Keshi Pearl Studs -- Freshwater Baroque Pearl Earrings -- Gold-filled Post

These studs are very lustrous, shiny, and beautiful. They have an understated simplicity, and yet their shine catches the eye immediately.
These pearls are 8mm+ in diameter. The post is 12.7mm long.
The posts are 18k gold-filled.

༺Are these good pearls?༻

Yes. I handpick all of my pearls directly from small suppliers, so I have a lot of experience judging pearls. All of my pearls are real, freshwater grown pearls.
Every baroque pearl has a unique shape!

These specific pearls are Keshi pearls. "Keshi" is a Japanese word that also means "poppy", like the flower, but here it refers to a unique variety of pearl which has no nucleus-- that is why they are not round in shape.
But it also means they are formed entirely of solid nacre (the material pearls are made of), so they are very lustrous as a result.
That means that these pearls are very shiny and colorful!

There are a few different attributes that determine the quality of a pearl:

* Shape -- rounder pearls are harder to find, but some irregular shapes are just as rare, these are sometimes called "baroque" pearls. Other shapes, like "rice" pearls are easy to grow and very cheap.

* Smoothness -- smoother pearls are rarer.

* Color -- for white pearls, the whiter the better. Cheaper pearls will be more grey. But exotic colors can also be rare.

* Shine -- shinier is better!

* Lustre -- aka iridescence, "a lustrous rainbowlike play of color caused by differential refraction of light waves (as from an oil slick, soap bubble, or fish scales) that tends to change as the angle of view changes."

* Flaws -- some are more conspicuous than others

༺What is gold-filled jewellery?༻

This jewellery is gold-filled. Gold-filled jewellery will last forever, and is a healthy middle ground between cheap gold-plated and expensive solid gold.

Gold-plate: electro-plates an extremely thin, often atoms-thick layer of gold onto the surface of a base metal. This plating eventually will wear off, usually in less than a year of regular use, and the item will lose its golden color leaving the base metal visible.

===> Gold-fill: a much thicker outer layer of gold is mechanically bonded to the surface of an interior base metal, often jeweller's copper or sterling silver. This fill will not wear off or tarnish with regular use, meaning that your jewellery will retain its color and beauty for a lifetime of use.

Solid gold: the item is made of a gold-alloy through and through, which has some known percentage of gold. e.g. 18kt gold is 75% gold, 25% other metals.

This item is *gold-filled*, meaning that it will last far longer than the short year you would get with a piece of gold-plated jewellery. A piece of gold-filled jewellery can be worn for a lifetime and still look like gold, because it actually has a non-trivial amount of gold in it and not just a thin film of gold atoms on the top.

Neither gold-plated or gold-filled jewellery should be referred to as just "gold", but this is common practice on Etsy so watch out! This term should be reserved for solid gold items only.

༻My Shop༺

Every pearl I sell is one I fell in love with and want to share with you.