[Caitlin]

Originally Posted by Kenji
By the way, I have heard from the Zhuji province area that a newest crop of freshwater pearls are really amazing. Round and with luster like the Akoya. Has anyone else heard? I have not seen them yet but preliminary pricing is only about 15% over average.

Originally posted my jshepherd
The pearls are amazing, Kenji! I have just received a 2-kilo sample of them. On my way back from Asia I met with a farm-coop head who brought me some of their new samples. …. I just got back yesterday and under first comparison to the best we have been able to produce in the past the pearls are amazing. I am now scheduled to go out to Zhuji to visit the group in March. They have about a 40-day lead time at this point, and with the size and the farm they have told me they can produce about 60- Kilo per harvest at this point. …..I plan to take it all at this point.

I am drooling. Please tell us more about this newest of pearl farms in Japan. It does not show up on Google at all. Please post some pictures too!

revised. I now know that this spelling is Zhuji and they come from China, not Japan. I am so sorry to make this kind of mistake. I usually take pride in my ability to distinguish Japanese from Chinese, but obviously, I am a rank beginner!

[jshepherd]

Hi Caitlin,
I have just sent you a private message about them. Check your messages. I will see if I can take a quick snapshot to post them here...

[jshepherd]

PS
These pearls are actually from the Zhejiang Province, this is where Zhuji is located. This is in China, not Japan. But the pearls are much better than Biwa.

[jshepherd]

Here is a quick snapshot of the new freshwater pearls. The picture probably does not accurately show the depth of the luster, but you can get the general idea!

Originally Posted by jshepherd

Here is a quick snapshot of the new freshwater pearls. The picture probably does not accurately show the depth of the luster, but you can get the general idea!

I just read about the Cinese nucleating some of their FW mussels with shell nuclei implants in both the creatures bodies as well as in their mantles. What about the freshwater mussels being all-nacred products?

Could anyone be able to tell the difference between tissue-nucleated and bead-nucleated freshwater pearls?

Thanks for a comment on this issue.

Yes, it is usually easy to see the difference. The nucleated freshwater pearls have a tail-like appendage - similar to baroque Akoya pearls. Not all are like this, but that is what the most of them look like.
I think there are starting to be a lot more of the nucleated pearls. You can probably tell by looking down the drill hole. If the pearls are nucleated you will be able to see the place where the nacre and the nucleus collide - just like all other nucleated pearl varieties.

Last week I brought these round pearls from China. They are 11-12mm perfectly round and almost perfectly clean. I bought a kilo and no holes have been drilled yet.

Originally Posted by PearlsAndJade.com

Last week I brought these round pearls from China. They are 11-12mm perfectly round and almost perfectly clean. I bought a kilo and no holes have been drilled yet.

I'm trying to get the photo on, but apparently I don't know how to do it properly. Any help would be appreciated.

The photo and an explanation can be seen on our web site at the bottom of this page:
China Trip 2005