Mabe Pearls

Mabe (or blister) pearls are half round pearls created by grafting
a semi-circular nucleus on the inner surface of the mother-of-pearl oyster.

Mabe pearls can be grown on a variety of molluscs including the black-lipped oyster (Tahiti, Cook Islands), silver and gold-lipped oysters (Australia, Indonesia, Philippines), the blue/green abalone (New Zealand Paua) and various freshwater mussel varieties (China, Vietnam).

The technique for creating a mabe pearl is as follows: First, a semi-spherical nucleus is grafted onto the inside of the mussel or oyster. After six months it will be covered in several layers of nacre. Then it is removed from the shell and cleaned, the nucleus is extracted, the hole is filled and then covered with a layer of polished mother-of-pearl.

Mabe pearls appear in a range of shapes, such as round, drop, heart and baroque. Colours can vary from grey, black or peacock green (Tahitian), silver or light gold (South Seas), cream/pink (Chinese freshwater mussels) and blue/green (NZ Paua).

Mabe pearls are most popular as pendants but are also used to create
earrings, pendants, rings and brooches. Tiare Black Pearl has a range
of mabe jewellery from all parts of the world. You can even choose your
own mabe and ask us to design a piece to suit your individual taste.