Mabe’ (mah-BAY) Pearls are dome shaped created by placing a hemispherical shaped object on the inside of a mollusk’s shell. The mollusk then coats the object with nacre. The “pearl” is then cut from the shell. The hemispherical object is then generally removed from the inside of the nacre and the hollow nacre is filled, usually with epoxy.
These “pearls” are usually very large and are fairly inexpensive.
This largeness is the reason for producing Mabe Pearls, as they are generally used as earrings or rings. They are mostly a half sphere shape.
Because of the way that they are produced the nacre is usually very thin. One must be extremely careful when handling Mabe’ Pearls, as they can easily be damaged. As in all pearls the thicker the nacre the better the durability; but, this is even more important so with Mabe’ Pearls. One way to check the nacre thickness is by the quality of the “pearl’s” luster, a higher luster means thicker nacre, and that means greater durability.  Care must still be exercised to prevent scratching.