South Sea pearls are large cultivated pearls grown in the waters of Australia, Papua New Guinea, Indonesia, the Philippines, Thailand, and Burma. They are saltwater pearls from the Pinctada maxima white-lipped, silver-lipped, and gold-lipped oysters.

The colors can range from white, silvery-white, and bluish-white, to gold, cream, or silver. The size of South Sea pearls range from 10 - 20 mm but pearls larger than 16 mm are rare.

White South Sea pearls tend to be the most expensive cultured pearls available and have a large amount of nacre, resulting in incredible luster.