All of our pearl strands are genuine freshwater pearls of the highest quality.  These are not man-made or glass pearls.  These beautiful gems come straight to you from mother nature via the shellfish.  The reason we are able to offer such high quality pearls at such reasonable pries is due to breakthroughs in pearl farm technology.  Where previously only one pearl was found among thousands of mussels opened, now there may be five lustrous pearls in each mollusk. Large pearls however, still take several years to form.