Choice goods

[Slraep]

Hello everyone,

From the newbie to the experienced collector, what should we consumers be looking for in the FW, SW categories in terms of size, colours, and such. If one was to start a collection, what would the expert's advice to buy first. Also, what's on the expert's wish list.

I'm sure this info is strewn about the forum, here and there, but it would be nice to have it in a thread.

I'm a bit confused. I've a pretty good collection, but, of course, want
MORE stuff.

Some things on my wish list are:

1) fairly big white SW keshi to match
some awesome earings I have.

2) Enough pink Kasumigas to make
a necklace to match some other honkin' earrings
I have.

Slraep

[Kevin Canning]

well, I'll be very interested to hear others suggestions also - but that is going to be a very tough question to answer.

I mean everybody has different tastes, preferences and of course budgets. Personally I treat pearls as fashion, not as an investment - so I buy and collect pieces that i can see myself wearing. Where as others see them as more of an investment and may collect pieces that they have no intention of ever wearing. Its a very personal choice.

[Zeide Erskine]

I am also dreaming about a necklace and earrings in large claw shapes from pink abalone. I am not that picky about natural or cultured. However, cultured pink abalone are not yet available.
Zeide

[Kevin Canning]

now pink abalone I would like to see!

[Caitlin]

My wish list includes Freshadamas, especially of 10mm and larger, natural colors and untreated.
I also want that Pteria pearl Doug has pictures of on another thread or another like that.
I want some cultured round abalone pearls

[Zeide Erskine]

Hi Caitlin,

Since I am already fantasizing about my necklace of pink abalone claws or dragon fangs (only the shell is pink the pearls are an innocent rosy white with strong orient) I think I should also add a mixed pink and white strand of pearls like my bat pearls. That would not be as startling as this color. Now I have to figure out how to make the mussels do that since porphyria is not an option for reasons of color.

Zeide

[Caitlin]

Couldn't you ask them? Maybe they will tell you. ..... after all, I saw some shellfish singing in the Little Mermaid .... Surely if they can sing, they can talk?

[Slraep]

Now I'm even more confused.......

but, in defense of Kasumi(plated, eh?) pearls, those suckers have not left my ears in four years. Honest! Even thought they are big, I many times forget and sleep with them on and/or they get a refreshing shower in the morning. The luster and orient are just as good if not better than when the husband bought them. I know what Care was talking about in another thread. I think they glow kind of differently from other FW pearls I've observed.

But then again, i'm quite confused........

Slraep

[Zeide Erskine]

No, Kasumigaura pearl plated beads do not look any different than their Chinese counterparts of the same color and quality and they come in the very same colors too. Even the hybridization of the Chinese and Japanese hyriopsis species (hyriopsis cumingii and hyriopsis schlegeli) is not unique to Lake Kasumiga. I have cultured solid nacre pearls in the same hybrids way up north in Heilongjian. The only difference is in their Mystique (only genuine with the capital M). Want to buy some diamonds? I can get some that have DeBeers written in the girdle with a laser. Now doesn't that make them rare and expensive and soooo more valuable and special.

Zeide

[Slraep]

Boo hoo, you're making me feel bad. But my earrings are still glowing!

Well, I have yet to SEE any Chinese FW that compare. Look, change my mind if you want to! I dare anyone to send me a nice China pearl I will go gaga over. Better yet, send me two so I can make a pair of earrings. Will post the name of one one who succeeds.

As for the husband, he chooses the gifts himself, but takes me shopping frequently to test his choices out. Smart and generous man. What should he be looking at next? In tune with this thread...

He wrote a haiku just for this forum:

Serene Lake Kasumi-ga-Ura
Thick pink plated pearls
Thinning bank account


Slraep

[Zeide Erskine]

Hi,

Don't feel bad. Your husband has a rare sense of humor paired with exquisite taste and a feeling for poetry. As hubbies go, it ain't going to get better than that. So, there is already one point for you. As far as freshwater pearls go, try Jeremy Shepherd's new Freshadama. They are solid, minimally processed and he has a nice range of exotic, untreated colors. If you want to have the extra special pearl, ask Jeremy Norris for some natural abalones. I am a collector myself, so I do not sell except to other collectors who know what they are getting and the fair market value. I only sell doubles (items I have more of than I want) and even that rarely. Of course, that only goes for my top grade babies. For friends, family, and charities I also make more fathomable pieces they can cherish in any kind of pearl and design I happen to fancy at the moment without prejudice or snobbery. A girl's gotta play doncha know.

