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Keshi Peals are pearls that are accidentally produced in cultured pearls. These are sometimes produced when the mollusk rejects the bead nuclei and a small piece of mantle tissue becomes the nuclei for this baroque “natural” pearl. They are interesting for this reason and also because they are all nacre.
A couple of different definitions for the word keshi are floating around. One definition says that they are called keshi from the Japanese word for particle; another definition says that the word keshi means poppy seed.
For a while it was common to see pearl necklaces made from strands of keshi pearls. These pearl necklaces consist of as many as one hundred pearl strands.
Because they are mostly nacre the keshi pearl has greater luster than some cultivated pearls. For this reason, and for the fact that they are reasonably priced, makes them fairly popular, in
Europe and in the
Middle East .
But, cultivators, mostly Akoya and
South
Sea , are attempting to eliminate the keshi altogether. It seems as though the mollusk can only produce so much nacre, and if the keshi pearl is consuming nacre, then there is less nacre for the cultured pearl.
These beautiful all nacre pearls may be a thing of the past.
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