Would someone that knows about pearls please help me out here! I have been looking for black pearls online for a while now, and have learned through online research that black pearls are only black if they are Tahitian pearls. But I just recently found a internet website that is selling 'solid nacre' pearls (which I am assuming is freshwater), and saying that these black pearls are always of natural color and not dyed.
Is this possible? I am confused because everything else I have read states that they must be either dyed or irradiated.

Hi Mary,

You are correct in that the pearls are not naturally black. The darkest natural color of a freshwater pearl is deep purple, and even this color almost never happens. You would be lucky to make just a couple of strands from an entire harvest.
If the seller is just selling like a single, natural black freshwater pearls, I guess it is a possible phenomenom, but if they are selling a full strand, or several strands and claiming that the color is natural black, they are dishonest.
What is the name of the company you are looking at?

The name of the company is Moon River Pearls. Their internet address is moonriverpearls.com

Thanks Michael. Let me know what you think of them.

Arghhhh.....I hate to see that!
No, the pearls are not naturally black. I have read and reread trying to figure out why they would claim this. At first I thought they may be using radiation treated pearls, thus the claim that they are not dyed could be true, but they also claim that the the color is natural. Not only is this a lie, but it is in direct violation of an FCC mandate in the US of A. Another part that I find interesting is that they make such a big deal about 'solid nacre' pearls, as though this makes them unique. Solid nacre pearl is just a fancy word for freshwater pearl, the most common, prevalent pearl in the world.
I think what bugs me the most about this company is that they are not on eBay, but an actual Website. The Site looks quite professional, and most Sites that make false claims are usually those ugly Sites that look like they were put up in a half hour. The fact that the Site looks professional gives it perceived credibility which ads to the misinformation circulating about pearls. I think I will write them a letter and the JVC as well.

[Kevin Canning]

I concur with Michael. The pearls are definitely color treated. I have seen Moon River Pearls around but I have never taken a close look at the Site. They are importing pearls from Lake Taihu, they say, which is in Wuxi, a large base for freshwater pearls (factory city). As they are finished products I would assume they are buying pearls from either the market in Beijing or Shanghai.
The fact that they are claiming 'natural' color black freshwater pearl jewelry is downright dishonest. When I saw this post I emailed a friend of mine whose family runs XianShaHu, the largest freshwater pearl market in Zhuji to ask about natural color black freshwater pearls as I have never seen any, and this is her response, word-for-word, as I have cut and pasted it:

---It's impossiable for a natural black freshwater pearls like Tahiti or any peachcock blue or green color except some very very few misshapen fresh water pearls include some deep deep purple color, but just few, even can't be half strand. So, don't trust about that, since my family has this business about 20 years. We have some collected some special color and good shape fw pearls like gold, deep pink, and deep deep purple, but just as fancy. One time, a customer from Europe want buy pair deep pink erings for his wife, but even now we haven't got them.
If just 10 or less, I will think maybe it's true for some collector, if more, should be deep purple, and not black. Or they are fake and died.
Thanks for trust, and I'm sure for what I said.
Have good luck.---

Her family is the largest farming/factory owning family in Zhuji. So I know she knows what she is talking about. She confirmed what I thought to be true...

[jshepherd]

Before everyone goes on the offensive toward moonriverpearls.com I would like to point a few things out. While Michael and POJ are 100% correct about black freshwater pearls, I think it may not be 100% intentional on the part moon river pearls.
It is true that although natural color black freshwater pearls do not exist, except maybe by a rare fluke but never enough to market, they are still sold by many vendors as natural black freshwater pearls.
The reason I mention this is because I am thinking back to the time when I first got into the pearl business. I was dealing with a supplier in China that I (mistakenly) trusted implicitly. This 'trader' had a myriad of different color freshwater and Akoya pearls alike. I knew that the freshwater pearls were treated, but I also knew that it was possible to produce black saltwater pearls, albeit only Tahitian. The supplier I dealt with priced two different lots of Akoya pearls for me, one was supposedly a natural black, and the other a color treated black. I chose the natural black - of course. It was not until I returned with my purchase to the US that I learned that those pearls were, of course, treated as well.
Basically what I am saying is we should give Moon River Pearls the benefit of the doubt. By looking at their product it is most likely that the fabrication of the individual pieces occurs in China. This means they are dealing with a 'trader' like one of those at Hongqiao pearl market. It is also likely that this 'trader' has given them misinformation that they have taken as fact without independent research. Thus, it may not be that they are intentionally being dishonest, they may just be misinformed.
I would invite comment from Moon River Pearls as I can see from a link on their Site to Pearl-Guide.com, they do know about this forum. Maybe we can convince them of the truth without resorting to formal complaints with the FCC or the JVC.

Thanks for all the responses. This is the response that I received from Moon River Pearls.com:

Mary,
I needed help answering this one... please read response below.
Tammy Fahey
Moon River Pearls
1 (800) 405-2488
customerservice@moonriverpearls.com
Tammy,
She is correct. The only "black" (truly black in color) pearls that
occur in nature are Tahitian. Ours are considered black but are really
gray in color. She can look at the website and see the color. These
are not dyed or irradiated. If she wants true black color, all we can
offer is one of the few dyed pieces we probably still have in the vault.
John

I still do not know what to think. The pearls look too dark to be freshwater from what I have learned so far...

[jshepherd]

Mary,

That is very disheartening to read. I like to give everyone the benefit of the doubt, but...
There is no question about the pearls that are pictured in the black freshwater pearl section. They are dyed - absolutely.
This is my take after examining the pieces for sale.

The strands are very apparent even without a close up. They have a dark green color with purple and blue overtones (peacock). This does not occur in nature - period. The close-up pictures show very dark, smallish, off-round freshwater pearls. These pearls are prime candidates for dye treatment as round white pearls are more valuable when they are white. Those pictured are sold in the $3-$350 per kilo range (for the 6.5mm pearls).

Again I should reiterate, they may just not know they are selling dyed pearls. But the fact that they are claiming the pearls are natural color is illegal and I do think they should stop. There is no way, no how, not possible that the pearls are not dyed.

Well, my suspicions have been strongly confirmed and I am not going to make a purchase from them. Even though some of the pieces look nice, the fact that they are either being dishonest or just do not know much about pearls has soured my view of their products. Thanks again for all your help. I love this Website!

Just thought I would let you guys know. Moon River Pearls finally took down the claim that their black freshwater pearls were of natural color. So I guess you guys were dead on!

Dear Jeremy,

When we received our initial samples of coal black pearls from our current supplier, we declined to sell them because they were obviously dyed and did not meet our quality standards. They then offered us what they called natural black. At the time, it was our understanding that the "natural black" pearls we substituted for the original batch, and which we currently offer, were not dyed.

Upon receipt of your E-mail, we became very concerned and contacted our supplier. I just learned that, due to translation error, our information was incorrect. Since it is now clear that these too are dyed, we have removed the phrase "not dyed" from all of the descriptions of items featuring black, freshwater pearls on the MRP website.

Thank you for bringing this to our attention.

Regards,

John Ekegren
Moon River Pearls
http://www.moonriverpearls.com

[jshepherd]

John,

I am very glad to hear that you were able to get this straightened out. It is good to know you are being honest about it.