Cultured Pearls vs. Akoya pearls

[purepearls]

Don't let the title of this thread fool you! Because pearls are so popular, they are popping everywhere in different retail stores. One thing that I've seen consistently is the wording "Cultured Pearl Necklace" without ever describing which type of cultured pearl it is. I've posted about this shortly in another thread, but I think it deserves a topic of its own.

Nine times out of ten, when the retailer isn't describing what type of cultured pearl it is, it will be a cultured Freshwater pearl. There are many consumers who think that a cultured pearl is a "type" of pearl. It is a type if you are talking about cultured versus natural pearls. However, most pearls today are cultured. Most pearl "types" fall under the "cultured" pearl category such as Akoya, Freshwater, Tahitian, and South Sea pearls. In this scenario, "cultured" pearl would refer to all pearls involved and would not describe what type it is. The wording of "Cultured Pearl Necklace" without any descriptors implies that other pearls such as Akoyas and Tahitians aren't cultured and that's exactly what consumers are taking away from the message. Retailers are using this tactic in mass, especially in designer jewelry. Wording makes a big difference in perception! Ask what type of pearl you are purchasing if you are not certain what it is?

[OhioPackrat]

HI,
I am new to this group & need help! How does one tell the difference between saltwater (say, akoya) versus freshwater pearls?? Now that people are culturing freshwater in round shapes I have seen people selling what they call akoya pearls & when I look at them my mind/heart says they are freshwater! Maybe the seller was sold them incorrectly labeled or maybe the seller is trying to rip off their buyers!
I have noticed that alot of freshwater seem to be a lot whiter in colour than saltwater (mainly akoya, I guess) pearls, am I correct?
I own some pearl books by such as; Newmann, Matlins, Taburiaux, & Shirai; but none of the books say how to tell freshwater from saltwater.
Please help!
Until Later,
Lorie (aka OhioPackrat) in Ohio, USA

[chriscrash]

I have what I believe to be a natural pearl necklace purshased by my father for my mother over 50 years ago in Hawaii. I remember my mother telling me they were the real deal not cultured and she was very proud of the necklace. They need to be restrung, but I am afraid they will be switched in the process. Do you have any suggestions?

[Zeide Erskine]

Hi,

The safest way to have them restrung is, of course, doing it yourself. Some jewelers and beaders also let you wait and watch while your pearls are being restrung, but that will cost substantially more, especially if they are naturals that have smaller drill holes and do require a slightly different stringing technique than the regular akoyas. However, if the jeweler or stringer has experience working with fine freshwater pearls they will also have the finer silk and know how to adjust their stringing technique to the smaller drill holes. However, please note that in the 50s and before cultured pearls where often called "natural" and faux pearls where often called "cultured."

The natural pearls of Hawaii where long gone by 1918 and rare before that. However, contrary to common belief, the natural pearls of Hawaii fished around Pearl Harbour were mostly pinctada radiata (.i.e. white) the black pearl banks where found later and never yielded much. Also natural black pearls from pinctada margaritifera tended to be rather small (in contrast to their big cultured cousins) because the mussel does not live very long and usually started developing pearls relatively late in life. I recommend Pearls of Pearl Harbor by Michael Walther as a short background read. Its such a short book that it hardly deserves to be called one. It has pretty pictures, though.

Zeide G. Erskine

[chriscrash]

What I have are a cream color and range in the size of 3mm to 7mm. The clasp appears to be silver or white gold set with small diamonds. From reading the forum I have learned alot more about pearls than I new yesterday. I guess the thing to do would have a gemologist take a look at them before I do anything. Can you recomend anyone in the Dallas area?

[Zeide Erskine]

Hi,

I don't know anybody in Dallas, but I am sure somebody else on the forum does. Given the style and size (3-7mm graduation) you are describing, they are in all likelihood cultured akoyas. You would probably do best by going to your local Mikimoto store or authorized dealer to have them look at your pearls. They are most likely Mikimotos since hardly any other Japanese pearl business survived WWII and having them restrung and authenticated by Mikimoto will give you a better resale and insurance value. They may also be able to treat them in a way no other jeweler can.

