Stones
4 min read
How we choose a pearl
Lustre, surface, shape and colour: what we look for in a pearl, and why size comes last.
Every pearl in the Dana collection is chosen by hand, one at a time, from a single farm in Western Australia and two in Japan. We look at lustre first, because it is what makes a pearl look alive in the room.
Lustre before size
A smaller pearl with a deep, sharp reflection will always look more expensive than a large one that looks chalky. Hold a pearl under a bare light: if you can see the edge of the bulb clearly on its surface, the lustre is good.
A few marks are honest
Pearls are grown, not made, and almost all of them carry small marks. We turn each one so its cleanest face is the one you see, and drill it there.
