are the most common type of pearls that come from freshwater mussels. they are produced in Japan, China, and the United States.
a single freshwater mussel can produce up to 50 pearls which are produced in their mantle tissue while salt-water peral-bearing oysters produce their 1 or 2 pearls in a small organ.
freshwater pearls come in whimsical shapes, sizes and colors. besides the tradional white/cream color, these pearls come in many different colors (lavender, plum, purple, tangerine, black, pink, peach and every shade in between) depending on the mussel type, environment, applied commercail dying methods.
their varied shapes include potato-shaped and stick pearls, rice-shaped and button pearls, coin-shaped and drop pearls, off-round and round pearls.
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