[Slraep]

Well this was a curious thing I saw at the pearl wholesaler's today.

A new shipment of nice Tahitians all in a pile, on a table, with tags saying, "product of Japan". Now I was always under the impression that Tahitians were a "product of Tahiti". And these WERE Tahitians.

Could someone demystify this.

Slraep

[perlas]

were you able to take some pictures of the pearls?

what are the sizes and how much do they sell them?

[Slraep]

Taking pics would be impossible. They were somewhere in the
10-11mm range if not slightly bigger. They were absolutely Tahitians.
I had them in my hands for a while.

Slraep

[perlas]

As far as I know, the tahitian pearls are only harvested in polynesia although the philippines and indonesia tend to produce a few of the black and gray south sea pearls.

however, japan does re-export and do wholesale on tahitian and ssps as well.

http://www.yokota-pearl.co.jp/english/e-index.htm

[Zeide Erskine]

Hi Slreap,

Tahitians as in pinctada margaritifera were actually first cultured in the Ryukyu Islands of Japan starting in 1920. Nonetheless, just like Japan is the main processor of Chinese pearls it is also processing a lot of French Polynesian pearls (formerly known as Tahitians). No serious pearl buyer would and should trust Tahitian pearls that spend any time in Japan. The chances of them being treated in a gazllion different and undesirable ways is simply too great.

Zeide

[jshepherd]

It is the Japanese pearl industry that feels they can put a "made in Japan" or "product of Japan" on any pearls they touch. This is why Akoya pearls that every dealer knows were cultured in China are sold in Japan as "Japanese Pearls", even though finding any farms in Mie culturing anything smaller than 8mm would be an incredible challenge.
Some Japanese factories are actually labeling their low-end Akoya as Chinese now and claiming the best to be Japanese, attempting to make Chinese look inferior once again. It only shows that they are losing and they know it to try such absurd deception. No, I am not just talking about you, American Pearl. Although yours is the most obvious.

As we drill and match a lot of our stock in the US, we should put tags on our pearls that say "product of the USA". It is no different.

[cutloose]

recently I bought a strand of 10mm "Tahitian" pearls from a guy in Texas, (who sounded Chinese!), for a very cheap price.
They are gorgeous.. but several experts here in Australia say they are either top quality Tahitians with no blemishes, or very good fakes, probably Chinese. These pearls are beautiful peacock colour with no tell-tale marks indicating that they are genuine Tahitian, but even after x rays, it is undecided whether they are freshwater or genuine Tahitian.
Any information on latest info on fake Tahitians would be appreciated.
Thanks,
Pamela

[The Pearl Outlet]

Pamela,

I've seen faux Tahitians that, to the eye, look like the real thing, though any expert would immediately be able to tell the difference with a quick inspection. I've also seen freshwater pearls with enough enhancements that they look nearly identical to Tahitians.

To help, may I ask few questions about the cheap Tahitian strand? If you did an x-ray analysis, was there a visible bead nucleus? Can you post pictures of both the pearls and the x-ray? Exactly how much did you pay? Where did you purchase it (name of online company, on eBay, ...)? I'm assuming they passed as pearls using a simple tooth test?

Feel free to PM me if you'd like to keep any answers private.

[Zeide Erskine]

Hi Terry,

There is a company in Taiwan (Pauyuan or something like that) that used to make precipitate "shell pearls" in 2000 that were so close to the real thing that they passed the tooth and x-rax tests. They got some real heat for that and switched to a more fake looking process pretty soon thereafter. I assume that there is some pipeline stock around that will pop up here and there.

Zeide

[jshepherd]

Before we delve into all the detailed questions I think one is most important. You mentioned you bought them for a very good price. What do you consider a very good price?
$300 US for a strand = fake. $3000 US for a strand = very good price and very good possibility the strand is real.

[Slraep]

I don't know about the other poster but the ones at the wholesaler were in the 5000 and above range. They are Tahaitians. I suspect they should be labeled as "product of Japanese treatment" instead.

Slraep

[jshepherd]

That would be a perfect world, wouldn't it?! But you know, years ago Chinese freshwater would pass through Japan and sell as Biwa (at least the finer pieces). Or at least left as an open assumption with "product of Japan labels". Now that the industry is dead the origin must be disclosed. Well, with more Japanese farms shutting down every year, and more factories buying up the Chinese Akoya just to stay in business, the same thing will eventually happen.

BTW, I would not trust any Tahitians that have made their way through China either. Treatments are just too easy to come by...

[Zeide Erskine]

Hi Jeremy,

Unfortunately there are all too many of those in the market. Sometimes they virtually destroy the Tahitians in overtreatment and then sell them as freshwater pearls. As such, being an educated consumer is probably the best approach to shopping for pearls.

Zeide