I would like to know how could I determine the prize of the non traditional pearls at the international market. How this kind of sell is made?

[Caitlin]

Hi Mabe
Your post is a little unclear.

What kind of pearls?

Please describe the nontraditional pearls you have in mind. Do you want strands of pearls to remake into jewelry? You want finished jewelry?

What quantities? For you? For resale?

Take your time and make a nice long post that really lets us know what information you want.

Read this site to educate yourself on pearl words etc. to help with the language.

Dear Mr. Willians,
sorry by my english. I call non traditionals pearls those pearls that came from species other than P. margaritifera, P. maxima and P. fucata (South Sea, Australia and Japan, respectively). Like pearls from Mexico, India, Venezuela, ....
I am starting a pearl farming at Brazil, with our specie (P. imbricata), I want to evaluate the final prize that this pearls could achieved.
I promissed that I will read more about pearls to mantain a good conversation with you.
Thanks in advance.

[Caitlin]

Hi Mabe
Thanks for your expanded info.

Congratulations on your ambitions. I wish you the absolute best in your venture. You are a brave soul and if you can invest in the years of work, the rewards will be great- and I don't just mean money!

I wish you and other farmers would contribute to this forum from time to time with current and local news and pix of the pearls growing. I find pictures of pearls growing rather peaceful.

It is almost meditative to slow down to the pace of a little oyster, happy as a clam in its little shell, industriusly coating pearls with more nacre in a beautious water setting....

For pearls from the Mexican Pteria oyster, type "Sea of Cortez Pearls" into the search space on this site for some info from the company itself. Or Google it. Prices are variable so you must contact the farm directly, though they do sell at the Tucson Gem Show, I think in the GYX tent. That company also raises some pearls from the P. margarita so be specific.

If you list the names of the oysters with pearls you are looking for, there are at least of couple of experts who may be able to help you with specific info-maybe even prices.

(Also, I'm Mrs. Williams . Caitlin is Irish for Catalina or Catarina. People often guess my gender wrong if they aren't familiar with the name.)

Hi All,

Now wouldn't this be a wonderful opportunity to convince a new pearl farmer to at least try tissue-nucleate marine mussels?

Zeide

[Caitlin]

Hi Zeide!

Now that is the logical conclusion of any discourse like this isn't it?

Co-incidently, before I read this post, I wrote an editorial in the pearl plating thread and called for the big name marine culturists to grow 1% of their crop without nucleii.

although I am no economist, I am logical and intuitive, and both parts concur that non-tissue nucleated marine pearls would crate a whole new top tier of pearldom. AND, the Mystique would be deserved because they would be the real thing!

Sorry Mrs. Williams,
I will try to work with P. imbricata or Pteria colymbus, that are native, in Brazil. It is possible to evaluate the final prize from the nacar of the shell. And in yhis Tucson Gem Show exist space to another pearls supplier.

[Caitlin]

I am still having trouble with the language. Thank you so much for trying so hard.

Are you askiing if it possible to estimate the final price or value of the pearls by the shell nacre? I don't know. What I do know is that there will be a market for everything you can produce- especially if from pterias

I don't know specifically how you would get into the Tucson Shows, but if you know how to put together a pearl farm and cultivate pearls, you will have no trouble finding a place to display them. The world will be very interested in your work. I stongly suggest you make friends with other pearl growers of non-traditonal pearls such as the Cortez pearls. http://www.perlas.com.mx/

Let me explain better. The nacre that are deposited on the nucleus, its quality and price, could be measure. What differences pteria have from the other pearl oysters

1) The Sea of Cortez Pearl IS the Only Pearl to Glow Red (with varying hues) under UV light. That by itself sets these pearls apart from all others.
2) 100% Natural Beauty: there are pearls -out there- without treatments (polishing, bleaching, dyeing, etc.)...but ALL of these ARE UNTREATED. The whole harvest...
3) Only Cultured Pearl produced in a Pteria type oyster.
4) The Unique History behind the Sea of Cortez and Mexico's Pearls: a legacy of 5 centuries.

There are more differences...but I would say these are the most significant. Find your unique points, emphasize them...and ALWAYS have QUALITY as your final goal.
You have got to find something that makes your pearl "special", because there ARE billions of pearls out there...

Thanks for information Douglas. But I really want to know how can I put a price on my "non existing" pearls yet. When I planned my farm I used the global price, but it is unclear to me if this global price is true, or how much I need to produce to attain this value.

Thanks again

Ricardo Cunha Lima

That is more difficult to answer...for instance "How "special" is a Brazilian Pinctada imbricata cultured pearl??? I mean, this species is the same as the one used to produce pearls in China, Japan, India, Korea, etc...and the volume of pearls produced of this species is quite large.
So, could it be that the Brazilian imbricata pearl has an unusual color? Thicker nacre? If it doesn't have a difference then I would value it the same way as all the other pearls produced from this same species.

In the case of the Pteria colymbus pearls...well, that sounds different. But you have to know what sets your pearl apart from others and to be able to explain this as well.

In the case of the Sea of Cortez Pearl...yearly production is of less than 5 kilos (compare that to any other pearl production) and the product is CLEARLY DISTINGUISHABLE from all others. Thus, this production is enough to have a working company with 20 employees.

So, before giving a set price to a product you do not have, start by producing the pearl OR (the way we did it) use other Pearl Pricing (Tahitian, Akoya, FWP) in your spreadsheet program in order to calculate how many pearls you need to produce if the pearls you obtain can only be sold like an Akoya or as a Tahitian Black...it worked for us.

Wish you the best of luck Ricardo