[akoya]

Ni hao !!!.
I have been in Shanghai since last Tuesday. What a city!!!!
I went to all recommended places by the members, Ling Ling, Daxi Yuyan Gardens, the Hongqiao market. I am sending you some of my findings. I would like to buy more mabe and fat keshi but there are not easy to find. I would appreciate your input. also is it worth (price wise ) to go to Weitang?
all the best
akoya

[pattye]

Looks like you have found some interesting shapes and beautiful natural colors there---

Pattye
so many pearls, so little time

[akoya]

Originally Posted by pattye

Looks like you have found some interesting shapes and beautiful natural colors there---

Pattye
so many pearls, so little time

Thank you Pattie for your kind support
Akoya

[airdancer]

Originally Posted by akoya

Ni hao !!!.
I have been in Shanghai since last Tuesday. What a city!!!!
I went to all recommended places by the members, Ling Ling, Daxi Yuyan Gardens, the Hongqiao market. I am sending you some of my findings. I would like to buy more mabe and fat keshi but there are not easy to find. I would appreciate your input. also is it worth (price wise ) to go to Weitang?
all the best
akoya

Ni Hao! Sorry, I have no experience in buying. May I ask, is it worth the trip price-wise? Did you see anything unusual?

[akoya]

Besides Shanghai being a great city one can find great pearls at great values. One has to know where to go though. I followed the members advise and these places i will recomend myself if you are starting out with pearls. However you need to have done your homework. Before my leave I studied for hours on end all the PG threads.Also I had done my designs and i knew what shapes and colors to look for. Yes it was a worth while experience. thanks for asking.
akoya

[pattye]

Hopefully you can show us photos of your finished designs??!!

Pattye
so many pearls, so little time

[jerin]

Originally Posted by pattye

Hopefully you can show us photos of your finished designs??!!

Pattye
so many pearls, so little time

Yes please, do!

[Satine De La Courcel]

what fun shapes and pretty colors you have there Akoya!

Looking forward to pictures of the fun stuff you will do with those.

cheers
Ash

[akoya]

Your kind support means alot to me. I am far away from home and I look forward to your replies.I have found more interesting pearls. So difficult to send you more pictures. On sunday night I am flying back home. I can't wait to share my desighns with you.
Akoya

[Raisondetre]

Just a short message for now. I've also just returned from Shanghai - for all kinds of shopping, not just pearl. I regret not going to the Hongqiao market earlier! It's a full-blown mall with almost everything you can imagine including imitation bags (not interested in those - they've got big posters banning specific brands and still the vendors from the previous Xiangyang market follow you around). The pearl wholesale area is on the second floor. The big players - Ling Ling, Ru Pei Pei are all there. I didn't have enough time or cash to go through all the stores, but I did browse about a third of them. Most had the generic stuff, some owners didn't even know about the nucleated freshwaters. I did make friends with a young pair of sisters who owned two shops there. The elder sister owns Lenny. She has a lot of nice costume jewellery from pearls to Swarovski crystal to ceramic and other semi-precious stones that were quite cheap. The designs were quite fashionable, a big leap from last year's and ebay's crop.

I snagged a 7-7.5 mm (supposedly 8 but I could tell it was smaller than Jeremy's strand) yikes exotic for RMB280 - the colors are not quite as saturated at Jeremy's, but I got a uniform colored strand and the luster was amazing. It's kind pinkish gold. Will have a better look in indirect light tomorrow. Not complaining for the price and a free 14K mini white gold ball clasp. I got her to pick out all the lustrous pearls from 3 different strands and put them together. I must be the most difficult customer ever. There wasn't enough to match a bracelet, which would've been nice.

I don't think I got an exceptionally good deal, but I did manage to get a 14 mm lavender freshwater round made into a solitaire with 14K white gold set with 0.04 carats of diamonds. The pearl quality is probably just AA - shape, color and luster are actually quite good, but with moderate surface blemishing. The chain, setting and pearl came up to RMB1800 in total. I think I was too soft on the bargaining.

I didn't get anything at Nanjing Rd's pearl city - too few stores and the stock was very limited. Yuyuan's pearl circle/village was a surprise. I got an AAA (at least that's what I think it is) 8-9 mm lavender strand with saturated coloration and excellent luster - almost exotic oil-slick like but not quite there. There wasn't enough good quality in the 9-10 mm. This cost me RMB1700 - I didn't even have to bargain. Wasn't quite that interested in buying, asking price was 2800, she cut it down to 1800, then added 120 for the clasp. When I wanted to walk away she just cut it down herself as there was just no business. I don't think I did too badly. It's not eggplant, but it's almost pure dark lavender. There's even one odd pearl which looks kinda reddish.

All strands/chains are 18" unless otherwise stated.

Photos and more detail tomorrow. Still hunting for that elusive cotton candy pink.

[pattye]

Hi Akoya and Raisondetre,

Wonderful to hear of your adventures, and look forward to seeing photos of all the wonderful pearls!

If I used the currency conversion correctly, US100 = RMB700 (approximately).

Raisondetre, the closest I have seen to natural color bright cotton candy pink is in freshwater keishis!

Pattye
so many pearls, so little time

[Nerida]

Hi Raisondetre - thought you must be in Shanghai now. Yuyuan gardens is a surprise, isn't it? I also bought shell pearls from a vendor there - I'm amazed that the few times I went, there were hardly any tourists - surprising given that it is just 2 escalators up from a major tourist area...

Tell us about your other shopping too - you know we are all addicts!

[Nerida]

Akoya - thanks also for your pics - yes please send us some photos of what you do with your new collection of goodies!

[Raisondetre]

My camera just ran out of battery and I'm sick today, so just a few to start off with. I tried using the macro mode this time. Seems to show up quite sharp, but I can only get the low zoom images. Lighting isn't the best, but it still shows some saturation.

This is the 14 mm lavender solitaire.

[Raisondetre]

Comparison of the color with the full 8-9 mm strand. Matching isn't the best in the strand but I thought the colors were lovely enough. There are hardly any blemishes on the strand apart from two pearls.