What is most important to you when choosing pearls?

[v_ni]

Not sure if there is a similiar thread already, I couldn't find any when i did a search.

Please rank your preference between roundness, orient, luster, blemishes. did i miss out any?

i'm new to pearls so my current ranking is (i'm sure it will change once i'm more familiar):

1. roundness
2. luster
3. blemishes
4. orient (i'm still not sure what is the difference between orient and luster. but from what i've read, it seems that it should be on the top 2)

[airdancer]

hmmm...i think this could be a poll? But not sure how to create one.

[lisamla]

This is hard for me. I want everything perfect. If I have to rank, I guess it would be luster, roundness, blemish, orient. Of course this could all change as you say.

[Casey.R]

Hmm, I think it depends on the type of pearl. With some pearls roundness would be a factor but of course with baroques or drops I wouldn't want round pearls. I guess luster, less blemishing and color are pretty important to me.

[barbie biggs]

1) Orient is the first thing I look for unless we're talking about the rare akoya purchase.
2) Luster is always the next thing I look for.
Sometimes, I could care less how round a pearl is, unless I'm purchasing freshadama for both its gem quality and orient.
3) Mostly I look at roundness and blemishing together. I'm mostly only interested in round freshadama, and blemishing there is practically an oxymoron.
I'd really love some WSS pearls someday but unless I sell my house I can't really afford the quality I want, and to be truthful, I'd prefer ovals to rounds. Minimal blemishing would be okay but they would need to have a silver overtone and tons of orient. I'd love AAA's.
4) Color is also a very important factor to me. I had PP make me a double strand of salmon colored gem quality FW's at Christmas and I totally love the color, even though they aren't very orienty. They do have good luster.
barbie

[pattye]

Hummm,

1. Lustre
2. Orient
3. Nacre thickness
4. Color
5. Blemishing
6. Interesting Baroqueness, is that a word?? preferable over round

that was fun!

Pattye
so many pearls, so little time

[Pearl Dreams]

1. Price. If I can't afford to pay for them without taking on debt, then I don't buy them no matter now nice they are.

2. Luster. I can forgive a lot if there is great luster-- if there isn't even good luster, then I won't buy.

3. Blemishes. If the blemishes are too ugly, then it kills the sale for me, no matter how nice the color etc. Some blemishes can be overlooked and many aren't even noticeable from arm's length away. The rounder the pearl, the less I tolerate blemishes. I'm very tolerant of blemishes in the circlé pearls I have.

4. Overtones (or colors.). Not too many in the strand with greenish overtones, if the pearls are white. Interesting or unusual colors are a big plus (like the exotics!)

5. Size..

6. Orient. No comment necessary!

7. Roundness. Because roundness detracts from the orient, it is lowest on my list.

[knotty panda]

Size plays a huge factor in everyone's selection.

[pattye]

Soooo true!
How could I forget that one??

Pattye
so many pearls, so little time

[Mervione]

1. Luster
2. Colour
3. Orient
4. Blemishing
5. Roundness

[Nerida]

Good question - thank you for making me think about this!

Firstly, colour, shape & size - needs to be a colour I'm interested in, and a shape and size I would like to wear - but not saying these things are 1, 2 & 3, just that I have to have a "hook" to get me interested in the first place!

So:

Lustre
Nacre Thickness - esp on things like coins, where the thin ones look cheap and nasty and the thick ones can take your breath away!
Orient - maybe even higher - adds to the intrigue factor!
Blemishing
Even colour tonings, or interesting colour
Interesting and appealing shape - whether round, oval, keshi, fireball, coin or whatever! Uniformity of shape where appropriate. Unnatural looking shapes don't really appeal - stars, flowers, crosses, etc..
"X factor" - sometimes uneven ringy off rounds have a certain something that just makes you want to wear them! Is it that certain pearls just have a "presence"? Interestingness?? Like small druzy FW's - gorgeous!

[Valeria101]

Still trying to figure out this one!

So far...

1. Lustre / Orient (is there such thing as a dull pearl with great orient?)

2. Blemishes (can put up with some if condition #1 is met with flying colors, like circles - circled pearls look like something off a potter's wheel )

That's it. Haven't met a size, shape or color of pearl I didn't like, as long as the two above are met.

One more thing: no nuclei please. Since this ain't a matter of life and death exactly, I haven't worked out any reason for this - the 'whole' ones feel better... whatever that means. And I am alreay wavering

And no treatment: not wavering on this bit yet.

[Pearl Dreams]

I agree with Knotty Panda-- size is important, so I edited my post to include it. I have lots of tiny pearls, though, so I guess size is not that critical for me. Depends what I want the pearls for.

[Sueki]

For me,
1) Orient - am always looking for the pearl that most closely resembles the mother of pearl shell I had as a child.
2) Lustre
3) Colour
4) Size
5) Shape
6) Blemishes
7) Roundness

All this is assuming very thick nacre as I will only buy thick nacre pearls anyway.
And price of course is important, but I've not listed it as I can't buy what I can't afford

[knotty panda]

Pearl_Dreams: Small is a size, and it's my favorite size. At 8MM the pearls begin to wear me and it's not becoming to either me or the pearls. (Psssst! Here's our little secret! Everyone can have the big ones. More little ones for us! Hehe!)