[silverseajewelry]

I just want to echo what was said about length. There are pearl shorteners available in gold and white gold that could work if she wants to wear them shorter for a particular outfit, but shorter than 17 to 17.5 is a bit limiting. Of course, if her hair is really short, a pearl shortener would show...

I also always equated CFWP as lower quality, but this forum has convinced me otherwise. When I am getting ready to spend money on pearls for myself again, its going to be freshadama. The lower and varying nacre quality of today's akoyas scare me...

[pearllove]

I second everything jerin said in her email about strand length and size. The 18in. strand is more versatile and you can wear an enhancer on it. I am 5ft. tall and about 108lbs. I have a 16 inch 8-8.5 mm. akoya strand that I bought 2 years ago and while I still like the pearl size I regret not getting it in 18 inches. I am planning to lengthen my strand to 18 inches.

If your wife is going to wear the pearls everyday, I recommend getting CFWPs rather than akoyas as akoyas may wear out with wear. Also, there is a difference in luster of CFWPs and akoyas. The akoyas have a more mirror-like surface where as CFWPs have a more diffused luster. This was my experience as I examined my AAA akoyas with some Freshadamas I bought my mother for Christmas.

Your wife is a lucky woman to have such a thoughtful husband.

[airdancer]

Originally Posted by jerin

In the necklace I prefer somewhat larger pearls, for earrings I like button shaped ones, then you can buy larger pearls, if they are round, they will "stand out" if the are larger than 7,5 mm AND ROUND. Button means only the half pearl is round, the other half is flat, which is very complimentary to the ears!

Gasp! I never thought of that! 10-11mm fw into my wish list....

[GemGeek]

16" will definitely sit above the sweater set "jewel" neckline. 18" will go below. 17" depends on the size of your beloved's neck and how the sweater fits. Remember that because pearls have more volume than a chain, they will "wear" shorter than a chain. (If you use a chain for reference)

As for earrings, does she need to talk on the phone a lot? If so, get smaller studs or simple dangles. If she doesn't use the phone a lot, go for the next bigger size of pearls.

I would suggest Freshadamas - they are very beautiful.

Every woman should have a guy like you!

[pandaexpress]

Jeff-
Figured you could use a guy's point of view too since seems like you have gotten plenty of ladies point of view. I bought my GF FW's instead of Akoya's because I wanted them to last a lifetime and then some. I have bought all my pearls for her from PP since I live in LA and can drop by their office and personally select what I want. Also it was such a better value buy than Akoya's which are very expensive - especially when looking at the top Hanadama grade from PP.

My GF has pale skin too and Kirsten at PP recommends that rose overtone is the best for that skin type.

As for pearls, if she doesn't have any pearl studs - then that is a classic, timeless look to go with the necklace. However, for practicality purposes the dangles work better if she is on the phone a lot at her work. If you have a new born baby - note that the dangles give the baby something else to grab onto and pull, while the studs don't.

As for size, my GF is taller than yours (5' 9") so I went with 8-9mm - my GF takes particular pleasure in noticing how her pearls are noticeably bigger than other ladies she see with pearls on. There is an appreciable size difference between 7-8mm and 8-9mm. Personally I feel that the 7-8mm while very classic would have been a little too small for her - the 8-9mm on her says "I've arrived, I've made it" and that's what I wanted her to feel and the look I was going for. Especially since you know, we live in LA. Out in the mid-west well - it may be different out there. It took me forever to determine which size to go with (I had Kirsten at PP modeling it back and forth for over an hour).

Lastly, if Freshadama's are out of your price range, you can consider getting gem quality you need to private message Jeremy since this is not usually available. The main difference I saw was that the Freshadama's were a little shiner, more orient but were not as clean as the gem quality. The gem quality were the cleanest (i.e. very minor pits, dimples) pearls I've seen in my entire life but were just a tad less shiny than the Freshadama and didn't have orient. Because my GF's mom would closely examine the pearls one by one - I wanted to make sure I got a super clean strand so that she couldn't point out any blemishes and make a big deal out of it (you know how mother-in-laws can get).

