Best pearl size for Opera length?

[Cheerwino]

My wife wants a 30" necklace and I'm considering what size pearl is best in a longer Opera length. I am looking at Freshadama from Pearl Paradise in the 7-8mm size, which would be just over $500 for 30".

Are there general rules of thumb regarding pearl size to necklace length? Will 7-8mm look too small? Or would 8-9mm or larger look garish? Is it better to trade down in quality and up in size in a longer length? Or will the luster of Freshadama make them appear larger?

She will be wearing these to work, and tends to dress up more than her coworkers. Also, she is tall and likes to wear sweaters and turtlenecks, so she wants a longer length.

Any thoughts or suggestions?

Thanks

 

[KAC]

Personally i'd say 7-8mm is the perfect size for longer strands - but that's just it, everybody has different tastes.

I'd go bigger if she wanted to wear them as a special event item and smaller if she wanted to get more daily use out of them.

 

[purepearls]

From personal experience, I would say go with 36" and the 7-8mm size. With a 36" strand, she can wear long or wrapped for a double-strand. There is much more flexibility here.

 

[purepearls]

I would never trade down in quality to go with a larger size!

 

[youngster]

Hi Cheerwino,
I did just what you are considering. I had PP make a custom 33" freshadama strand for me. I used 8 -9 mm pearls though, which caused the price to be substantially more than $500. I have worn it a lot. I tend to wrap it around and wear it as a double strand. I'm on the tallish side (5' 7") and I'm over (yikes) 40 so the larger pearl size looks great. Hope this helps.

 

[Elsa]

Opera length

Opera length

Hi,
I would go as long as you can afford to and try to get the necklace made with invisible clasps that will allow your wife to break it down into a number of necklace and bracelet combination... like a whole pearl wardrobe in one long necklace!
As far as size, I think smaller (7-8 mm) pearls look great, especially in an opera length. If she is planning on wearing these every day, especially.
Good luck,

 

[Cheerwino]

Thanks

Thanks

Thanks to everyone for your prompt and helpful replies to my question regarding the ideal ratio of pearl size to necklace length. I am glad there were no complicated equations offered in any responses.

Elsa mentioned hidden clasps--does anyone on this board offer such an option on high-quality, round freshwaters? American Pearl offers four hidden clasps on a 51" rope of Akoyas, which can create many different looks. However, I assumed it would be unprofitable for online retailers dealing in volume to offer such an option in top quality freshwaters since the pearls would need to match so closely in size for you to mix and match different looks. In other words, one could buy another necklace or bracelet for the added cost due to labor.

Thanks again to everyone who has replied. This has been very helpful.

Guy
aka "Cheerwino"

 

[jshepherd]

It is just the cost of the labor, which will run around $25 per junction. It is actually a lot easier to add a mystery clasp to freshwater than Akoya - South Sea pearls are also a good choice because the nacre is so thick. It is an interesting piece, I know my brother makes a lot of them - ThePearlOutlet.com.

 

[cindyclark]

For a tall woman, like me, I would not go below 9 mm. You can do great with a high quality, near round, freshwater with lots of luster. Just two junctions work well on a 36 length, with two 18 inch strands or a little bit longer and a 18 and 22 inch length for more versatility. You don't have to do invisible clasps. I have used decorative gold ones and they look great.

Cindy Clark

 

[purepearls]

We have done quite a few mystery clasps for customers. You can get very creative with it. For example, we recently had one customer purchase an 18" strand and we broke it up to 16" and 2" so his wife could wear the strand as 18" or as 16". We also did one where a lady wanted 7" and 18" so she could wear the necklace as one long 25" necklace or a necklace and a bracelet set.

I really think it's a personal preference for size but you mentioned you have a budget so I highly recommend quality over size.

 

[jshepherd]

Brings to mind another subject - why not grow keshi on purpose - they are so much more beautiful than almost any other pearls. And could it be done. Just a little tickle to the oyster a minor irritant and would one possibly grow.

