Originally Posted by perlas

Hi Valeria101,
I knew someone would ask along the way .

Thank you! I am glad that the question wasn't too cross to get a serious answer Obviously, it is helpful to know how an unusual (& unusually beautiful too) piece was identified, where it comes from and so forth. Such detail makes the salt of the forum (IMO)

Originally Posted by jshepherd

Do you have all 6 hanks or even more than one? Can we test one (GIA - I pay)? I have just never seen this coloration in a strand before, I would really like to know if it is possible. If it is, it could not come from the Hyriopsis c. or the H(xx), it would have to come from a hybrid (which has been in the water since 2003). I have never seen anything close in a natural coloration before. The overtone is not the issue, it is the body color. Do you have a pic of the full strand showing the different colors present? Was the price indicative of a true exotic - if white $100, exotic $1000?

No, I don't have all 6 but bought the top 2 "shiniest" strands. A definitive testing would be great. I admit it's quite a curiousity that's why it took me a while to decide whether to buy it or not. The price was as per usual high grade strand, maybe priced a teeny-bit higher but not priced as exotic. I wasn't thinking that the gray strands (especially that it looks pinkish gray or purplish gray) are that rare though compared to your brown strand.

[jshepherd]

The brown (or gold overtone) are found in multicolor strands. You see individual pearls quite often, just never full strands. But I have never seen freshwaters with a natural gray bodycolor. It is an extremely common dye color, however, and that is what makes me suspicious.

Here is a photo of some of the pearls that I mentioned in my last post. The photo is taken using halogen light. The camera is not picking up the pink purple tones in these that I can see with my eyes.

Dfrey

Dfrey,

Verry Nice! makes me want to go get more black pearls now... I loke those!!!!

Ash

[Aycee]

Dfrey, I played around a bit with your picture and got it to show a bit more pink purple tones. Dunno if that is what you meant.

Alain

[jshepherd]

This is a pile of exotics that I have been working with off and on since the last trip. If any of you saw the last short videos, these were the pearls we were collecting from the 100-kilo baskets. From 2 baskets we collected about 500 grams of exotics.

This is also where we collected the pearls used in that brown/gold/peacock strand - which, incidentally, will be featured in the next issue of Gems and Gemology.

The pearls we sorted through to find the exotics had only been sorted by shape and size. No color sorting...

Jeremy, How would you desribe the colors on the ones in the photo you just posted? Since they are a bit small in the photo it's hard to tell.

Hi Perlas,

Your strand with the ametrine enhancer is gorgeous! Those purply grey pearls are natural?? So lovely. Gotta get me some.....sigh.

Slraep

Originally Posted by jshepherd

This is a pile of exotics that I have been working with off and on since the last trip.

Do I see some dark peacock with green overtone, and BICOLOR pearls?

[jshepherd]

There are some bi-color pearls there. How can you see any from that photo?! There are a few that have a graduated intensity from one end to another.

The colors are a mix of what we would consider freshwater exotic colors. Some, in fact most, are typical colors, but the intensity is what made them exotic. By typical colors I mean a range from deep purple, to deep peach and pink, to white - and everything in between. There some of those coveted green/peacock/gold-in-one pearls as well in the the lower line. Those are the darkest of the loose pearls. I was considering turning those lines into strands... who knows...

[salem]

After reading these posts, I looked again at Jeremy's photo and I can see a bicolor pearl. It is towards the middle of the second strand from the top. It almost looks black and white to me. The way the photo shows on my screen I can't discern the colors very well, but I can see the difference in shade. It almost reminds me of a half-dipped Easter egg. Is there anyway to get a clearer piture to see the color range? I did notice some peacock tones, but the rest seemed hard to determine.

I see it now too.

Hi Valeria101! It's expected that if something unusual comes up, questions will come flying. It's a good opportunity to learn plus I did not spend a fortune on the pearls to really mind.

Now I'm thinking if mauve pearls are dyed gray.. Irradiation is another thing but this can be costly I assume...

Hi DFrey! Nice pearls! I understand it's very hard to capture the color!

Hi Slraep! They were presented to me as natural grays but no definitive testing available in this area.

Hi jshepherd! Your mailbox is full. I'll send close up photos to you shortly. Some pearls with exotic color will pop up once in a while in a strand... just one in a hank.... saw a deep purple (it was only 6mm which I find small) and a glowy salmon.

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A closer picture of the strand....

There are 2 peacock colored pearls in the strand...took a close up photo of one of them...