Jeremy's gem quality at Pearl Paradise are better than his AAA they are in-between AAA and Freshadama. I felt it was worth the price over AAA. Here are pics I took of the Freshadama and the gem quality - see how the Freshadamas have a sharper, clearer reflection - I call them HDTV pearls.

Gem quality from PP 8-9mm
Jeremy's exotics + January special

Freshadama from PP 8-9mm
Are Freshdamas worth it?

Also on this link E Curley took pics of Freshadamas vs. AAA from PPP and in different sizes

AAA or Freshadama / Freshwater Elite etc.

On the 2nd set of pearls I got my GF - she decided to make the earrings dangles. I got Freshadma earrings since they are not that expensive and just have the best shine and reflection. I can't stop staring at her when she wears her pearls.

Happy shopping and very thoughtful of you to get her pearls. Please be sure to let us know what you decide and her reaction and take pics!

[GemGeek]

I loved hearing the thoughtful guy's point of view. I could get used to this!

[jerin]

Originally Posted by GemGeek

I loved hearing the thoughtful guy's point of view. I could get used to this!

Yes, Blaire isn´t he? Very nice for his girlfriend and hopefully other guys also read his posts so they can go and buy a lot of nice pearls to their girlfriends and wives too!

[pktshc]

Again, thank you so much for all the awesome information and opinions on my current quest. Pandaexpress, thanks for the guy's opinion...i really respect what you had to say.

It really seems like I will be going down the CFWP road soon instead of taking the Akoya route. Freshadamas are my leading contender. I thought that Freshadamas were gem quality CFWP...is that not correct? Are Freshadamas superior to gem quality or vice versa? What exactly is the difference.

Price range is really not an obstacle as I was originally thinking about an Akoya AAA strand, so the freshadamas are well within that price range.

Boy it really seems that there are a ton of variable to take into account when purchasing pearls...perhaps more than in diamonds. I kind of like the variables, however, because that allows you to tailor your purchase to your exact specifications...instead of getting a 1 ct princess cut diamond that looks just like all the others...

I also like the sustainability of pearls and the low impact that pearl farming has on the environment. But that could be a different post.

Thanks again for your help and continued stream of answers to what has become my never ending line of questions.

Jeff

[Pearl_dreams]

I believe the difference is that the Freshadamas have orient and the AAA do not. (So the Freshadamas are gem grade plus orient.) Orient is that rainbow play of colors seen across the surface of the pearl in certain light.

That said, orient is very subtle on round pearls-- I personally find it hard to see it in mine. It can be seen more readily in baroques. I have an inexpensive baroque strand that displays marvelous orient!

[pandaexpress]

Hey Jeff-
pearldreams is right. So the gem quality pearls that Jeremy has at pearl paradise that don't have orient but are better than his AAA are his 'gem quality' - but they're not usually available on his web site. It's

AAA
Gem quality - no orient
Freshadama - gem quality + orient

Hopefully my pics were able to show this - basically the Freshadamas are the best CWFP on the market today and have the sharpest and clearest shine, reflection etc. you can see yourself very clearly in them. And they have that wonderful warm orient glow about them that pearl dreams mentions. Keep in mind what your wife saw from the other lady - was it Akoya's? Is she thinking that she wants / desires / think that pearls are something that look like super metallic shiny metal ball bearings? Only Akoya's have that look. Freshadama's have a warmer more (in my opinion) luxurious look.

If you were going for Akoya AAA the Freshadama's would be a bargain. I would just suggest asking PP to ensure you get the cleanest strand they have possible - at the Freshadama level the luster and orient can hide a pit or two and they (PP) are focusing on the highest luster and orient possible - but for me personally, I'm ok with a little less luster and orient if it means the strand is cleaner (I just had nightmares about my GF and her mom examining each pearl one by one and pointing out each microscopic pit and each microscopic dimple). However, if luster and orient is most important to you (i.e. that way it will outshine pretty much anything you can find in a department store) then tell that to PP as well. They will literally spend a lot of time going through each of their strands picking out exactly what the customer requests.

