Freshwater Pearls
By Sherril Steele-Carlin
What's a biwa pearl? Well, it's really the first cultured freshwater pearl to become financially successful and immensely popular.
The Japanese Started it All
Before the 1900s, the only pearls available were pearls that formed naturally inside mussels and oysters. These gems were treasured for their beauty, sheen, and colors, but it was chance or luck that helped most people stumble across pearls.
Then, the Japanese discovered how to "culture" or grow pearls at the whim of man, and cultured pearls were born.
First pearls were cultured in saltwater oysters, but later, they created the first freshwater pearls, and a new industry was born. These first pearls came from Biwa mussels living in Lake Biwa, near Kyoto, Japan.
The Japanese created a thriving industry, but it fell apart when the mussels became endangered and the lake fell victim to industry and pollution. The last surviving Biwa mussels were cross-pollinated with other freshwater mussels to create a new breed and continue the Japanese freshwater pearl industry.
Are All Freshwater Pearls Biwas?
For decades, the biwa pearl was so prized, the name took on a life of its own, like "Coke" or "Xerox." The Japanese fought hard to have the name refer only to pearls from Lake Biwa.
When the Biwa Mussel began to die out, the Japanese took the last remaining mussels and crossed them with Chinese mussels, and production changed.
The U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has ruled that all freshwater pearls can be called biwas, but according to the Japanese, the name should only refer to those that originated from Lake Biwa. Confused? Just know that biwa pearls signify quality.
Shape Makes the Pearl
No matter the shape, size, color, or type, from biwa coin pearl to biwa rice pearl, it's the mussel and not the shape that makes a biwa special. In fact, a biwa pearl can mean just about anything, except that it came from salt water! So, when you see biwa pearls, you'll know they can be anything from a coin to a button, but they are always freshwater pearls. Some dealers refer to all their freshwater pearls as biwa, but now you know that can mean just about anything, depending on the trader! Whatever you call them; freshwater biwa coin pearls and others are the standard for freshwater cultivation.
Chinese Biwas
The Chinese first started producing their own freshwater pearls in the 1970s, and their pearls were highly inferior to Lake Biwa pearls. Dealers derisively called the Chinese gems "rice crispies" because of their odd shapes and crinkled surface. They couldn't hold a coin to biwa coin pearls! This Chinese inferiority complex didn't last too long. In fact, only a few years later, the Japanese used Chinese mussels to cross with their own biwa mussels as they began to become endangered. Biwa coin pearls will never be quite the same!
