Is the Pearl the June Birthstone?

Pearl is one of three June birthstones, with alexandrite and moonstone. June is one of only three months with three birthstones; the others are August and December.¹ GIA notes that the choice lets people born in June pick a birthstone to suit their mood or budget, since the three gems differ in color and price.¹

Natural and cultured pearls both count#

GIA describes pearl, natural or cultured, as a US birthstone for June.⁴ A natural pearl forms with no human help, while a cultured pearl is started by a technician who implants mantle tissue, alone or with a shell bead, into a host mollusk.¹ The page natural vs cultured pearls explains the difference.

Where the birthstone list comes from#

In the United States, the birthstone list goes back to 1912, when it was established by the American National Retail Jewelers Association, which became today’s Jewelers of America.² Its current list gives June three stones: pearl, moonstone and alexandrite.²

What pearls have meant#

Pearls have long been associated with purity, humility and innocence, and GIA sums up the June birthstone’s meaning as “sweet simplicity”. For that reason, pearls were traditionally given as a wedding gift.¹ Pearl is also the gem of the third and thirtieth anniversaries.³ The pages pearl symbolism and the pearl anniversary say more.

Their origin fascinated people long before anyone understood it. Ancient peoples of the Middle East believed pearls were teardrops fallen from heaven, the Chinese imagined they came from the brain of a dragon, and Christopher Columbus and his contemporaries thought mollusks formed them from dew drops.¹ Many cultures linked pearls with the moon because of their round shape, and in Europe they stood for modesty, chastity and purity.⁵ The page how pearls form explains what really happens.

Where June birthstone pearls come from#

Natural pearls have been found in the Persian Gulf for at least 5,000 years, divers have recovered them from the Red Sea since 300 BCE, and the Strait of Mannar has yielded them since 2000 BCE.¹ From the 16th century, large quantities came from the waters off Mexico, Central America and present-day Venezuela.¹ Only small quantities are found in any of these places today, and thousands of years of pearl fishing have depleted the natural pearl beds, so cultured pearls make up the vast majority of pearl sales.¹

Cultured pearls come from farms around the world. Akoya cultured pearls come mainly from Japan and China, especially the southern coasts of Guangdong and Guangxi; South Sea pearls from northern Australia through Indonesia to Southeast Asia, with large farms in the Philippines; Tahitian pearls from French Polynesia’s Gambier Islands and Tuamotu Archipelago; and freshwater pearls mainly from China.¹

Choosing a June birthstone pearl#

The main cultured pearl types differ in color and size. The table compares them using the Learn About Pearls dataset, and the pearl types section describes each one.

GIA judges pearls on seven value factors: size, shape, color, nacre, luster, surface and matching.¹⁷ The buying section explains how to compare them.

Caring for pearl birthstone jewelry#

Pearls rate 2.5 to 3.0 on the Mohs scale, so they are a comparatively soft gem that needs special care.¹ GIA advises storing them apart from other gems and metal jewelry, never in a plastic bag, putting them on after perfume, hair products and cosmetics, and wiping them with a soft, damp cloth, ideally after every wearing.¹ The page how to clean pearls has the details.