Zeide

[purepearls]

In reference to Zeide's post, I kindly disagree. If Akoyas and Freshwaters are the same quality (perfectly round, orient, well-matched, etc.) and all factors are equal, Akoyas are definitely going to cost more. Freshwater pearls are produced in mass and referred to as costume jewelry. Akoya pearls are the gold standard of pearls and pearl farmers strive to produce rounder Freshwater pearls that look more like Akoyas because Akoyas are more valuable. There is a large difference in the production cost between Akoya and Freshwater pearls. Akoya perliculture systerms are drastically more expensive than Freshwater systems.

In defense of cultured Freshwater pearls, pearl farmers have been able to drastically improve quality over the past few years which has increased the value of the Freshwater pearls. However, they still do not equal to Akoya pearls in roundness, luster, and overall value!

[Zeide Erskine]

Hi Amanda,

The high-grade freshwater pearls are produced one at a time just like akoyas and are just as round and just as lustrous. They are also exceedingly rare. Per total usable production of 1 ton (overall Chinese output) they make up about 250 grams, at least right now. In the collectors' market they fetch far higher prices than akoyas. The story of 50 pearls per shell does not apply to the top grade. Also, the top grade is cultured in high latitudes. They have a far lower protein content than freshwater pearls from Guangdong or Zheijang and thus much higher luster.

Zeide

[jshepherd]

Hello all,

I am on Hainan Island currently. I have been trying to get home for most of the day, but the foggy weather has not been agreeing with the flights. It is nice to finally be in a nice airport hotel, however, AND have an Internet connection!

I thought I would chime in on this thread just to make sure there are not misconceptions on cost (relating to what is on the market). Amanda is, I am sure, referring to 99.999% of the freshwater pearls produced today - the freshwater pearls that are sold on a regular basis. In this sense she is right - nearly.

I should preface this with the fact that I am on my way home (hopefully in a few hours from now), returning from a large pearl-buying trip.

My second stop was to buy freshwater pearls, and I went to Zhejiang, of course. While there has been a slight increase in prices due to the smaller output this year (more noticeable in the 9mm and up range), the top available grade is still far below that of the Akoya (which I just finished buying today).

I purchased several top freshwater lots this trip. I do not mean top strands - these are rarely composed of the best. I purchased lots of loose, un-drilled. A 9-10mm lot (true 9-10 HK Standard) which I was able to purchase was approximately 15 kilo. I separated less than 20% off-round (they always mix some in) and purchased the remainder. These pearls are round - truly round. Their luster is also very comparable with top-grade Akoya. The final price was similar to a top-grade lot (hanks, not loose) of 7-7.5mm Akoya. I also purchased two lots of 7-8 freshwater in the same grade - one white (post-processing), and another natural (unprocessed). The price was about 1/4th that of the 9-10, and much less than the top-grade Akoya although most would not be able to discern the difference.

So there is still a large disparity between the commercial production of freshwater and Akoya. The gap will probably close slightly over the next couple of years, however, as the FW factories are all forecasting smaller harvests (due to the previous price drops and subsequent drop in nucleation). BUT, there are freshwater that definitely compare to Akoya, and are round - perfectly round. As you can probably imagine I do not need 15 kilo of 9-10 earrings. I have contracted a factory in Zhuji to drill 90% of my loose lots for necklaces. I will have these strands back in less than 2 weeks. They will really be amazing.

[purepearls]

Yes, I'm just referring to the majority of Freshwater pearls that are sold today. I just do not want customers to get confused between the collector's market pearls and the pearls that are sold in most jewelry stores today.

[jshepherd]

They have always been available, but remember, we are talking Zhejiang. There is one company that I have very good ties with (the daughter of the 'big boss' is a very close personal friend of mine). I have helped them a lot with Tahitians and Akoya in the past. They wholesale materials to many of the factories in the Zhuji area. I have purchased this quality in small quantity for earrings in the past, but was able to get the entire lot this trip. I left all the drops and semi-rounds.

I am not sure what your stock looks like, but I would be happy to send you a strand when they arrive so you may compare.

[jshepherd]

I am a bit confused by this:


Per total usable production of 1 ton (overall Chinese output) they make up about 250 grams, at least right now.

