Cultured Pearls and "Natural" Pearls: We sell cultured Tahitian pearls, South Sea pearls, Akoya pearls, and freshwater pearls. Cultured pearls are real pearls, they are grown in oysters that live in South Pacific waters of pearl farms and tended by pearl farmers, rather than growing on their own in the ocean/lagoons. Cultured pearls should not be confused with "shell pearls" which are made from oyster shells cut into spheres and coated to look like a pearl. Cultured pearls are made by an oyster as a result of the pearl farmer inserting a small "nucleus" or bead into the oyster. A pearl is made when the oyster forms the pearl nacre around the nucleus - this ensures that every healthy oyster makes a pearl, as opposed to waiting for a foreign parasite or particle to enter the oyster and make a pearl. It is actually extremely important for the health of our lagoons and oceans to buy only cultured pearls. This is because when people search the lagoons for natural pearls, they kill thousands of oysters before finding one oyster containing a pearl. This is very dangerous for the ecosystem; and this is why the government of Tahiti made it illegal to take un-farmed (not cultured) Tahitian pearls from the lagoons. Look here for more on cultured Tahitian pearls.