Hi Caitlin,

Faceted pearls are just what the name says: Pearls that have been faceted. In order to be faceted, the pearls need thick nacre. Originally the idea was conceived by a Japanese company (Komatsu) to make lackluster akoyas more attractive, but there were not enough thick-nacre akoyas around, so the company started faceting Tahitians and South Seas. In freshwater pearls there are two common grades of faceting the one typically used in dyed potato pearls I may call "hacked at" where the pearls look like they were run through a food processor and "fine facetting" typically used for already well shaped pearls of fine natural color and water. The former are hideous and the latter are amazing. In contrast to what some authors (e.g. Antionette Matlins) suggest, you cannot really make pearls rounder or the cerclé disappear by faceting them. Au contraire, cerclé and most other flaws (except maybe piqué) go too deep to be eradicated by competent faceting and thus stand out even more than before when faceted. Anodonta woodiana pearls (naturally black freshwater cultured pearls) benefit most from such treatment resulting in a product that looks like faceted black opal beads of the Lightening Ridge type.

Zeide