Pearl Education

How NOT to Buy Pearls: The #1 Mistake Shoppers Make

This is a great find! You know: Everyone - especially for those new to pearl shopping - could use expert this advice in how best to knowledgably shop for pearls. And we usually have these articles or videos about "How to Shop for Pearls" and they are good! But this one ... this one is simply better because NOW we have just the opposite approach: How NOT to Buy Pearls and the biggest mistake pearl shoppers typically make.

I...

I our last two articles we have explored the fantastic inner world of pearl oysters, and how they become not only a mother-of-pearl but also a protective womb for some rare and delicate species of crabs, shrimps and fishes. On this occasion we are going to explore how pearl beds are also responsible for protecting and harboring Life in the ocean.

When examining a live pearl oyster, you will notice it sometimes looks like an ocean rock: it’s covered with algae, tube worms, sponges, other...

SSEF turns 50 in 2022!
Test your knowledge (all the answers can be found on our website) with 10 questions about SSEF and gems and enter the draw to win three fantastic prizes.

First prize: ATC Pearl Course (value 1600 Swiss Francs) on 7-8 November 2022, with economy airfare and three nights hotel in Basel covered by SSEF. We are not responsible for visa or food expenses.
Second prize: A free SSEF report for one loose cut diamond, gemstone or pearl of your choice. Shipping is free if you...

Pearls in the Web of Life – Part 1

Pearls are not only a product of a living being -a mollusk- but their “mother mollusk” is also a host for dozens of other life-forms! When we think about other animals that we use in our lives (as a food source or as a luxury good, such as furs) we can rarely imagine these creatures being a part of something larger or co-existing with other animals from varied species. We may picture a henhouse bursting with chickens, or a pen full of cows, but we find it...

Pearls in the Web of Life – Part 3

In our last entry, where we learned that the outside of pearl oysters acts as a small ecosystem in itself, but now we will “dive deeper” into the oysters themselves to find that this pattern repeats itself -in a kind of Hermetic understanding of the “As is Above, is Below” law- but with different actors involved. And, if you ever had the opportunity to stare into a live and open pearl oyster, you would begin experiencing a calmness that emanates from these...

This is a Special Educational entry, but I believe it may be of value to some of our new visitors; it originates from an email I received just a week ago, but I have received this type of e-mails many, many times before... so, I will take this opportunity to have this information to the widest audience possible. The e-mail would say something like this:

Hello!
I'm writing from X country to ask you:
Some time ago I had lunch at a seafood restaurant, and I found a pearl inside a...