When you look at our freshwater pearls, you'll notice that they're marked with a quality stamp such as Grade AAAA, AAA, AA+ or A. You might be wondering what those letters actually mean, and which quality you should choose for your particular project.

In short, the stamp tells you how round the pearl is, how beautiful its luster is, how clean the surface is, and how well the pearls on a strand match each other. The higher the grade, the closer the pearl is to the classic, perfectly round pearl with a mirror-like luster.

In this guide, we'll calmly go through all four qualities, so you can confidently choose based on both the picture and the quality stamp when shopping with us.

When freshwater pearls are harvested, they are sorted by hand according to size, shape, color and quality before becoming the strands you find in our webshop. This sorting is necessary because two pearls from the same mussel are rarely completely identical – there will always be small variations in shape, luster and surface. This is exactly what makes natural pearls so beautiful and alive.

The grade system is our way of grouping the pearls into quality levels, so you know exactly what you're getting. This is especially helpful when shopping online, where you can't hold the pearls in your hand first.

Worth knowing: There is no official global standard for grading freshwater pearls. Different retailers and pearl farms use different scales – some use A to AAAA, others Class I to Class IV, and some create their own entirely.

At Uniq Perler, we've chosen the internationally most widely used AAAA → AAA → AA+ → A scale, because it's easy to understand and compare across the board.

This is our finest quality. The pearls are almost perfectly round with less than 5% deviation from the perfectly round shape, and they have an extraordinary, mirror-like luster where the reflected light appears sharp and clear. Only 0–5% of each pearl's surface carries natural marks, and the strand is matched to perfection with minimal variation in color, tone, luster, shape and size.

You can confidently choose Grade AAAA when creating exclusive one-of-a-kind jewelry, bridal jewelry, or something meant to be given as a truly special gift.

Grade AA+ is a small step down the scale, but the pearls are still of really good quality, and the difference from AAA isn't large. The pearls are round – a few may be slightly oval – with a very high luster and a clear, bright reflection where a few edges may be a little hazy. The surface has 5–10% natural marks, and the pearls match each other nicely on the strand.

This is our recommendation when you want beautiful everyday jewelry that looks fantastic without costing the same as our top qualities.

Grade A is the most natural and lively of our qualities. Although it's the lowest grade we carry, the pearls are still really nice – they're just not quite as uniform as the higher grades. You'll find a mix of round and slightly oval pearls with a good luster, where the reflection can be softer and the surface may carry more natural marks.

The variation from pearl to pearl is part of the charm here. This quality is especially well suited to mixed designs, baroque-inspired jewelry, and hobby projects where the raw, natural look is a deliberate part of the style. Many of the most popular pearl jewelry pieces right now play on exactly that look.

Freshwater pearls are created in nature, which is why you'll always find small marks and variations on the surface. This isn't a flaw, but a sign that the pearl is genuine and naturally formed.

The higher the grade, the fewer marks – but no matter which quality you choose, we select each strand with care, so you can feel confident about what you receive.

There isn't one right answer – it's about what you're making and the look you're going for:

• If you're making exclusive jewelry or something for a gift, Grade AAAA or AAA is the natural choice.
• If you want beautiful everyday jewelry, Grade AA+ is a really good match.
• If you're going for a raw, natural look or doing hobby projects, Grade A is ideal.

Many of our customers actually combine different grades in the same piece of jewelry. A Grade AAAA center bead with Grade AA+ side beads gives a beautiful result, where the eye is drawn to the finest bead, while the overall piece still stays within a reasonable budget.

This quality guide is not an official global standard, but our way of making the quality differences transparent to you. We've chosen the AAAA–A scale because it's the most widely used internationally, and because it makes it easy to compare with other retailers.

At Uniq Perler, we always strive to offer the most beautiful beads at the best price. That's why you'll find that all our freshwater pearls are of really good quality, regardless of grade. We carefully select each strand, and when it's shipped to you, you can rest assured that the pearls have been thoughtfully matched.