[Luckykelleyk]

Well it does say on the pp website (in the freshadama description) that they are "truly round" ...

[Pearl_dreams]

I see the words "round to the eye" which is not the same thing as truly round...

http://www.pearlparadise.com/Freshwa...rl-grading.htm

And in the actual description of the Freshadama strand it says they have "less than 5% deviation from a perfectly round shape."

That allows for some slightly off-round pearls.

[Casey.R]

It does say truly round on one page. But in other descriptions it says round to the eye.
http://www.pearlparadise.com/Paradise-Collection.htm

Those are Pearl Dreams pearls right? I would say they are rounder.

Valeria the colors vary a lot, it's the same strand. The color variation I kind of like because it's mixed up well and I like the way they look together. Although I did expect one overtone.

I may exchange it for a rounder strand if they can do that for me. I'm not sure this one qualifies as round to the eye.

We'll see.

[Pearl_dreams]

I see the page, and you are right, they do say truly round. That is an inconsistency in their advertisement of Freshadamas that I think they really should correct to avoid confusion.

In this photo of the lavender 7-8mm (I don't know what size you bought but I just selected this photo) a few pearls near the clasp appear off-round:
http://www.pearlparadise.com/detail.aspx?ID=749

Bottom line, if you aren't fully happy with the strand, the guarantee is there so that you can return/exchange them. For this amount of money, you should have a strand that you love. Another strand might well be rounder.

If you do go that route, maybe you could ask them to email you a photo of another strand before they actually string it, so that you can be sure you like the overall effect-- the colors, shapes and graduation-- since each strand will differ slightly.

[Luckykelleyk]

I agree, the important thing is that you love them. I'm sure that the people at pp would be happy to accommodate you, they seem good at that :-)

[Valeria101]

5% deviation is GIA' rule, right? Sounds harsh, but I could imagine seeing 5% diameter variation in a larger pearl, especially if all of that is on a single axis (roundish-towards-oval) or just towards one side (roundish-towards-button). Some pearls just seem to have bumps - wouldn't rally roll in every direction, but there' not enough deviation to see anywhere. I would not' know how to measure those to decide how much non-round they are in %... How does one grade roundness properly?


Wouldn't expect carbon-copy overtones in an untreated strand... Glad to hear you like the slight variation

Are the smaller purple pearls in the picture with four strands, also from Pearl Paradise?

[Casey.R]

Hi Valeria, it's the same strand but it does look like a different strand in the photo for some reason. It might be that there is a slight graduation and your seeing a part from the top and another part from the middle. It might also be a shadow. I used a flash in that photo and none in the other two.
The white ones on the end are akoyas from PP ( not hanadama or anything) and the white ones in the middle are freshwaters from stachura.

[Caitlin]

My lavender freshadamas look different on different days and in different lights. Sometimes they look lighter. They usuaally look like the picture in your hand.

I have a bracelet with some really, really purple metallic pearls,...(Pattye has seen them) Out of all my strands I was able to come up with about 5 pearls of true purple and they are way off round to baroque, so though my dream is to have a necklace all of that color-it would be horrendously expensive. That dark purple is really, really rare.

[Valeria101]

Originally Posted by Casey.R

Hi Valeria, it's the same strand but it does look like a different strand in the photo for some reason.

Oh! funny that... they seem pretty different! Wow!

[Pearl_dreams]

I was hunting around online about the 5% deviation from round and came across this archive of Q&A's from PP (and I isolated a reply from Jeremy from one date):

http://pearlparadisefaq.blogspot.com...9_archive.html

THURSDAY, MAY 24, 2007
Freshadama or Akoya

...Freshadama pearls are very close to round (less than 5% deviation)...

[Valeria101]

For the sake of the argument, 5% deviation from round looks like this:

The picture is crude...

I believe that on 3D this shows even less then in the 2D drawing - allot less. And looking for such small shape details on a 5mm pearl is quite a different deal then on 15mm (just visually, forget about how much harder is to obtain that 'perfect' ball in bigger pearls). And these are already the 'worst' cases.

I think that the historic 'eight-way-roller' idea of pearl roundness perfection refers to a stricter standard then the 5%: that button there doesn't look like it's rolling anywhere [an older thread has a video showing large SS pearls being rolled over to determine roundness beyond immediate visual appearances]

These being said: I am way more lenient then this about shape - I like to see some of those distinct natural pearl shapes

[silverseajewelry]

Hi. Casey, I have really high expectations of freshadama after participating here. I would also be disappointed with that strand, so don't second guess yourself.

:-)

[Caitlin]

Let me second 101
Un-nucleated pearls are rarely round. That 5% deviation is actually a very high standard- unmatched in the vast majority of natural pearls -which also were not nucleated.

Off round- is actually a signature, top of the line, look for un-nuked pearls of any kind. Even the Duchess of Windsor's or the Baroda pearls weren't within 5% of round. The Baroda pearls are actually baroque.

If you insist on round, you are better off going the PPB route. But it is better to learn to love those slightly off-round looks, for they bespeak the quality of not growing on a MoP bead. No PPB can ever achieve that slight off roundness that graces un-nuked pearls.

[xeresana]

My white freshadamas are *seriously* round. They look perfect. My lavender strand has more character. Though I bought the 7-8mm size both times, the white strand's pearls seem quite a bit larger. (Maybe the lavenders are more to the 7 side and white more to the 8?) The lavender pearls are not visibly round to my eyes (I'm a virgo, though - I'm supposed to be nutty with these things.) I decided to keep the lavender strand, because I really liked the color and the overtones. Here are my two strands -

[Casey.R]

Nice photos! I did contact someone from PP and I am going to exchange it for another strand.