Also a word about the clasp - I went with the white gold ball - my GF thinks this is the best and so did Kirsten at PP - it blends in best with the rest of the strand. You can get anything else PP offers (you can click on their clasp and findings link to see what they have). It is a learning curve since it has a fail safe mechanism to ensure even if it comes loose it will not let go - my GF had to start by practicing in the mirror - so if your wife initially is like - gee this clasp is hard - in a short time she will be able to master it behind her neck. It's nearly impossible for me to figure out - my fingers are too big.

Lastly, if you go for 7-8mm you can ask PP to try to find one more on the 8mm side vs. the 7mm side - I don't think you'll ever find a woman who would say - gee honey - go smaller - a lady on this forum said it best that once you get hooked on pearls you want to go bigger and bigger and bigger. This is part of the reason I got 8-9mm so that it wouldn't look like the pearls were from her daddy on her college graduation. Ironically she finally showed those to me and the pearl paradise pearls totally blow them out of the water.

Good luck and be sure to let us know how it goes.

[Casey.R]

I think you'll be very happy with the freshwaters.
By the way I one of the few woman on the forum who likes smaller strands of pearls? I love the big pearls too though. I have two large baroque strands one from the PP, one untreated baroque pink strand ( last years PP special) and one white baroque strand. They are two of my favs but I wear my smaller strands more often these days. We'll see if that changes in the summer though. Last summer I wore my white baroques all the time because they seemed to go well with all my summery clothes. But yeah as soon as winter came around I wore lots of earrings alone or small strands. I like wearing two at a time as well.
Geez I guess need a pearl wardrobe for each season.
With earrings I prefer the larger pearls.

[boo]

Casey, I have a theory of conservation of pearl mass: If I have an 18" strand, I want large, in your face pearls (at least as much as I can afford!) If I have a longer strand (24-32") it will usually be 6-8mm pearls. The smaller pearls (4-6mm) I tend to wear as multistrand necklaces. It isn't something I did consciously - I just noticed that that is how my collection generally seems to be. Of course, this is also dependent on cost. If a smaller pearl is pricey, it's going to be an 18" necklace because of financial concerns rather then aesthetics. Then again, weight is also a factor. I have a marvelous 100" rope I found at Sam's Club (!) that is 7-9mm white baroques and while I love to just layer that puppy on, I certainly never forget that I am wearing it.

[airdancer]

Some years ago, I saw someone wearing a double strand very white 5-6mm akoya pearl choker and since then, I have always associated small pearls with multistrand. I think small pearls look too lonely sitting there without friends...

[pktshc]

Folks-

Thanks again for all the great input...where were ya'll when I was buying my first house?

So it seems that orient is the main attractor to the freshadamas. That and the fact that they are superior pearls. I assume that orient will make the pearls pop and have that extra wow factor...is that correct?

I have to say that I am surprised that freshadamas are not more expensive since they have so many wonderful attributes not commonly found in CFWP or Akoya, for that matter. Do you think that they will increase in value/price over the next few years?

So it really seems that PP freshadamas, 7-8 mm with a rose overtone will be the purchase over the next week or so. As soon as I get them I will be sure to post pictures...assuming I can get them off her neck...

Have a great weekend!

Jeff

[Valeria101]

Originally Posted by pktshc

I assume that orient will make the pearls pop and have that extra wow factor...is that correct?

That's about right. Everyone who has ever heard of pearls would know to look for size, lustre and roundness - and you've got those covered. Besides, that mysterious 'orient' thing will 'wow' folks who know their pearls The only downside of starting out with a great strand... is that it will likely only be up from there!

Originally Posted by pktshc

Do you think that they will increase in value/price over the next few years?

You can probably find similar pearls priced an order of magnitude higher right now - just think of a brand... The rest, who knows... Even if priced do go up allot, selling off jewelry is usually doable only at a large discount, unless the item is fairly rare and desirable. Basically, you might be lucky, but don't count on it. I would say the same about most jewelry - definitely not just about fine pearls.