Are we talking about the same thing? Chinese freshwater output was about 1500 tons last year, and estimates are currently at 1000-1200 tons this year with a drop under 1000 presumed for 2007 (totals for Zhejiang, Hunan, and Jiangxi). At least 30% of total output is considered 'good' enough for jewelry (although I beg to differ), and so much of the rest makes its way to designers and the like...

[Zeide Erskine]

Hi Jeremy,

Usable according to my definition is fine grade (not beading grade). What you sell is fine grade. So usable production would mean something around 100 tons per year. I already figured in the fact that other farms also produce some top grade but only by accident and projected that amount bringing the total to 25kg annual production of gem grade. Most of that (my estimate is over 90%) is bought up by direct buyers and never hits the open market.

Zeide

[jshepherd]

What do you define as gem freshwater? To me it is a round pearl with high luster and perfectly clean surface. I am making the strands simply because I have never seen them sold anywhere in China. I have stumbled upon a few strands in the past mixed with typical top-grade (strand material), but never enough to merchandise.
Speaking of gem pearls, I just finished processing our Tahitian drops and circles. I found one pearl that really caught my eye. It is a perfectly symmetrical drop from all angles - like a flying bullet. It spins without a flinch on either side and has a strong peacock overtone. I will have to post a picture of it. I won't be selling that one. I am just glad I caught it before we drilled.

[Zeide Erskine]

Hi Jeremy,

I see you are learning fast. Pick the cherries and sell the rest at a decent profit.

To qualify as gem quality, a cultured freshwater pearl has to be an eight-way roller, color has to be consistent, pleasing, and untreated (short of washing), and the surface has to be free of piqué, cerclé, dull spots, peeling, flat areas, and bumps (of course also untreated), the luster has to have all three qualities of natural pearls, i.e. mirror, water, and orient.
Zeide

[jshepherd]

Home....at last!

You run a tight 'gem' ship over there Zeide;) By those standards a gem strand could never really be sold - other than the rare one in more than a million!
Just finding lots pre-treatment is a task. They do not wait long, you know. The 7-8 lot that I picked up was pre-treatment. I plan to polish them when I get them in (standard corn/oil), but no luster/bleach. The whites are a little 'naturalish' for the most part, but the multicolors I had put together look spectacular.

[Bernadette]

In reply to Chriscash - and in defence of fellow restringers.

The probability of a stringer attempting to substitute pearls during a restring would be a very unlikely proposition.

This is one of those urban legends - akin to watchmakers stealing the jewels from your watch during a repair :)

Restringers - jewellers - watchmakers live and die on our reputations anyone stupid & dishonest enough to try and gain a quick dishonest dollar from something as low as a substitution would not last long in the "Trade" and would be "marked" quite quickly by their peers.

In polite rebuttal to the suggestion to "restring it yourself" from Zeide as being "Safe" - of course that would be a 100% certainty that no foulplay could take place - however the risk that a defect in the stringing could result (assuming your not experienced in stringing) - would in my opinion pose a far more significant risk to retaining your pearls then having a professional perform this for you.

As I am not in the USA - I dont have a direct contact to sugggest - however most gemological or jewelers associations should be able to suggest reputable members for you to approach.

Regards Bernadette

[Zeide Erskine]

Hi Bernadette,

I am definitely with you on that one. Switching pearls, particularly exotic ones, is virtually impossible unless the stringer has an enormous stock of exotics just lying around. My remark of "doing it yourself" was semi-sarcastic because I do not think that switching pearls in a strand is something that can be easily done and learning how to do it yourself tends to give beginners more respect for the seasoned stringer. However, I know that many pearl owners do feel uncomfortable about leaving their pearls with a jeweler or sending them out for restringing.

Zeide

[Bernadette]

You got me there Zeide - better then game fishing for Marlin hey :)

I'm probably as passionate about my profession - as you are about your pearls. (Its my Irish upbringing)

Each time I hear repeated, tales and worries about substitutions, I see instant red instead of calm green.

Regards
Bernadette

[Satine De La Courcel]

I understand how upsetting it is for people who restring pearls for a living...
To hear all the unfounded horror stories... there are some unreputables out there but unfortunately it only takes one bad apple to spoil a bunch. everyone, I know are very honest and want to keep business coming back...... ans would bend over backwards to keep the customer....

One of the clsses I teach is how to string pearls.... and since most of the class can not get the knots right next to the pearl the first time it really does open eyes.

