The popularity of Tahitian pearls was sparked by the efforts of Robert Wan of Tahiti and his New York-based associates in the mid-1900s. The body color of Tahitian pearls is often darker than that of other varieties of pearls. These pearls have risen to the top of the global pearl market in terms of both demand and price. As a result of their wide variety of colours, matching them into a completed string requires thousands of loose pearls. Buy Hawaiian pearl jewelry.