[xeresana]

I was noticing in the description of hanadama pearls on PP's website that the pearls have a rosé overtone. Why rosé? I mean, rosé is *my* favorite so, it's the one I'd choose anyway. But, I thought overtone was mostly personal preference. Is there a reason that the hanadamas would all be rosé? What causes different overtones, anyway?

[jshepherd]

Color really plays no part in the Hanadama grading. But most high-end akoya will often have a rose overtone to some degree. Some may have a creamier rose, some may have a silver rose.

This does not mean they will always have rose, however. We have made Hanadama strands with strong silver in the past. But generally, when new Hanadama lots are shipped to us from Kobe, they are mostly rose.

I think it is also important to point out that due to the fact that most of them are rose it has lead to the rumor that all Hanadama are rose, or that Hanadama means rose. This is absolutely wrong. Hanadama means "Flower Ball", or "Spherical Flower". The famous flowers of Japan are white (sakura), and are known for their beauty, not a rose coloration.

[xeresana]

Is there a reason that most high-end akoya have a rosé overtone?

[jshepherd]

Akoya pearls are nearly universally "pinked". The rose overtone is the color in most demand. It does not occur naturally except in the rarest of circumstances, and even then those pearls are likely bleached and pinked once again.

The short answer is simply that the rose overtone is the most popular.

[xeresana]

Interesting. Does silver overtone occur naturally?

Why are some pearls bleached and then pinked again? Is their natural pink tone not nice enough?

Is this just for akoyas? What about SS pearls or Tahitians? Do they also undergo treatments?

[jshepherd]

Silvers, blues, creams, and yellows all occur naturally.

Regarding the bleaching of pearls with a pink overtone, you have to first understand the process that all of the pearls are going though.

A factory buys pearls from a farmer or several farmers. This is done in an auction event in Japan called hama-age nyusatsu, and most pearls are separated into what is called 1st grade and 2nd grade. In China harvests are negotiated individually. In either scenario the pearls make their way to the factories.

The factories wash the pearls and start processing them in the first treatment called maeshori. It is a Japanese word that means pre-processing. This is done before bleaching, and is nearly universal. From here the pearls go into the bleaching process. They are somewhat separated before this process by quality and color. This semi-separation is only to determine how long the pearls will need to be bleached. They are all bleached, but some for only a short period of time.
After the bleach comes the pinking, then the polishing, and finally the true separation.

The last step is where the pearls really get examined. This is where separation truly occurs. A few pearls may be pulled out at some point throughout the process, but not any real volume. Basically, everything goes through the same process.

It would not make a lot of sense to the factory to pull pearls that exhibit a natural rose overtone. Pinking is not a treatment that has until recently required disclosure. It is considered as universal as bleaching.

South Sea pearls can and do go through some treatments. If the pearls have gone though Japan, they are most likely maeshori treated and possibly color treated. These strands may have a tag that says "Product of Japan", as they must have this tag when exported. But you will not likely see this tag remain on a consumer level except on akoya (for deceptive reason we have openly discussed in the past).

It used to be that if the pearls came from Australia this meant no treatments had been done, but now this is only something guaranteed by the largest producer, Paspaley.

Tahitian pearls are often treated as well. From what I know this is not done in French Polynesia, nor is it done in the Cook Islands to Cook Island pearls. But low-grade Tahitians are routinely coated with polymer in Asia. Color enhancements are done as well. Unfortunately these treatments are rarely disclosed. The only way to be certain the pearls are not treated is to deal with a factory that you know well and trust, or to match and drill your own Tahitian pearls.

Chocolate Tahitians are a good example of treated Tahitians. The true chocolates are bleached, and the knock-offs are dyed.

[xeresana]

Interesting. Are there any naturally occuring chocolate colored pearls? Brown is my favorite color. I'd love to find some really lovely chocolate pearls, the cherry on top would be of course, untreated.

Do you think we'll start to see more variety in the market? I loved the untreated baroque strands and would love to see more untreated pearls, especially baroque becoming available to us consumers. Do you think there's enough demand in the market for this to happen?

[jshepherd]

There are brown Tahitian pearls, but they do not look much like the chocolates. It would be possible to create a strand of brown, or at least a brown overtone.

I think there is definitely a market for untreated freshwater and on a smaller scale untreated akoya. The trick with the freshwater is collecting it at the right moment, and having the facility to match and drill. You will see more of the exotic untreated colors soon ...

[knotty panda]

As this is turning into a color/treatment sort of discussion and not Hanadama, I have two strands of SSP, one is white, but has a decidedly yellow cast. The other is golden, but some of the pearls have white areas such as where a ring on a baroque would be. Is the white strand gold overtone? I can't account for the white areas on the golden strand. It looks like a poor die job, but I know that can't be. Any idea? Thanks!

[Caitlin]

Hi Knotty. Can you put up a picture? BTW Thanks for all the other pix you've been posting-- it is always fun to see them.

A macro closeup would really help.

I checked Strack and she didn't describe this pattern of coloring in her yellow dye section but it does sounds like dye doesn't it. How do you know it is not dyed?

I wonder if SS pearls can be 2 toned. I know the pinctada shells they grow in are gold around the outside and white in the center. Sometimes pearls have more than one color maybe due to where in the shell they grew?

[xeresana]

I *think* I've seen two tone SS pearls. Is that possible or am I imagining it? I think I've also seen Tahitians that fade from dark bodycolor to light silver. Am I dreaming things up?

[jshepherd]

Originally Posted by xeresana

I *think* I've seen two tone SS pearls. Is that possible or am I imagining it? I think I've also seen Tahitians that fade from dark bodycolor to light silver. Am I dreaming things up?

Color inconsistency is not uncommon in Tahitian or South Sea. You see it more in drops and ovals (white rings that are not really rings and fading color from light to dark). It does affect the value of the pearl.

[GemGeek]

Still off the Hanadama topic, but here is a chocolate tahitian pearl that is two-toned. The other side of the pearl is a darker, almost black color. Because it isn't uniform, I'd hesitate to say it was bleached.

A good friend has a 13mm soft brown strand that she says are properly termed "mink".

Notice how well it goes with chocolate diamonds! Don't all women love chocolate?

Blaire, aka GemGeek