South Sea Pearl Grading System - wholesale pearl and jewelry

South Sea cultured pearls are pearl concretions that are secreted inside the silver- or gold-lipped Pinctada maxima species of pearl oysters cultivated mainly in Australia, Papua New Guinea, Indonesia, the Philippines, Thailand, and Myanmar (Burma).

There is no standard South Sea pearl grading standard and each individual company has its own standards. The South Sea Pearl Consortium, the trade association of South Sea Pearl farmers and distributors, uses five grading standards. South Sea Legend by Pearl Oasis uses those five standards, plus a sixth, nacre thickness. The following is the standard that we uses. If you look at the details of an South Sea pearl item in our catalog, you will find a detailed listing showing how the item rates for each of the six grading standards. Most other on-line pearl jewelry websites give no quality information about their products.