How to identify Edison and other bead-nucleated pearls?

[cyndayco]

Whenever I ask Greenhills vendors about bead-nucleated pearls, they genuinely seem to be ignorant of this kind of freshwater pearl. Obviously, flameballs and coin pearls have some sort of nucleus, and it's hard to believe that the other varieties have not entered our market.

So what are the hallmarks of a bead-nucleated FWP?

(BTW, so far, I've run into two eBay merchants who are selling bead-nucleated FWPs as Akoyas. When I pointed out that Akoyas are saltwater pearls, both claimed that the term Akoya refers to anything cultured using the Japanese techniques, regardless of the shellfish species.)

 

[pearlescence]

Descriptions for pearls on eBay and other markets gain and lose in translation so that some descriptions are just silly when they arrive in english - akoya south sea lavender for example is one I saw recently. While I know that many descriptions are wrong, I thing we have to cut these sellers a bit of slack since we would make even more of a mess of trying to communicate in their language.
Akoya is a specific breed of mollusc so it isn't a generic descriptor.
Hallmarks of a bead nuked pearl - well, they pretty much make themselves clear by their shape, if you mean the rounds. If you consider shape v price the bead nukes will be much cheaper generally than a tissue nucleated round. That's a deliberate generallyby the way because the best bead nuked will be dearer than tissue nuked in the larger sizes. (I paid over ?250 for ONE stunningly flawless 16.5 eightway natural white last september). And that's even when bead nuked are only one or two to a shell as against many. Against that they are ready for market a lot faster.
So..If it's big (12mm+), round, natural colours, good lustre .....suspect a bead

 

[Amanda]

Are you shopping in Hong Kong at the moment, Wendy?

 

[Amanda]

I do indeed. Don't hold your breath.....

I was in Birmingham, Feltham, Feltham, Feltham and finally central London last week, so needed the weekend to recover! (I'm now 29 weeks, so need recovery time).

 

[Marianne]

Congratulations, Amanda!

 

[cyndayco]

While we're on bead-nucleated pearls, why do some of them have this cloudy, milky color? It almost makes them look like shell pearls.

 

[pearlescence]

I know the look you mean cyndayco. As far as I know it is not so good satin lustre - the lustre on a lot of bead nuked pearls tends to come from a satin start rather than a typical freshwater nacre starting point where poor nacre looks more chalky.
The shell (fake) pearls I've seen all have good lustre..not low shine milky lustre. Not a lot of point surely in making dud fakes?

 

[cyndayco]

I guess you are right, Wendy. This quality of pearls is a notch lower than shell pearls.

 

[pearlescence]

In appearance maybe. but remember..they are REAL. Not fakes.

 

[Nerida]

I think you do have to see that the good bead nuked freshwaters are truly a fine pearl in their own way. Mikimoto in Madison Ave had several strands, along with a few beautiful ropes of mixed WSS; GSS; Tahitian and bead nuked FW - they were well informed and completely honest in describing the pearls to me. By contrast, another Madison Avenue jeweller was validating his $80000 USD price on a strand of obviously bead nuked FW (11-12mm, deep pink and beautifully matched) by telling me that these South Sea pearls in this colour were exceptionally rare. Thing is, I think he believed they were SS himself - have seen a few very small vendors of these pearls at JCK and maybe the retailers aren't told the true story sometimes...

 

[cyndayco]

Same story here. There are many in Greenhills that I suspect to be BNFW, and vendors will only call them jumbo freshwater pearls.

I've read about how marvelous Edison pearls are, and all I see are these milky, sometimes smooth, sometimes wrinkly pearls. I would dearly love to see premium BNFWP in person.

 

[KAC]

I've read about how marvelous Edison pearls are, and all I see are these milky, sometimes smooth, sometimes wrinkly pearls. I would dearly love to see premium BNFWP in person.

Its true, most Edisons aren't great quality, that being said there are some extradorinary Edisons being produced. We saw these today at the HK pearl show:

 

[cyndayco]

That is one truly beautiful jawbreaker. Thank you for sharing it. Hope you can send more photos soon.

 

[pattye]

WOW, really spectacular! What is the approx proportion of light colored pearls in an harvest of Edisons? There seems to be more deep shades than in the older cfwp harvests. Is that the influence of the hybrid?

 

[Pearl Dreams]

That purple color is beyond all expectations. Gorgeous shot, too!

 

[whicker]

That color looks like a beautiful amethyst purple. Just glorious! Are you bringing it home with you?

 

[KAC]

That color looks like a beautiful amethyst purple. Just glorious! Are you bringing it home with you?

not for sale - but I have a customer looking for something similar, so I'll be looking through their lots hunting him down something similar in color, hopefully!

 

[LLoydsJewelry]

i Have some bead nuked lavenders that look great. They have some blemish in close up examination, but were not expensive. We sell them in our etsy and ebay shops. I cut one in half with a dremel cut off wheel and found that the nacre is quite thick. I separated the nacre from the bead and found a banded shell nucleus simiiler to the one used for shell pearls, and to nucleus South Sea pearls. They are a consistent 9.5mm in diameter.

 

[GemGeek]

I'm sure those sell well. I love lavender-colored pearls.