A man in Lake Worth, Florida discovered a rare purple pearl in a plate of clams he ordered. George Brock and his wife, Leslie were spending the day at the beach and stopped in at Dave’s Last Resort for lunch. George was half way through eating when he bit down on something hard, the pearl in question.

“Natural pearls are rare and finding one of such a color makes it even more so”, says our staff gemologist at Images. For a $10 lunch his find could be worth thousands, so the Brocks plan to have the pearl appraised and have said they will sell it if it is valuable.

Chocolate pearls are the new black. Created by bleaching top quality Tahitian pearls using a proprietary process, chocolate pearls are quickly becoming the newest must have item. Having a beautiful chocolate color, they make a statement when mixed with rose and yellow gold.

Not all chocolate pearls are created equally though. As the chocolate pearl craze descends in to the QVC and Wal-Mart categories lower cost, and quality, pearls are being created for the growing market. Rather than using the fine Tahitian South Sea pearls, many manufacturers are using the more common mass produced Chinese freshwater pearls and using a silver nitrate dyeing process.

While this is causing some issues in the trade between the high end manufacturers and the volume sellers, it has been great for the consumer by providing multiple levels of quality and price allowing more people the ability to buy in at the level they feel comfortable with.

Chi Huynh, of Galatea: Jewelry By Artist, has developed an incredibly unique new cultured pearl. While carving a pearl Chi accidentally carved too deep and exposed the white nuclei of a black Tahitian pearl. This lead to an idea, why no use other colored gems as nuclei?

Chi looked for a place to grow his new idea and found himself off the coast of Vietnam starting a test bed. Three years later AAA-quality Black Vietnamese Pearls with colored gemstone nuclei were ready for carving. Leading to what may be the most unique product in a long time, multi colored carved pearls.

This pearl features a turquoise center, but others have been created using citrine and amethyst..