[jshepherd]

I shot some video over the last couple of weeks as I toured China with Doug Fiske from the GIA. This is the first 5 minutes which I chopped together this morning.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8uXeSb7i5X0

[salem]

Hiya,
Just watched the video. pretty interesting, especially when you sat down for the interview. I was a bit confused whenDoug was asking about size. I thought he meant pearl size, but he kept using cm, instead of mm. I couldn't tell him he confused the measurements, or if he was talking about something completely different. I really wanted to hear the answer since you said the average size went down .2mm. If I understood your other post, it seemed like the 7-8mm lot was actually 6.5-7.5mm. Seems to me the lot should be relabeled as 7-8mm would be really misleading. So I would love to hear their answer.

Thanks for posting!

[jshepherd]

He was actually referring to the shell, not the pearl in that portion of the interview.

That drop of .2 in the size is actually something different that we deal with constantly. I think I will write an industry news article here about it.

[Raisondetre]

Very interesting. The ladies are very skilled. I suppose getting filmed is still a novelty to them and they do appear quite shy. 12-16 nucleations. Wonder how they get the freshadama pearls - just luck or sheer volume. Still don't quite understand the Zhejiang dialects, and I'm a native Mandarin/Cantonese speaker!

I can't believe you got rid of the jetlag that quickly! I couldn't sleep for two weeks after I got back to Asia from San Francisco!

[jshepherd]

And here is part 2 of the Zhuji portion of the trip. It continues on with harvest, matching, drilling, and selection.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XP_gcfxpynY


I should point out that I was unable to video tape the bleaching and other treatments. They are standard, but not on this video.

[jshepherd]

PS
That is 12-16 nucleations on either side, for a total of 24-32 (in such a small shell!). This is a significant drop from just 5 years ago. This is also one of the many reasons we have seen quality jump tremendously.

[Raisondetre]

Were you the one drilling the pearls? Those looked huge! Were they freshwater?

BTW, I think you meant this rather than that thread above:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XP_gcfxpynY

[knotty panda]

I can't tell you how much I enjoy your videos. The way of life of the people, how young they all are, I'm like a kid learning so many new things. I'm enthralled. Tell me something, when the young girl was drilling, she was looking for something in each pearl before she placed it in the router (for lack of a better word). What was she looking for?

[jshepherd]

I am glad the videos are being enjoyed. I think a lot can be expressed in words, but it sure is different when you actually see it.

The pearls that the lady was drilling (not me) were large, likely in the 12mm range. She was looking for the perfect drill point. This is determined by any flaws and/or the shape. You can see she went about it very carefully as the pearls were large and valuable.

[CortezPearls]

I have always enjoyed your videos and good resources on both Akoya and FWP.

Just recieved this information today...I think it compliments your videos and descriptions on the Zhuji area:

http://parels-ael.nl/reports/zhuji/

Regards,