In Reply to: I'm not doubting you. Nothing is ever posted by Fiona on Sunday, 13. January 2008 at 05:25 Bali Time:
The dye process is done by the pearl growers in China. Pearls come out of the mussel usually an orange pink colour. They are soaked in dye for up to 3 months. The dye is absorbed into the pearl - it is not a coating. That is why they can get such a lovely result.
One of the reasons freshwater pearls are so much cheaper than sea water pearls is that up to 50 are grown per mussell. Compared to one per oyster with sea pearls.
Freshwater pearls are usually all nacre - i.e. they don't have a bead in the middle. Most sea pearls have a bead nucleus. Often the large sea pearls have quite a large seed inside, and not much nacre on the outside. Unless they are high quality and expensive.
To get a large sized freshwater pearl takes longer to grow, and they are quite heavy because they are all nacre.
As I mentioned, most of the boys selling pearls in Bali and Lombok have no knowledge of their product. If you ask them where the freshwater pearl farms are they might tell you near Bangsal (which is where the sea water pearls are grown), or East Lombok (which is the place they always say things are from if they don't know the answer).