Febraury 2021
Cibjo, the International Jewellery Confederation, released the CIBJO Guide for Classifying Natural Pearls and Cultured Pearls (the guide) on 4 February 2021 as a primer reference on pearls for consumers.
The 62-page illustrated guide, published by the Pearl Commission under Cibjo, gives a detailed account of saltwater and freshwater natural and cultured pearls, and features the important parameters by which their appearance can be described and assessed in terms of physical dimensions and quality. It also serves as an educational tool for the pearl and jewellery trade, and laboratories.
The guide is broadly divided into six sections:
1. Pearl categories
2. Primary pearl producing molluscs of natural and cultured pearls (photo 1)
3. Classifying natural pearls (photo 2)
4. Saltwater and freshwater cultured pearl market leader types (photo 3)
5. Natural colour and lustre Vs treated colour and lustre for cultured pearls
6. Classifying cultured pearls
Designed to complement the CIBJO Pearl Blue Book published in April 2020, the guide is a multinational project involving private companies and trade bodies namely Paspaley Pearling in Australia, the Bahrain Institute for Pearls and Gemstones (Danat) and the CIBJO Pearl Commission.
“The CIBJO Guide for Classifying Natural Pearls and Cultured Pearls is a tremendous resource, intended to provide consumers and the trade with accurate and easily-to-comprehend information about this increasingly popular jewellery category,” said Cibjo’s president Gaetano Cavalieri.
“It is a result of the hard work of a great many dedicated individuals from across the globe, but some deserve special mention. In particular, I would like to thank Nick Paspaley and Peter Bracher for taking the initiative, and putting at our disposal the wealth of knowledge of their team in Australia. Likewise, congratulations are due to Kenneth Scarratt, President of the CIBJO Pearl Commission, the editor of the guide, and for the addition he made to this outstanding document. Thanks also to all those members of the CIBJO Pearl Commission Steering Committee, who have devoted much time and effort in ensuring that the content is informative and accurately reflects the product,” he added. (Photos extracted from the guide; courtesy Cibjo)
Click here to download the guide and here the Pearl Blue Book for free.
Click here to download all CIBJO Blue Books for free.
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