“Keshis” are the dominant type of baroque pearls in the market today. The term is derived from the Japanese word for “poppyseed”; it was originally used to describe small seed-size pearls found as byproducts of Japanese cultured pearls.
The three ways Keshi pearls develop are as follows:
During nucleation, loose epithelial cells accidentally find their way inside the mollusk and a small ‘keshi” pearl forms.
During nucleation, the mother of pearl bead nucleus is implanted along with a graft of mantle tissue. The bead nucleus is rejected but the graft tissue remains; resulting in the formation of a larger Keshi Pearl.
The bold new Keshi a result of a second harvest. In some cases, the pearls are harvested delicately, while care is taken not to sacrifice the living mollusk. Then, the live mollusk is returned to the pearl farm and allowed to grow a second harvest of pearls. The original pearl sac is filled with a nacre secretion and second harvest is born.
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