Mabe Pearl

The Mabe pearls are hemispherical pearls produced by Mabe shells. They are produced by gluing a hemispherical piece of plastic into the shell. The shell will cover the hemispherical piece of plastic with a big amount of nacre and therewith will produce the pearl. Then the producer can take out the pearl. After that he will take out the plastic piece and fill the cavity with epoxy resin. Finally the pearl will be backed with a plate.

The colours of the Mabe pearls vary from light pink to bluish shades. The colouring looks brilliant, especially if the colour is pink with gold swirls (which is the rarest colour for the Mabe pearls). You can set the value of a Mabe pearl based on its colour and depending on its texture and luster. As the Mabe pearls have a flat side, they are cheaper than the round pearls.

As described in the first section, the process of producing Mabe pearls is different from the process of producing other pearls. You can find the Mabe pearl oysters in nearly all tropical and subtropical seas. Among the many pearl farms producing Mabe pearls in the world, the best Mabe pearls come from the Japanese Amami Oshima Islands.