[effisk]

Hi all,

I just came across this listing:

http://cgi.ebay.com.au/ws/eBayISAPI....m=270054406293

HS AAA 17mm Loose White Australian South Sea Cultured Pearl
Start Price: US$ 2999.00

What would be a fair price for such a pearl, and would a matched pair be more expensive than (more than twice the price of) a single pearl?

[Slraep]

Hi Effisk,

That pearl does not look AAA. It has more than just slight-to-none blemishes. It would have to have some kind of incredible lustre for that price. You can hide the blemishes with drilling or setting, but at that price the pearl should have none to begin with.

I'm more than sure someone on the forum can supply you with one of these at a lesser cost. I've seen a few finished rings with a great quality 17mm for that price.

Would a perfectly matched pair be worth more? Yes, but not $6000 bucks. What would you do with them? Earrings? You could only make dressy dangles. Monster studs like that are only popular in China, Japan and the Philippines, as far as I know.

Slraep

[Valeria101]

3k doesn't sound like discount, and I haven't heard of matching premium for white rounds. Maybe there is, but then, where would such pearls be offered in jeweler's shops with the option 'take one or two loose' to even notice

For the money, you could order them in allot of places - the size might make these pearls relatively scarce, but somehow there doesn't appear to be any shortage.

There seems to be a ding right towards the bottom-right quarter of the camera reflection so 'flawless' has a bit of a flaw. Rightfully or not, I'd be more concerned with what flaws the drilled pearl might have left.

[jshepherd]

If the pearl is round, has a clean surface, and has good luster, it is a great price. Wholesale marked from Paspaley for a 17 lot in RD1 T2-3 would be about 3 times that.
I would guess that there are some issues with the pearl, and I would certainly want a more detailed description.
J from HK-

[Slraep]

Originally Posted by jshepherd

If the pearl is round, has a clean surface, and has good luster, it is a great price. Wholesale marked from Paspaley for a 17 lot in RD1 T2-3 would be about 3 times that.

I guess the stuff at my pearl wholesale guy is not as expensive as I thought. He doesn't have the A quality !7mms regularly, but he does have them often enough for them not to be that rare, nor that astronomically priced.

Slraep

[jshepherd]

But you do have to be careful with just using "A" grade when referring to the pearls. The one I described is considered very fine. Paspaley is the only company I know of that can consistently produce them of this quality. I have never seen a full lot from another company, although I have seen good, clean 17mm pieces. It is all in the grade of the pearl when discussing those large pieces.

[Valeria101]

Originally Posted by jshepherd

The one I described is considered very fine. Paspaley is the only company I know of that can consistently produce them of this quality. I have never seen a full lot from another company, although I have seen good, clean 17mm pieces.

Just wanted to add to the previous post along these lines: the pearls I was referring to (that are easy to locate at etc.) would at most be unblemished or nearly so. Nothing aside size and lack of dimples seems to count.

The epiphany about these large SS came in a NYC pearl den (a previously seller to the trade only recently opened to laymen via a gritty website), with the bored sales guy taking time to show two 16 to 18 graduated strands side by side: one around 30k, one more than ten times that (round, no dimples). I am afraid that the large SS I have seen since are definitely in the neighbourhood of the 'cheap' set. Not sure what the jeweler thought they were teaching, but the sight of those two soured SS pearls to me for good... the best are clearly not going to happen in that price bracket, and the common type just looks like &^#% by comparison.

Up to 15mm there is allot more choice. Would rather have a smaller fine pair - although 'smaller' sounds funny; fine 15 mm-ish pearls would look very impressive on.

[effisk]

Hi all and thanks a lot for all your answer.

From what I understand, the price of a large round SSP can vary greatly according to its quality (luster and surface blemishes), even between a pearl that has minor blemishes and another that is flawless.

I also understand that the price varies depending on the source; large and well established companies such as Paspaley who can provide such flawless pearls in greater quantities and on a regular basis are more expensive than smaller providers with a less reliable supply.

[Slraep]

Hi Effisk,

The !7mms are not very difficult to get even matched for earrings and a pendant. Three perfectly matched pearls would make the price jump. But you could take your time and look over various people's stock and eventually match them yoursef. A whole necklace of these things with perfect roundness, perfect colour matching, and very fine lustre would be very pricey indeed. At that size, a necklace like described above can have its pearls come from anywhere(for the matching)even though sold as Paspayley. The time and bother it took the merchant to search for and put together the necklace will cost you big time. And the pearls could come from anywhere and anyone.

Slraep

[Valeria101]

Sounds right...

At least in my shopping experience, it often happens to hear only about 'flaws' (dings, dimples, marks on the surface in general) and shape as quality and price factors because of all that makes a pearl's sum total grade, those two qualities (roundness and lack of blemishes) appear to be the easiest to achieve ... well, at the expense of the other quality aspects that don't get mentioned! Clearly, these are good things, but it feels silly not to acknowledge the look of the pearl that depends on all grading factors taken together, not just those two.

Mirror and orient are almost never mentioned - not just because those are more difficult to communicate: why talk about what isn't there on a good number of the large 'flawless' pearls! With incomplete information like that, it is less apparent that 'flawless' applies to one quality factor only (surface), leaving everything else to be questioned.

Most of the time the price is revealing, but...high price is relied on to bestow 'credibility' and if anywhere that might work to the fullest, Ebay's the place. I am fascinated by the attempts to enable 'reputation' online - feedback system, forums... ya' know - but it doesn't look like any works as well as real-time dialogue with the sellers: forums like this one feel much like an open house to a jeweler's back room (coffee and black velvet table aside...). Electronic feedback systems (like Ebay's) - more like some Orwellian bad joke ! Perhaps one day there will be a way of 'automated credibility', but until then ... Obviously, I am a bit of a jewelry forum fan

[Zeide Erskine]

Hi Ana,

The grading standards of "eight-way rollers," and "95% inclusion free" I have heard so often that I now simply laugh jewelers in the face when I hear such public enfeeblement. A jeweler who does not understand the nature of pearl magic should stick with diamonds. He will soon see that men are really the vast majority of his customers. However, if the above grading standards are truely upheld by anybody, that means I really may get the rare special pieces for cheap some day. I think that's a fabulous idea.

Zeide

[pattye]

Just my opinion, but if I had $2999 to spend I would add another dollar and get 110052458423. (sorry I don't know how to do link) That round pearl is pretty boring in comparison. I nearly always prefer baroques.
Pattye

[Valeria101]

Great that you mentioned... starting with that round ball, I didn't even check the rest of the shop. Would have missed the most keshi fun!

That matter aside, DruzyDesign should have RSS! (here's the link to the baroque SS for convenience)

[pattye]

Double thanks, Valeria DruzyDesign does have a round one listed-110049886186, more $ of course.
Pattye