PP June Special

[Lulu]

The much-anticipated PP June special arrived this week and... the idea of it is absolutely beautiful:



But this one is going back. I was hoping that there would have been more contrast between the akoya keshi and the SSP -- that the akoya keshi would be a steely grey-blue rather than the silvery-white they turned out to be.



Also, the SSP were not as clean and less lustrous than I hoped. I think that these were supposed to be AA-ish. Am I being too picky or unrealistic?



Especially when I compared them to the SSP I got from Care Ehret.



I'll admit when I first got the SSP from Care Ehret, my reaction was: huh. So these are SSP? I guess you're more likely to appreciate what you've got when you've seen a range. I can now appreciate their sharp luster better in comparison with these from PP.

[perlinda]

I checked that one on PP but didn't remember the details. Did they mention about the grade of the pearls on the website? I personally think the SSP look A+/AA grade (the close up one with obvious blemishes). Care Ehret ones are nicer, they're smooth with high luster, definitely higher grade.

[Caitlin]

Is that akoya keshi on both strands? I love that akoya keshi and asked for some without the SS pearls. Now that I see that the pearls are like that, I wouldn't mind having them after all. I love the flawed pearls. There is no mistaking what you have, these are obviously not beads.

How did the prices compare with Carolyn's SS? I have some largish SS keshi from her and I combined it with some tiny keshi sized natural Bahraini pearls, so I very much like the combination of the two kinds of pearls. Mine are all off shape and lumpy though and that is what my expectation was.

Your expectation was not met? Then you are correct to send them back.

[pattye]

The PP offer was quite amazing, I thought. The white keshi offer an interesting contrast in size and shape. There was no mention of the keshi being silver blue, that I recall, so unless you communicated with PP to let them know your preference and see if silver blue was available, probably that was your expectation only.

South Sea generally have a more satiny luster. The luster is great on the enlarged photo of the Ehret pearl, but also there is a deep discolored blemish, which would affect the grade.
I don't see a great difference in the luster between the pearls, and wouldn't be able to assign a an accurate grade to these pearls just from seeing the photos.

[Marianne]

I love the contrast in the shapes and sizes of the keshi and the larger South Sea pearls. Design wise, I think that mixing SS supporting natural characteristics with the rich variety of keshi shapes makes perfect sense. Ehret's go nicely with the stone beads and her trademark gold beads. Both are great stand alone designs. However, do not like the way that metal beads... gold or silver... leave black marks on precious pearls.

[Lulu]

Perlinda -- I think the PP site originally said that they were AA, but the site is down, so can't confirm. I definitely like the Care Ehret pearls a lot. Great silky luster!

Caitlin -- The PP strand is akoya keshi; the other strand with the Care Ehret pearls I made with green tourmaline I already had on hand. I only bought the pearls from Care Ehret, so I'm not sure how the two would compare price-wise since it's not really a fair comparison. I love the akoya and SSP combination, and it is still a beautiful necklace -- I didn't mean to imply otherwise -- it just wasn't exactly what I'm looking for. I've found that with more pearl-buying experience I'm getting more picky!

Pattye -- The PP special was undoubtedly a good deal, and I don't mean to suggest anything less than good CS on PP's part. It's just the picture on the website I think had keshi that were a little bit more blue-silver and the other akoya keshi I had were also blue-silver. I my inexperience I incorrectly assumed that would be the kind of product I would be getting. That's my bad. In the course of pearl-buying, I've also become more assertive about asking for the picture of the actual pearls that I would be getting and expect that merchants be able to provide that sort of information. In this case, I was more shy because it was the monthly special and it was such a good deal (didn't want to abuse a good thing), but you're right. I should have just been a better communicator on my part. I still have a lot to learn about grading of pearls and so forth, so this was a useful experience for me nevertheless to learn what it is that I like, regardless of what the actual grade of the pearl is!

Marianne -- ITA - the design is absolutely superb. Love the combination of the spikey keshi with the satiny roundness of the SSP. This particular execution didn't work for me, though. I didn't know that the metal beads could leave marks on the pearls, but I guess I don't care enough to re-do the necklace. It was already such a PITA putting the piece together ;-P

[GemGeek]

All the SS pearls I have from Care are satiny - none are as nice as yours, but I imagine you paid for the difference. In fact, the majority of all SSPs have a satiny luster, so you made out!

I have been disappointed by pearls many many times no matter who they came from. I've sent pearls back to Pearl Paradise because I just didn't like them. But the PP special looks just like I thought it would. It looks fun.

[GemGeek]

May I say, that I still really lurve that necklace you made - it's perfect!

[KarinK]

Hi Lulu,

I have some tiny akoya keshis (from Cate Everet in fact) and they are cream/white.

- Karin

[dkan 168]

IMHO, the PP June Special looks like a real bargain to me.

DK