[jshepherd]

Here you are!

What do you all think? One strand is a Hanadama (certified by the Pearl Science Lab of Japan), and the other is a cultured freshwater pearl necklace.

[Zeide Erskine]

Now that's what I've been talking about. Good job!

[jshepherd]

Thank you. I have added a poll to the top of this thread. I would like to see which strand people think is freshwater or Mikimoto quality Akoya (certified Hanadama).

There is a place to vote at the top of the thread. Don't give it away, ..... ;) I really want to know how people will vote! There are a few characteristics in each strand that definitely may give it away, but they are subtle.

[Zeide Erskine]

You actually deleted that! O.k. may I point out that even in this e-pic you can tell that the freshwaters have orient and the hanadama do not? Or are you going to delete that, too?

Zeide

[jshepherd]

Shhhhh! They will call this a rigged election!

[Zeide Erskine]

I did not know that there were Hanadama in the Bush family.

Zeide

[jshepherd]

Perfect! The Hanadama has the 'Kerry' personality, while sporting 'Bush' size grades!

[Caitlin]

Smart people will stock up on fantastic freshwater pearls such as the above, now, before the public learns the truth and they become in (deservedly) high demand at equal to higher prices than sea pearls. Intrinsically, freshwater pearls are the best cultured pearls in the world because they are solid nacre.

I don’t care what the mystique is on the sea pearls, they are ultimately beads, beads skillfully dipped into oysters. Then the resultant nacre-covered beads are subjected to a hype almost as profound as that of diamonds. I do not object to the mystique- it helps raise the price and it takes real skills to get the nacre on the beads- unlike digging for diamonds.

BUT, I think the real mystique should be around the solid nacre pearls!

The best of the FW pearls are BETTER than the best of their oyster-dipped buddies in the very qualities that give pearls value. It also seems that the Chinese are getting better at growing best quality FW every year. So FW pearls will remain a great opportunity for average folks to get some great pearls.

Will someone email the correct answer to me?

Caitlin

PS Is not the "The Book of the Pearl" chock full of pictures of royalty and nobility wearing freshwater pearls? They used to be equally valued, right?

[Caitlin]

I picked it! I picked it!

This strand is fantastic.

The Chinese need to be encouraged to go for the equivalent of Hanadama certification for their freshwater pearls.

[Caitlin]

How long would it take to grow a huge South Sea pearl in a freshwater host, say 12mm and up?

It is nearing time for specialty markets such as you have mentioned- gourmet pearls. This market will not replace the akoya market, but give a greater choice and thereby increase the market.

I would LOVE to see a mussel-grown Tahitian. I am falling in love with mussels. What accommodating critters! do you think they could grow up to 50 Tahitians in one mussel or maybe only 24 would be better? I could see these making a profit if many could be grown in each mussel!

[Zeide Erskine]

Hi Caitlin,

This is not going to ever be a mass product. You can grow fairly big transgrafts but they have to be cultured one at a time. The reason being that the host mussel only produces a fixed amount of nacre. If there is only one pearl sac, the pearl and the shell can both grow merrily. The more nucleations, the smaller the pearl because the mussel sets priorities and its shell is It. Although the pearl growth in cold climate is a lot slower than in tropical lagoons, the mussels live a heck of a lot longer. For that, they don't like being fussed over. So you just implant them and wait. How long you wait depends on how fast you want your return on investment. A 12mm pearl grown that way takes well over 10 years depending on mean temperatures and calcium content in the water. The more snow melt flow the better, the more rain (especially acid rain from the Beijing area) the worse. And then there are the franken fish that you cannot do anything about.

Zeide

[Caitlin]

Mass market would defeat the purpose. I was thinking along the lines of small vinyards that sell directly to the world market, rather than big brand names.

Nowadays you can get Harry and David pears directly from Oregon and likewise wine from any number of small California vinyards that sell direct to the public. For that matter, you can get espadrilles directly from Basqueland too!

[Kevin Canning]

very interesting, I did some reading about M. margaritifera and the use of salmonidae as glochidiae host.

The mussel spends its larval, or glochidial, stage attached to the gills of salmonid fishes. The larvae attach themselves during mid to late summer and drop off the following spring to settle in the riverbed gravel where they grow to adulthood.

