These are the classic freshwater pearls, in production since Hieriopsys cumingii sān jiǎo bèi 三角貝 mussels came into use in China during the 1980′s. Pearls of the first harvest tend to have plump or full shapes. Few are spherical, but the typical ovoid/drop and cushion/lentil shapes attest to the abundance of nacre that a mussel in its rapid growth stage produces.
Relative roundness is easily compared, and costly to specify in freshwater pearl orders. It also seems to vary inversely to strong lustre, more frequently found in ovoid pearls. Probably the most intensive lustre-enhancing treatments are lavished upon the roundest pearls, because their scarcity enables them to fetch higher prices. To 2010, China produced far rounder pearls without nuclei than with round bead nuclei. For pictures and more detail please see flame type bead nucleated pearls and in-body bead-nucleated pearls .
Read Page 2 for more details on non-nucleated fw pearl farming.
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