Zeide

[Slraep]

Zeide,

Heavens, I wasn't really wanting you to send me the pearls! I was hoping some of those rich dudes with internet businesses would. Actually, I've this funny feeling nobody will send me anything after having written that.

As far as husbands go, I must say that mine is a pearl. A natural pearl. I've checked and there's no akoya reject in the middle.

Fortunately or unfortunately, the masses still find big, perfectly spherical, and unblemished pearls, whatever their provenance, the most desirable. Many pearl buyers don't care what the inside of a pearl looks like, only the outside. There will always be a BIG majority that will decide, what is on average, beautiful, and a small minority that has exquisite taste and disernment(yes!), and again a small minority with no taste at all that will buy and like garbage. Hey, it's not me, it's the law of the universe.

And who knows. Perhaps Lake Kasumiga will go the way of Lake Biwa and the pearls value will skyrocket. Somewhat like Kashmiri sapphires. Perhaps after the Chinese perfect their FWs, there will be so many of them flooding the market, that you will be able to buy them for close to nothing. Something happening at present.

I still find Kasumigas, Tahitians and South sea pearls desirable.

Oh yes, one more thing on my wish list:

Two big natural pink FW Chinese pearls for a pair of earrings.
Please.

Slraep

[Caitlin]

Hi Slraep
Several of the sellers on this forum do have very liberal return policies, so you can buy from a couple of people and have 90 days to decide which one to keep.

One of the things that brought me to this forum was the fact that the cultured akoya pearl necklace from the 40's one of my daughters inherited from her grandmother had quite a few pearls where the nacre was worn down to the shell bead underneath. (Now maybe folks don't care what's under the pearl plating, but when it wears out early and you see it showing through, it is a great big yuck.)

We had to locate and find replacements and restring it before she could wear it. Now if she oontinues to wear it, there will be a day when none of the pearls on it are from the grandmother.......

Granted, my mother-in-law wore those pearls almost daily for 60 years. Now tell me why pearls should wear out in 60 years? It means they really can't be heirlooms unless they aren't worn! On the other hand my grandmother's pearls were solid nacre and are looking good after 75 years. Some of the pearls may be much older -up to 200 years old, (judging from the style of drill holes) They had some areas where there was wear and the conchilion was exposed. I bathed them in a salt slurry on Zeide's adice and they are sparkling, totally renewed.

Well, I am retired on SS and can't afford to buy natural, but the next best thing is tissue cultured because they won't wear down to the bead, not even after a century or 2. I know I am continuing my grandmother's legacy. As for the cheap prices, I remember in 1967 when I could buy a 1920's vacation home in Marin County for $22,000.... Hubby and I did that and have never regretted it.

[Zeide Erskine]

Hi Slraep,

I love your name. It reminds me of Slartibartfast.

O.k. how big do you think big is? I have two pairs of Kasumigaura half pearl earrings in about 12.5mm diameter, well matched. One is a sunrise color (orangish, peach, gold with the classic texture) and the other is sunset color (the dramatic variety with lavender, silver, gold, blue, green, and red overtones all on the same pearl also on the bumpy side). Both pairs have 14k posts and backs. I am willing to sell these since they do not fit in my collection with their nucleus and all. However, I got them in a lot on a trade and have no way to adequately price them. Maybe one of the bead nucleated guys can give me a clue what to ask for them. They are true half rounds (not buttons, not mabe) with nacre all over. I guess they first cut the bead in half and cultured from there rather than the other way around.

Zeide

[Slraep]

Zeide,

Yup, 12.5mm is lovely. Name your price.

Goodness, if only all wish lists worked like this!

Slraep