Whats interesting is the larvae must attach to young juvinile salmon - so they sort of grow together, for a short time at least.

[Zeide Erskine]

I find it more fascinating that the larva first form a clump that looks like a food fish to the salmon and when the salmon (or rainbow trout) then comes in for the kill, drop apart and attach themselves to its gills. Now that's what I call an intricate strategy.

Zeide

[Kevin Canning]

oh I never read that part, I assumed they just stuck to the gills if they happened to float through. What A great strategy since juvenile salmanoids have a voracious appetite and will try to ingest just about anything that moves slow enough for them to grab it.

[purepearls]

In regards to the earlier posts about Freshwater versus Akoya pearls in this thread, (because many viewers on this pearl-guide are consumers) it is important to reiterate that though elite Freshwater pearls do exist they are extremely rare still today (referring to those that rival Akoya pearls). To get a hold of these gems is a privelege at this point. We have sourced a number of these strands and they are amazing but they are the rare 1% of all Freshwater strands.

So that there are no misunderstandings for consumers shopping retail, most "cultured pearl jewelry" sold in jewelry stores and retail departments are medium to low grade Freshwater pearls at this time. These immaculate Freshwater pearls that are discussed about on the forum are only beginning to hit the marketplace and are being bought as fast as they come in.

[Zeide Erskine]

Hi Amanda,

One percent is an extreme overstatement. The actual figure is about 0.00025% and that is 0.25kg per metric ton of fine grade output. That means rice, baroque, and potatoes as well as low luster, cerclé, and damaged pearls have already been eliminated from the comparative base.

Zeide

[Richard W. Wise]

I think the disagreement here me hinge of the definition of top quality.

A few years ago I saw a quantity of top quality round freshwater. Jim Peach had them at Tucson in 1989 or 1990. These were extraordinary and Peach was getting southsea prices for them. I bought an 11mm round single for $650.00 and he was asking up to $1,600 for single pearls. He had a breathtaking strand 12-14mm round mixed pastels for $85,000 wholesale. At the same show i was offered an exceptional strand of Burmese Goldens for $40,000.

I laughed at the price but I have not seen anything to compare since. One dealer told me that the reason was with 5-7 years of cultivation time, the Chinese could not compete with the Australian plated goods. At any rate all the big stuff I have seen since is quite inferior.

There are a couple of images on my site, www.rwwise.com of what seem to me to be top quality though I would like to see Zeide's examples before making any absolute statements about what constitutes the best. Images are difficult I realize, particularly with pearls. These were quite cheap. Seems like if you pick carefully you can sometimes pick real bargains out of the tons of production.

[Zeide Erskine]

Hi Richard,

Your picture of the 4 round freshwater pearls is about the quality I am talking about. This is also the grade that I have dubbed "freshadama." I consider these fine cultured pearls as opposed to pearl plated beads.

Zeide

[jshepherd]

I disagree with the picture of the 4 loose pearls. While the shape looks good as well as the surface, this looks like standard earring quality to me. I do not see the orient and luster appears to be lacking in the first two, although the luster stands out well on the 4th pearl. Am I looking at the wrong picture, or does the picture not do them justice? I know orient is the hardest thing to shoot well, but luster tends to jump out. This is a raw image in a light box.

For pic collectors - you do not have permission to use this photo - especially on eBay.

[Zeide Erskine]

Hi Jeremy,

Nice picture. I said about the same quality. That is in almost but not quite.

Zeide

[jshepherd]

Just looked at the other pix, the drops definitely look quite a bit better - heavy polish/luster.


I bought an 11mm round single for $650.00 and he was asking up to $1,600 for single pearls.
Prices have definitely gone down since. You can hand-select singles from the 10-11mm now and not pay more than 220,000 RMB/kilo. I have seen preselected from 140-185,000 (highest grade loose - not strands). This is in China, however. The larger sizes, especially a matched strand as described 12-14mm, would have to be collected from loose and take a lot of time. Price would vary widely as well as each pearl would have to be individually negotiated if the intention were to only make one strand.

[PearlBirthstone]

:) WOW! That is all I can say.. They are gorgeous!

[Satine De La Courcel]

Jeremy,


About the picture, WOW, Yummy! beautifully rich colors!