Keshi are grown on purpose. I would surmise a large portion of today's harvested keshi are intentional, as a matter of fact. As market value goes up, so does volume.

 

[Bodecia]

"Keshi are grown on purpose. I would surmise a large portion of today's harvested keshi are intentional, as a matter of fact. As market value goes up, so does volume."
-------

Bodecia - above a quote from Jeremy

I read recently that oysters are now x-rayed so that any non round pearls can be discarded - so that the keshi harvested were likely to be less in the future - or was I reading an old article.

It does seem to me that there are keshi to be had although many are very small. I would love a really big one, big big big, with lustre galore - and gold would be great. If anyone has one they want to sell let me know

_____________

Bodecia

 

[jshepherd]

I read recently that oysters are now x-rayed so that any non round pearls can be discarded - so that the keshi harvested were likely to be less in the future - or was I reading an old article.

Sounds like a bad article, not an old article. Yes, a lot of farms use x-ray, but it is used to determine nucleus retention, not shape of pearl. I have heard the claims before, but if you understood how a farm's x-ray machine works, you would realize that those claims are ridiculous.

You likely heard the story at one of those "pick an oyster, find a pearl" places. They claim that all their oysters go through x-ray do ensure a perfect, round pearl is inside. The truth is, they put that pearl inside the oyster - it did not grow there. There is one Site online that sells a type of "pearl in the oyster" business, and on their Site they even claim to stick a grain of sand into the oysters to produce the pearls they sell.

The way an x-ray actually works is the oysters are placed on a sheet, or a type of conveyor depending on the machine. As they go through, those pearls with a retained nucleus are shot with a colored dye. The shells with stains have pearls - those without, don't.

Regarding the keshi, I believe that bits of mantle are often "lost" during nucleation in both Tahitian pearl culturing and Akoya (but only in Japan). The Japanese produce a huge amount of Akoya keshi every year, where as the Chinese produce almost none.

 

[Bodecia]

"Regarding the keshi, I believe that bits of mantle are often "lost" during nucleation in both Tahitian culturing and Akoya (but only in Japan). The Japanese produce a huge amount of Akoya keshi every year, where as the Chinese produce almost none." QUOTE of Jeremy's
__________________

Hi Jeremy & Caitlin - sorry haven't worked out how to do quotes yet.

Thank you for the info on x-raying. I will try to find the article again.

Okay, Japan has a market for the keshi. Right? As to the Tahitian cultuturing - do you mean Tahitian pearls from Japan? Just a little confused as you said only in Japan. I bought some Tahitian keshi not so long ago, some black, some silver. I believe they came through Hong Kong via the big sale/show recently.

Also how big would these bits of "lost" mantle be? If I am understanding this correctly the Japanese realise there is a market for keshi so "lose" pieces of mantle for that market whereas the Chinese don't.

How do you rate keshi in the scheme of pearls? Do they have a place in your store? I hope these questions are okay. I am not sure what is kosher yet. Guess someone will set me straight if I ask to many questions.

BTW - Caitlin, was just off looking at your beading - great - I am a beader too. Love it. It is a passion although Pearls always take pride of place and I tend to work more with them than anything else. Although you seem to use them all the time too. For love of Pearls.

Thanks for all the info and photos I have been looking at,

Bodecia

 

[Bodecia]

I think it is only with very special FW pearls that the public will slowly come to accept each pearl on its merit and not on whether they are SW or FW. They don't seem to care about them being cultured and SW having dirty great big beads in them.

I meant to ask later about SS Golden Pearls. It seems that as they are often refered to as PPBs they are not highly thought of on this Forum. But surely there must be many different qualities or are all cultured pearls called PPBs in a derogatory way. I have been wondering if there is a standard size bead that is used in the culture of SS Pearls in different countries and if so what sizes are the beads? Also do all SS Pearls have shell based beads or are glass beads ever inserted. I know that some Chinese pearls, especially the huge ones are very, very heavy and have wondered if they had glass beads instead of tissue inserted in them. I hope this is not too many questions at one time. My mind keeps jumping from one thing to the next All related in a way

Thanks very much, Bodecia

 

[Bodecia]

Does anyone know if the Chinese look like kasumis are bead or tissue nucleated. I don't want to smash one to find out

Bodecia - who must be off unfortunatley.

