Part 1 - Introduction

This section has been designed as a guide dedicated to the Tahitian black pearl, also called "Pearl of Tahiti". It includes all the information you need to carefully select the jewels you will find while traveling in Tahiti and her islands.

Tahiti cultured pearls are pearl concretions that are secreted inside the black-lipped Pinctada Margaritifera, species of pearl oysters cultivated mainly in the lagoons of French Polynesia. They consist of thick pearly layers containing organic substances and calcium carbonate in the form of aragonite.

Tahiti cultured pearls are characterized by a diversity of shapes, diameters, qualities and several shades of natural colors, ranging from pale gray to anthracite black.

In French Polynesia, the trade designation "Tahiti Cultured Pearl" is reserved exclusively for cultured pearls obtained from a grafting of the locally cultivated Pinctada Margaritifera pearl oyster. Such pearls have a continuous pearly layer over at least 80% of their surface and do not reveal either the nucleus or the seed of the nucleus.

Any other merchandise that does not satisfy such criteria may not be called a "Tahiti Cultured Pearl" and will be deemed a rejected pearl.

Rejected pearls official criteria :

• pearls whose milky loss of normal pigmentation marks over more than 20% of its surface
• pearls with no luster, resulting in a dull surface
• pearls with deep imperfections on more than half of their surface
• pearls with both deep and light imperfections on more than half of their surface.

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