Cheers
Ash

[Richard W. Wise]

Jeremy,

Re: Pearls on my website

No, definately not 'standard earring quality' they are all pretty much the same quality, the rounds did not shoot as well as the drops.

I like your images, the pearls pictured are similar to mine. How did you shoot them, lighting and so forth?

Another question, I see a lovely misty monochromatic overtone on your images but Zeide describes orient as "prismatic" and if that translates as a breakdown of light into its componant (rainbow) colors, I do not see orient in those images, either yours or mine.

[Richard W. Wise]

Amanda,

There are a number of forums on the net. I divide them into two classes, genunine forums and what I call "shill-sites".

One sort of shill is a person, normally a woman who works in a casino. Her job is to latch onto a high roller, usually a man, and use her charms to entice the mark to keep playing and losing money. When I first discovered this site I assumed that since it was run by a pearl company it was a Shill site designed entice consumers and drive traffic to the commercial side of the site. Diamondtalk and Pricescope are notable examples.

Jeremy is to be congratulated because, though he is without doubt, a merchant, he is also interested in deciminating true information. For the 8,000 years or so that we are aware of the gem trade's existence, secrecy and disinformation has been part of its stock and trade. Though it is an old habit and we can understand why it was important in the past, today it works against the interest of all honest merchants.

The more consumers know, the better. This is the age of information and like it or not there is tons of it out there, lots of it false. If we fail to get out the truth, we will suffer for it.

In my book I purposely excluded any discussion of and did did not include a chapter of akoya pearls. Why, because, in the words of a friend of mine and pearl expert, a majority of the akoyas in the market are "a highly processed fraud."

Though I don't share completely her opinions on "pearl plated beads" Zeide's posts are exactly on target. Beads with nacre thicknesses of 1/10th of a mm that are bleached white then dyed pink and will flake if scratched with a fingernail may be a great retail item but to call them pearls is to degrade the definition.

A few years ago, publicity surrounding the sale of a single emerald (The Fred Ward case) caused the emerald market to crash. It still has not completely recovered. All of a sudden consumers were made aware that in some cases the beautiful gem they bought was filled with polymers. W wouldn't want to be holding a big stock of thin skinned akoyas if and when that happens to the pearl market.

[Caitlin]

I concur with your opinion of this forum, Richard.

At first I was surprised at the information Jeremy gave out, then I seized the opportunity to learn. That's why I have stayed around to ask questions- I get answers! I have really learned a lot in the past year plus, though not enough to earn that appellation under my name in this forum!

It appears from everything I have seen since coming to this forum, that Jeremy plays by all the rules of good business practices and is ethical, so this forum provides a safe arena for a unique confluence of opinions and knowledge.

And due to the nature of the internet- or is it the web or maybe it is the noosphere ? :confused: , the word is out. Long may this forum flourish as a place customers can come for truth, students can come for knowledge and fledgling future perliculturists can be inspired!

And that was before my first cup of coffee.

[TievoliJewelry]

I have been a member for almost 2 years. I was also vey surprised at the amount of information. I have been in the jewelry business for a long time, and that amount of disclosure is rarely heard of.
But, after a time I finally realized the absolute brilliance of it.

[Kevin Canning]

especially with pearls it makes a lot of sense to educate the consumers as there is so much misinformation out there. The sad part is, a lot of the misinformation out there is done on purpose, not out of ignorance.

And if you think this site is good now, just wait till you see the new version ;)

[jshepherd]

I like your images, the pearls pictured are similar to mine. How did you shoot them, lighting and so forth?
Another question, I see a lovely misty monochromatic overtone on your images but Zeide describes orient as "prismatic" and if that translates as a breakdown of light into its componant (rainbow) colors, I do not see orient in those images, either yours or mine.

The images are shot using a strobe flash with a canopy and other pieces of equipment I really do not understand. Our art director (Natalie) would know how to describe it much better than I.
Shooting orient is very, very difficult. It will change in different light and from different angles. The luster will typically 'jump' at you if it is present in the piece. Freshwater pearls do not typically photograph well simply because they tend to lack the sharp luster of cultured Akoyas. These new pieces shoot shoot very well, as you saw from the last image it was completely raw. The only photoshop was to add our company mark.