Thoughts on these pearls?

[Relaxedmallard]

Ok so be easy on me, I already purchased these lol, just am awaiting them to arrive in the mail. I sent an offer quite a bit below selling price and was surprised to find it accepted this morning.
These were listed as Genusis cultured pearls, 11-14mm. My goal was to have some larger pearls with some kind of luster to them on a budget. Currently the largest pearls I own are 10mm and anything larger and affordable I’ve seen is very chalky bleached white looking. So the size checks out lol but the luster part remains to be seen in person.
I had never heard of Genusis pearls but a google search shows me they are sold on JTV and a search in pearl guide turned up practically nothing.
So my questions are, what about should I have paid for these? Are they going to last? (I see quite a few holes and wrinkles and such, is this just the natural variations of the individual pearls, or are these some what damaged or something?) And finally, what is the consensus of Genusis cultured pearls? As a brand, do we like them?
Thank you all for your input, I feel I’ve learned so much from this group just in the last few days since I’ve discovered it!

 

[Pearl Dreams]

They're freshwater pearls with natural colors. The wrinkles are also natural and won't affect durability.
I had never heard of the brand before now.
This item is currently being sold on JTV for $249.99, so you are the best judge of whether you paid a good price for them.

Genusis Pearls(TM)11-14mm Natural Lavender Cultured Freshwater Pearl Rhodium Over Silver Necklace - CPL209A

Genusis Pearls(TM)11-14mm natural lavender cultured freshwater pearl, rhodium over sterling silver 20" strand necklace. Measures approximately 0.50" of an inch in with, with a spring ring clasp closure. Colors, shapes and sizes may vary.

www.jtv.com

 

[2thdktr]

Genusis is JTV's brand of nucleated freshwater pearls. Usually the clasps are Sterling Silver. If you like the pearls, that is all that matters.

 

[Relaxedmallard]

Genusis is JTV's brand of nucleated freshwater pearls. Usually the clasps are Sterling Silver. If you like the pearls, that is all that matters.

Is nucleated the same as cultured?

 

[Pearl Dreams]

Not exactly, but cultured pearls are usually nucleated in some way. (Exceptions described below.)

Nucleated means the pearl was cultured by implanting a nucleus inside the mussel or oyster.

Usually it means bead nucleated. Akoyas, SSP, Tahitians, Cortez pearls, Fijian pearls, and increasingly some freshwaters (like the ones you just bought) are bead nucleated (along with a bit of donor mantle tissue to form a pearl sac, which then secretes nacre over the bead.)
The goal of implanting a bead nucleus is to hopefully get a round pearl, but of course many bead nucleated pearls come out not round at all! Still, the ideal goal is a round pearl.
Usually only one bead is implanted at a time, in the gonad. (I believe in some akoyas sometimes 2 very small nuclei can be implanted.)

Freshwater mussels are still most often just tissue nucleated. A bit of mantle tissue from a donor mussel is implanted in the mantle of the host mussel, and that bit of donor tissue gives rise to the pearl sac. FW mussels can have many tissue nuclei implanted at one time.

After the tissue-nucleated FW pearl is harvested, a different kind of nucleus may be implanted in the already existing sac-- a star shape, or another shape. The resulting 2nd harvest pearl will have the shape of the implant.
Or the FW mussel may be returned to the water without any nucleus at all. There is already a pearl sac from the first time, and the sac goes on to produce another pearl. This is where you see shapes like "cornflake pearls" resulting. Yes, they look like cornflakes!
After the 2nd harvest pearl is harvested, a bead may be placed inside the pearl sac. That will produce a 3rd harvest pearl called a fireball pearl (because they look like comets-- the tail is like the tail of a comet.)

There is another kind of pearl that may lack a nucleus at the time of harvest, even though one was implanted. Sometimes a saltwater oyster expels the nucleus. Unless this is detected (via xray) and a new nucleus implanted, the resulting pearl will not have a nucleus. It will be called a keshi pearl.

Saltwater keshi pearls can also form spontaneously in an oyster that has been cultured-- some are very small and may never have had a bead or mantle tissue implant inside them, but they are not considered natural pearls, because they still formed inside a farmed oyster. Perhaps a bit of mantle tissue was dislodged in the culturing process, and that went on to form a little keshi pearl. Akoya keshi can be very tiny indeed.

FW keshi are different; they are 2nd harvest pearls without a nucleus (like the cornflakes described above.)

That is probably waaaay more than you wanted to know.

 

[Pearl Dreams]

Say, @Relaxedmallard, it occurs to me you may enjoy taking the CPAA's pearl course, Pearls As One. You can take it for free with a code, which I will message you. You will learn a great deal about pearls!

 

[Relaxedmallard]

Not exactly, but cultured pearls are usually nucleated in some way. (Exceptions described below.)

Nucleated means the pearl was cultured by implanting a nucleus inside the mussel or oyster.

Usually it means bead nucleated. Akoyas, SSP, Tahitians, Cortez pearls, Fijian pearls, and increasingly some freshwaters (like the ones you just bought) are bead nucleated (along with a bit of donor mantle tissue to form a pearl sac, which then secretes nacre over the bead.)
The goal of implanting a bead nucleus is to hopefully get a round pearl, but of course many bead nucleated pearls come out not round at all! Still, the ideal goal is a round pearl.
Usually only one bead is implanted at a time, in the gonad. (I believe in some akoyas sometimes 2 very small nuclei can be implanted.)

Freshwater mussels are still most often just tissue nucleated. A bit of mantle tissue from a donor mussel is implanted in the mantle of the host mussel, and that bit of donor tissue gives rise to the pearl sac. FW mussels can have many tissue nuclei implanted at one time.

After the tissue-nucleated FW pearl is harvested, a different kind of nucleus may be implanted in the already existing sac-- a star shape, or another shape. The resulting 2nd harvest pearl will have the shape of the implant.
Or the FW mussel may be returned to the water without any nucleus at all. There is already a pearl sac from the first time, and the sac goes on to produce another pearl. This is where you see shapes like "cornflake pearls" resulting. Yes, they look like cornflakes!
After the 2nd harvest pearl is harvested, a bead may be placed inside the pearl sac. That will produce a 3rd harvest pearl called a fireball pearl (because they look like comets-- the tail is like the tail of a comet.)

There is another kind of pearl that may lack a nucleus at the time of harvest, even though one was implanted. Sometimes a saltwater oyster expels the nucleus. Unless this is detected (via xray) and a new nucleus implanted, the resulting pearl will not have a nucleus. It will be called a keshi pearl.

Saltwater keshi pearls can also form spontaneously in an oyster that has been cultured-- some are very small and may never have had a bead or mantle tissue implant inside them, but they are not considered natural pearls, because they still formed inside a farmed oyster. Perhaps a bit of mantle tissue was dislodged in the culturing process, and that went on to form a little keshi pearl. Akoya keshi can be very tiny indeed.

FW keshi are different; they are 2nd harvest pearls without a nucleus (like the cornflakes described above.)

That is probably waaaay more than you wanted to know.

Thank you, I enjoyed reading this! I learned quite a bit here.