[J Marcus]

In spite of all the reasearch I've done, mostly on the internet, over the past few years, I'm finding it very difficult to assign a value to the Cascadia Moon pearl. For some reason, there has been very little attention given to abalone blister pearls over the years. As far as I can tell, this is a very unique pearl, and certainly the largest natural abalone blister pearl (before I made it into a mabe.') that I've ever seen or heard of, but I'm not sure how much weight I should give that. On occasion my speculations can get a little exhuberant and I start to wonder if it isn't the largest such item in the world. . . The problem is that there seems to be very little published on natural abalone blister pearls. When I had it finished, I called up a Graduate Gemologist that I know and she came right down to the store, oohed and aahed a bit, took a lot of measurements and said she was going to investigate. Haven't heard yet, though. Does anyone have advice about this subject for me?

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J Marcus
http://www.flyrodjewelry.com/home.html

[Valeria101]

No serious advice.. there are at least 2-3 sellers on this forum, that handle natural abalone pearls. Perhaps not many of those are blister pearls, but since there aren't many and this might even be regarded as a more wearable shape then the irregular 'horn' ones... you should be able to get to some conclusion.

Although the large blisters should be rare, I remember of one more about the size of a dime and very tall. The owner had the same dillema: what on Earth is the pearl woth etc. I have tried to find that pearl's coordinates, but with no success -these are news from about 2.5 years ago!

[GemGeek]

The real value is in whole natural abalone pearls. Blister pearls occur naturally in some frequency. Also, because there is a very high production of commercial cultured mabes of the same light coloration as yours, it tends to diminish the value.

See http://www.pearlbella.com/products.php?page=11

In order to make good money on your pearl, you have to find the buyer who cares about the difference. I think the value is in the beauty of the pearl and the care you took to inlay the stones. Add a great setting and you should do very well.

When I was at the Eyris production facility, Roger showed me the resin in the back of the pearls and it was opaque red. They have researched endlessly, so I'm sure they have the durability thing worked out. By the way, I have a ring, wear it frequently, and it hardly has a scratch.

Cheers,
Blaire

[Valeria101]

'Pale' abalone:

http://www.pearlparadise.com/detail.aspx?ID=1866

[GemGeek]

Originally Posted by Valeria101

'Pale' abalone:

http://www.pearlparadise.com/detail.aspx?ID=1866

Yeah, I've drooled over that one!