CFWP the Chameleon of Pearls

[Caitlin]

An Opinion by Caitlin Williams

I wonder why so many experts do not see the intrinsic value of cultured freshwater Pearls (CFWP). Of course, they can look like the most flagrant circus decorations, when grown in odd shapes and dyed circus colors, but they are the chameleons of jewels, they can take on any characteristics the customers want.

For instance, there is a huge desire for fashion jewelry, which is not really “costume” jewelry in the old sense, it is far more tasteful, and CFW pearls fill that slot especially well. The slightly potato-y shaped pearls in discreet natural colors and white, are often highly lustrous and are priced to wear to the office, where they look appropriate and tasteful either in strands alone, or mixed with other beads. You can quickly build a quite a collection of these at current prices.

Then of course, you have the very round ones, which begin to move into the jewelry stores as a modest alternative for cultured marine pearls. This is the pearl most sellers on this forum specialize in.

But does the general public know that CFWP can get as large as SouthSea and Tahitians? They take to peacock dyes especially well and thus look really fabulous. One can buy best quality CFWP in these sizes through some sellers on this forum and I'd advise people to get them!.

But, before that, I learned this from my favorite CFWP dyed black necklace. It is made from 12+mm commercial grade pearls I bought for $10. They are a lovely silver/blue toned color. I just strung them up, battered skins and all, and wore them around because they match my hair (silver) and eyes (blue) and thus look good with most of my wardrobe. They are in the abalone tone range (not paua) I got such a flood of love for them from people- and I have been trying to get more big, battered pearls ever since.

Now the reason I am telling you this, is many people, even some jewelers, ask if they are Tahitians almost every time I wear them. I am so HAPPY to set them straight and tell them they are FW and Solid Nacre and yada, yada.

I did not intend to deceive anyone with them, as people who might want to do if they wear zirconia, (though if people knew the truth about diamonds, the Mystique and the prices would pop and diamonds would be worth less than good zirconia -factoid courtesy of ZESPA)

I was just wearing my cheapo CFWP with my t shirts and people reacted to them like they were fine gems! I even had a lady come up to me at the ballet-someone I didn’t even know, and say, “Your pearls are absolutely beautiful- Tahitians?” I even show as many people as I can, the cracks and places where the outer layers of nacre are missing, and I get responses like, “It gives them character”, “They really look natural”. I now regard comments like these as selling points!

I have been commenting on this phenomenon to this forum, since I first got the pearls. To a roaring silence, I might add. This doesn’t seem like useful information?

Since then I have also looked at least ½ dozen cheapo ($ 250-1000) Tahitian strands that were ugly. The $1,000 one looked like goat droppings in its color, and had inclusions that looked like pieces of hay and I am not exaggerating. The one for $250 at the Gem Show was also pathetic lackluster black. The ones in between were also ugly, with tails and an obvious bead inside.

Even crappy beat-up, dented, and dyed CFWP are prettier than that!

As I pointed out in another thread: low cost in the highly subsidized Chinese CFW pearl is not an indication of its intrinsic value; it is an indication it is a good investment.

This is the necklace- I tried to correct for the green bias

[The Pearl Outlet]

Talking about what you can do with freshwater pearls...

I recently came across some enhanced freshwater pearls that I thought were quite spectacular. Here are the photos:

Blue Freshwater Earrings
Green Freshwater Earrings
Pink Freshwater Earrings

I think freshwater pearls are an extremely valuable part of our industry, and will become more so over the next couple of years. As a business, we've increased the number of freshwater items we sell dramatically in the last two years, and the demand has grown exponentially. I do agree with others however that calling nearly all other types of cultured pearls "pearl plated beads" does do a disservice to the industry.

[Caitlin]

Tee Hee! Please note, I did not not introduce that highly charged keyword into this thread! Though I did compare lousy Tahitians with commercial grade CFWP and think the latter come out better.

[Caitlin]

I like the green ones, very subtle.
You posted before I edited and put in a picture of my highly touted crappy commercial grade black/dyed CFW.....

[Caitlin]

Quote Annadk
“

Making CFWP to look like baroque tahitians is pointless. The way Pearls of Joy has set up his bracelet is the way to go in order to appeal to the pearly side of men. Tahitians are considered more "hip"-- a number of male celebrities have recently been sporting tahitian pearls. They provide an organic alternative to the "bling" of diamonds in male jewelry and are quickly gaining ground as a new fashion trend. In Europe, it is even more common for men to wear tahitian pearl jewelry.

CFWP mean nothing to men.In regards to their durability, I trust Terry's tests completely. They were also a joke: a bead-nucleated pearl does not make the pearl weak or brittle.
Fact of the matter is Tahitians were introduced later into the pearl business and are the "hot" pearl. In order to combine a "hot/new" item like a mens pearl bracelet, one needs the "it" pearl. You got it right, Pearls of Joy.

”
Hi Anna
I thought this comment bears repeating over here in this thread. You summed up your opinion brilliantly, in most of the comment. You live in LA and know the Hollywood culture well and are qualified to make your remarks.

However, the two statements I enlarged are dogmatic statements (characterized by assertion of unproved or unprovable principles) more than opinions, and most probably, untrue statements. You may wish to support them with evidence, or yield on those two points.

“Making CFWP to look like baroque tahitians is pointless”.

I am wondering what you mean by that? CFWP grow however they want, you can’t MAKE them look like baroque Tahitians. Baroque Tahitians look like they have a bead inside- most people today probably don’t even know what a natural Tahitian baroque looks like-

• Is your argument that dying them makes them look like Tahitians, and therefore, dying them is pointless?
• Or perhaps you really think it is, or should be, unethical to dye large Freshwater pearls black?
• MY point is not that CFWP are knockoffs of Tahitians, but can be Big Pearls in their own right! People do not KNOW that CFWP can grow as big as a lot of Tahitians and SS pearls, so they think they are Tahitians when they see them. When one tells them what they are, they are amazed and awed!

CFWP mean nothing to men.

• Well, then, you marketers and purveyers need to get busy. How long ago did Tahitians “mean nothing” to men?

I also wonder what the definition of “hip” is nowadays……..I’d like to debate you on that point too.

Here is my opinion:

• CFWP are far more hip and edgy than Tahitians.
• They are the new, new guy on the scene and need to make their reputation and build Mystique.
• They are the true trend of the future, the avant garde.
• I think they are the Bruce Lee of Pearls for manliness!
• Hip artists who set trends rarely go with snob appeal- they usually go against it.
• Snob appeal comes along when it moves into mainstream markets.
• Snob appeal is a marketing ploy to manipulate the desire for acquisition; it is not a value.
• By the time a Hollywood celebrity wears something, it is mainstream--- and mainstream cannot, by definition, be hip.

[Caitlin]

I started another thread very similarly extolling CFWP last year. I just fell in love with CFWP before I ever came here. For me, they are the "cheap fix" for natural pearls.

While I haven't begrudged anyone else their preferences, but I love to argue for mine and I detect a hint of snobbery toward them because they aren't pricey enough. That brings out my high school debating skills.

Well, I too hope to have a good supply of really fab CFWP by the time they "hit".

Oh well, and befitting an old fogey like me, I drive a Saturn too. I am big on value and nothing delivers value like a pretty little solid nacre pearl.

I wish the bead nucleated folks had not developed their "eye" on cultured marine pearls, because such pearls remind me of beauty queens and movie stars with their implants and expensive dye jobs and cosmetic fixes. Actually some degree of cosmetics is inevitable, unless Jeremy keeps up the good work and/or we shift attitudes toward nucleating and processing.

But I think implants are not for me, or my pearls.......