"Fiddlesticks" 36" Necklace -Appx 1" - 1.25" Stick Pearls, Sterling with Round Pearls at The Back for Comfortable Wear & a Sterling Clasp
Pearl Insider Intel:
Although often referred to as 'Biwa' Pearls - these are actually, 'Stick' pearls - called so in reference to their shape (obvi). True Biwas only came from the Biwa Lake in Japan, where Mikimoto did his first experiments with freshwater pearls - nucleating mussels. This is what sparked the Chinese to dive deep into the pearl market & what gave birth to the popularity of freshwater pearls.
Biwa pearls aren’t any different in composition from freshwater pearls, but the fact that they were the first of their kind to be cultured, gave them a distinct position. That, plus the fact that there are almost none coming from Lake Biwa nowadays, make them price-prohibitive & super-rare.
Over time, 'Biwa' has become a generic name used to refer to stick-shaped freshwater pearls but that's misleading. If a retailer is selling Biwa pearls that aren’t actually from Lake Biwa, then they’re not complying with a Federal Trade Commission ruling that states that only pearls originating from the lakes and freshwater bodies of Japan can be so-called.
...Just keepin' it real.
