured pearl is mainly a mussel shell bead with a very thin pearl coating. Although most natural pearls are found in oysters, they also are found in many different species of freshwater mussels or clams all over the world. Natural pearls tend to be irregular in shape and not as desirable as the high-luster, spherical, cultured pearls. However, the free sculpture of a misshapen freshwater pearl has an appeal all its own.
Natural pearls come in a variety of colors.
The tones of the freshwater pearls are dictated by the mother shell. White is the most common, followed by pink. Other colors depend on the type of mussels. Big washboard mussels usually have pink pearls, as do the wartybacks. Threeridge mussels have pearls in shades of blue-green and lavendar.