What is a Keshi Pearl?

“Keshi’s” are the dominant type of baroque pearls in the market today. The word "Keshi" is used in the Japanese language to describe something very small, for example aa poppy seed could be described as "Keshi".


The three ways Keshi pearls develop are as follows:

1. Individual epithelium cells form the tiny pieces of mantle tissue (which has been implanted together with the nucleus) separate and move to another place in the soft body of the animal, where they multiply and form a pearl sack. This is where the pearl sack may proceed in the formation of a pearl.

2. Small broken pieces of shell drift into the animal during the nucleus implantation and injure the mantle tissue. The injury leads to the displacement of epithelium cells into the mantle's connective tissue, where they form a pearl sack.

3. The operated mollusk ejects the nucleus while the piece of mantle remains in its place and produces a pearl sack.



The species of mollusk that the keshi pearl is formed in is known as the Pinctada Martensii.

The outer shape of the pearls is baroque; this depends completely on the shape of the pearl sack, due to the lack of presence of a round nucleus. Keshi pearls often come in a half moon shape and their color often resembles that of Akoya cultured pearls. Some smaller Keshi pearls often have a white to silver overtone.

A popular aesthetic look for keshi pearls is to string together up to 50 strands of small pearls to form a substantial necklace. This look has been associated with fairly high class, and has stood the test of time enduring since the nineteen eighties. The price of keshi pearls is within the same realm as that of seed pearls. The harvesting and processing of these pearls is labor intensive.

Nucleated Freshwater Pearls

Nucleated freshwater pearls that once existed in rumors were out in quantities for the world to see. They were not the round perfect spheres that pearl would expected but baroque pearls with tails. Unusual creatures but some were quite exceptional.

It is very likely that bead nucleated freshwater pearls will be commercially produced in three years . The cultivation is in the trial stage at many farms with higher mortality rates and a high proportion of pearls with tails. If history is any indication, bead nucleated freshwater pearls will add a new chapter to the pearl world.