Here are the arguments:
- The Keshi pearl is a pearl that has from naturally due to the rejection of the mantel implanted during the culturing process
- If the mantel containing the bead for culturing hadn’t been placed there in the first place by man the Keshi pearl would not have grown.
- The keshi pearl has grown in a different part of the shell can be viewed as an intrusion like any other irritant that causes the oyster to secrete a pearl for comfort.
- The Keshi pearl shows no nucleus like a cultured pearl and therefore passes as a natural pearl.
- Because man has intervened in the first place to try and grow a cultured pearl, it cannot be called natural.
- The quality of a Keshi pearl is extremely good and consistent with a natural pearl.
- The time cycle for a Keshi is consistent with the time taken to grow a cultured pearl.
- The keshi pearls are harvested at the time as the cultured pearls.
- Keshi pearls are not found in the wild.
- Natural very irregularly shaped pearl do grow in the wild
The World Jewellery Congress (CIBJO) Pearl Commission in Moscow in May 2014 again debated the Keshi pearl for over an hour! Even the experts are split on the issue.
However for the record, Keshi pearls are regarded as a by-product of the implantation of the culture pearl process and such are considered a cultured non natural pearl. The CIBJO blue book for pearls can be found at www.cibjo.org
- Ronnie Bauer