Here is a list of pearl industry terms that might help you better understand this site and the discussions within the community forum. It is compiled from multiple sources and we believe it to be one of the most comprehensive lists available.
EDXRF: Energy dispersive X-ray fluorescence is a spectrometric method of determining chemical composition. It is used to differentiate cultured and natural pearls.
egg shape: Oval shape pearls.
EGL: European Gemological Laboratory.
Ehime Pearl Guild system: Point system developed in 1993 to give farmers exact information about how certain criteria are used to evaluate akoya pearls in Japan.
eightway roller: Perfectly round pearl.
elephant pearl: So-called pearl said to come from the heads or tusk sockets of elephants. See also gajamukta and gajamuthu.
endoscope method: Method of testing whether a pearl is natural or cultured; conducted by inserting a hollow needle into the drill hole of a pearl and examining the behavior of a ray of light projected through the hole and reflected from a small mirror at the end of the needle. The light reflects and bends with the concentric layers of a natural pearl and shines out the drill hole. The light enters the roughly parallel layers of a cultured pearl’s bead and travels through them to the surface.
epithelial cells: Cells on the shell side of a mollusk’s mantle tissue that produce mother of pearl and nacre.
epithelial graft tissue: Piece of mantle tissue from a donor mollusk implanted with a mother-of-pearl bead in the gonad or other body part of a host mollusk to produce a cultured pearl; or implanted with or without a bead in the mantle of a host mollusk to produce a cultured pearl.
essence d’orient: Paste made of several ingredients including scales from the undersides of certain fish. It is applied as a coating to glass beads to make imitation pearls; also called pearly essence.
exotic freshwater pearls: Cultured freshwater pearls that exhibit uncommon colors like green, gold, blue or orange.
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