 

[jshepherd]

I believe there is a real need to bead-nucleated pearls, because there is a market for them, they are beautiful, and people really like them. Pearls would turn into a niche market if only mantle nucleation were used. Rounds would be almost unheard of, and that is what most people prefer.

When I mentioned "only" Japan, I was referring to just the Akoya, not that the practice involved Tahitian "keshi seeding" as well. In China there is really not a market for keshi at this time. Also, it is very difficult to find keshi when harvesting by hand. This is still the standard in China, whereas nearly all the farms in Japan use a machine to find the keshi.

 

[jshepherd]

The Chinese freshwater that look like Kasumi's are likely tissue nucleated. There are very few round bead nucleated coming out of China. Those that are bead nucleated nearly universally have tails.

 

[Bodecia]

"There are very few round bead nucleated coming out of China. Those that are bead nucleated nearly universally have tails." Part Quote from Jeremy Shepherd

To All in the Know and Otherwise

There are many strands and necklaces sold out of China which are varied in colour. A necklace may have white, pink and lavender in it and called by the seller (on ebay) SS pearls. These pearls are often 8 or 9 mm in diam. Also round or nearly round. What are these strands likely to be. Dyed Akoya, FW pearls or is it possible that they are SW from the South China Sea. If from the South China Sea is it correct in calling them SS pearls? I have also seen 10 mm black pearls called Japanese Pearls - so what are these. Can Akoya grow that big. I do realise that Akoya cannot be black unless dyed but what are they really likely to be... Once again are they likely to be FW or SW. They can be quite good looking too although it seems that Chinese sellers call them anything that takes their fancy at the time. Can get very confusing unless one is an expert.

Sellers all over the world buy these items and then pass them off as whatever they were called by the seller bought from. I feel that most of these pearls are not labelled correctly. But maybe they just aren't sure themselves so pass on the disinformation. i.e. SS pearls or Japanese pearls to make the greatest profit without the hassle of really identifying them or worrying about doing so.

I have thought that most likely many of these are FW but if FW pearls out of China generally have tails that cannot be. So confusion reigns.

And many pearls sold as freshwater are round or very nearly so and if tissue cultivated how can this be?

Thanks, Bodecia.

 

[Bodecia]

"One of the arguments for nucleation with other pearls is that many of the Chinese big rounds have intermittent conchiolin layers. However, depending on how large a pearl grows, this will sooner or later happen naturally even if there is no renucleation involved." Quote from Zeide.

Hi Zeide, Jeremy & All,

Nucleation with pearls, especially if tissue cultivated FW pearls, seems to me to be a good way to cultivate SW pearls, at least all of the pearl then would be nacre or very nearly so. Is this a widely held view or only one held by a few and if so do you think it would be preferable and even desirable to beading with shell products or glass beads?

I do realise that as Jeremy pointed out that most people do want round pearls and that tissue cultivation may hamper this end but with a genuine pearl nucleation this would still give the desired shape although maybe raising the costs of pearls in general. Perfectly round pearls are beautiful although I like natures way of doing things and love the irregular shapes too.

Jeremy, thank you for your info on the Chinese Kasumi look-a-likes but if this is so then I don't see how they can be considered inferior to genuine kasumi. I have seen quite a few round white either kasumi or the Chinese equivalent. Short of smashing one to see what is inside and that I cannot do to those beauties there seems to be no way to tell the two types apart. And the white swirling beauties are supposed to be very, very rare. Gets more confusing all the time. I really dislike not know what a pearl really is and it is virtually impossible to get a straight answer from any Chinese seller and for that matter most other sellers.

Thank you in advance, Bodecia