On pp. 46-47 of his book, _Pearls_, Fred Ward says,
"I confirmed that the Chinese are nucleating mussels with their own tissue-cultured freshwater pearls, which result in all-nacre round or almost round pearls. Aiming for an even higher percentage of rounds, the Chinese are reshaping some reject freshwater pearls, then nucleating mussels with them....
. . .
Chinese rounds are typically shell-bead or pearl-bead nucleated.... Off-round pearls are still produced by tissue nucleation."
In the caption on page 39 of the same book, regarding Chinese freshwater pearls, Ward says, "Investigation shows they are usually nucleated with shell beads or small pearls".
I've heard just the opposite from reputable pearl industry people who say that bead-nucleated freshwaters would cost way more than tissue-nucleated ones, and that the former are by far the minority.
Did Ward do insufficient research?
CarolK