Common Names for Pearl Shapes

 The most well-known and desired pearls are typcially round or nearly round.  These pearls are typically the more expensive versions of saltwater pearls from the South Seas or Asia.  However, pearls come in a variety of shapes with different names depending on the region where it is sold.  It is now very easy to find a pearl shape to fit any personality, although the popularity and names of each shape may change with fashion trends as well as location.  

Round and Nearly Round pearls may be natural or may be manually encouraged by bead nuclating the host mullusk.  Natural ones will be more expensive and only can be confirmed with x-ray technology or by cutting the pearl in half which destroyis it.  Natural round pearls are usually South Seas, black Tahitians, or  Japenese Akoyas -- which is another reason they are more expensive and highly sought after.  A lower priced bigger and faster roundish freshwater pearls may be acheieved by the intervention of man.  Most freshwater pearls are not naturally round, instead they will be nearly round or barogue shapes. Other names for nearly round include:

• Potato, Oblong, Oval, - Most natural freshwater pearls will be this shape.  Calling it potato shape has fallen out of favor, but it is still an accurate description for the shape.
• Drop, Tear, Egg - Pearls that graduate from a small top to a thicker bottom and are most often used for earrings or solitaire pendants. 
• Circle', Ringed - Pearls of any shape that have lines around the pearl caused from spinning in the shell during development.
• Seed - Usually a tiny roundish pearl under 4mm which is called seed because it is looks like a mustard seed or baby starter pearl.  
• Button, Rondelle - These pearls are often used for earrings or rings because they are typically flat on one side or strung as necklaces or bracelets if slightly flat on two sides.  They may look like a small coin pearl but are typically natural rather than maniplated into form. 

Baroque is the pearl industry term for any pearl that is not round(ish).  However there are lots of sub-shapes and styles of pearls.  Other terms for barogue shapes include:

• Comet, Fish, Fireball - This pearl starts as a round pearl but during the growing process develops a tail so it looks like a comet with its tail shooting across the sky.  This type of pearl has great luster, high pearlescence, and some colors have a metallic look.  It has become common practice to refer to the large version of this pearl simply as baroque, which leads to confusion of consumers. 
• Biwa pearls were natrually occuring pearls from Japan's Lake Biwa, now they are cultivated Iother locations as well producing varying shapes:
• Drip, Fancy, Liquid, Square - Most often this is a natural free-form rectangular or squarish semi-flat pearl.  It has a high luster and pearlescence making it popular with collectors and jewelry designers. Sometimes sellers will refer to this shape as Keshi rather than Biwa.
• Stick, Toothpick - Pearl formed when farmers are trying to force the shape of a natural Biwa.  which sometimes results in a stick instead of rectangle.  The thicker or rounder the pearl, the more likely it is cultivated instead of naturally occurring.  Some farmers have created popular pearl crosses using the same method.
• Chicken Feet, Bird Claw - Biwa or stick pearls that grow together may form shapes that look like bird feet or plant roots.
• Sharkstooth, Tooth  - Pearls that are nearly square, rectangular, or triangular in shape are often referred to as Keshi or Biwa although it may not fit the standard for either shape.  It is an odd braroque shape that  actually looks like a like a large tooth or a slightly lopsided square.  The shape may be natural, or it could be a planned shape that went weird, or it could be the result of an attempt at creating a Mabe.  Their odd-looking result makes them collected by people who like unique, however they are not typically expensive collectibles.
• Keshi (also spelled Keishi) refers to a "surprise" pearl that grews in a mollusk where traditional pearls were being cultivated.  These come in a variety of shapes:
• Petal, Cornflake - This shape is usually thin and often a natural unintended suprise to the farmer cultivating mollusks.  The shape often looks like cornflake cereal or a dried rose petal and has high luster and pearlescence.  Other odd shaped pearls may be referred to as keshi, but they may better fit one of the other shapes and the person selling the pearl may not know this.
• Pebble - Pearls that have no consistent shape and look like tiny rocks or little bowls are another type of spontaneous Keshi pearl, so they may alse be referred to as Keshi too.
• Flat - Pearls that have a long, flatter shape that look like pulled daisy pearls or a small Biwa are another type of Keshi.
• Butterfly - Pearls created when two or more petal-style Keshi grow into one pearl so that it looks like it has wings when properly strung through the joining of the pearls.  Flat or petal pearls may be drilled at the ends and strung to mimic the butterfly look.
• Peanut, Double, Gemini, Twin - This shape is the result of two roundi or nearly round pearls growing into one within the mullusk.  The result will be a doubled pearl that is looks similar to a peanut.
• Rosebud - A pearl of any natural shape with little bumps or warts on most of the surface area, which may be caused by grains of sand getting caught in the nacre during pearl formation.  These pearls are not very pretty, yet they are highly prized and collected by some pearl enthusiasts.
• Rice - Tiny elongated pearl that looks like a grain of white rice, which has high luster like a Biwa.  Some pearl sellers may label small potato-shaped pearls as rice because they are 4mm or under in size, but they will not have the luster typical of traditional rice pearls.  
• Blister, Mabe - These are pearls grown by attaching something to the inside of the host mollusk to encourage it to cover the item with nacre to produce a pearl that is round on top and nearly flat on the bottom where it was attached.  
• Angel Wings - Similar concept of butterfly, this happens when two Mabes or Comets grow togeher with the tails points opposite of each other to form the look of featherd wings when strung. 
• Coin, Diamond, Cross, Heart, Clover, Flower, Star, Square - A commercially created pearl shape created by a thin pre-cut piece of material in the desired shape implanted into the mollusk so that it will form nacre over it.

Edison, Genesis, Kasumi/Kasumiga, Ming, & other trademarked names are near-round or comet-like barogue (see below) freshwater pearls created by moving saltwater mollusks to freshwater farms for cultivation and nucleation.  The luster and colors of these pearls mimic the look of true South Sea pearls and natural Japenese pearls.  These pearls continue to increase in value as Sount Sea pearls become less available. 

Shell or MOP (mother of pearl) pearls are not cultured pearls.  These  are made by grinding the mother of pearl portion of the mollusk shell and mixing it with resin to hold it together.  The mixture is dyed and poured into molds to produce a large perfectly round pearl on uniform shades to mimic large barogue pearls.  If you want natural or cultured pearls, check the fine print to make sure it says freshwater, saltwater, or the location name for the pearl farm.  These nearly-faux pearls are an inexpensive alternative for a big pearl look in a variety of color choices.

For photos of various shapes, see The Different Types Of Pearls And What They All Look Like on the Rock Chasing blog.  Please note this site has lots of ads, so loading may be slow.  Also, review colors of pearls on this blog for more informed buying.