Name the Pearl!

[Sea Urchin]

I put in an entry too. Can we say our name ideas here or does that mess something up?

 

[GemGeek]

I would wait a while to be sure that they got it. Maybe they will set up a list of entries so people will know what has been taken.

 

[pearlescence]

farmed doesn't sound so posh. I remember a woman coming up to a display I had once, the friend clearly wanted to buy something but woman turned to friend and said 'of course I have proper real cultured pearls at home'

 

[jshepherd]

From what I saw of Honora's offerings on QVC, they are already doing just that, with plenty of rippled pearls being called Ming. Yes, there will be a learning curve, but oh well, there always is.

The original Ming pearls were ripples: http://www.ssef.ch/uploads/media/20...-_A_new_type_of_cultured_pearl_from_China.pdf

Ming came before Edison, not after. Grace was the company that succeeded in getting rid of the ripple effect on the surface of the pearls and then started calling them Edison Pearls.

 

[Katbran]

Very interesting ! I knew the basics but it was great to read the article that you provided Jeremy. Thanks for that. I too think that they should just keep it Ming. Easy name to remember, people are already familiar with it and it's Chinese.

As to the name ripple ... I used to see the Chinese sellers on Ebay call them "Furrow" pearls. I thought that was quite an interesting word to use and that it had probably come up in 'google translate' from a chinese adjective for the surface texture. lol

 

[SunSeeker]

Just curious, are Chinese Kasumiga-like pearls also the same as Edisons, Ripples, and Mings? ..same cultured process in the same mollusk?

 

[GemGeek]

Wasn't Ming originally a trade name, like "Spice Pearls" or Edisons?

 

[pinkjewel]

Well, I went ahead and sent in a suggestion. I would LOVE to win a trip to J. Hunter's farm being the huge J. Hunter fan that I am. Although, it wouldn't make the trip a sure thing by any means- it would at least get me a decent chance at going!!

 

[JerseyPearl]

Have you ever come across ripples being referred to as "ripples" in Hong Kong or anywhere off the Internet? I haven't. The term ripple was invented on the internet by CC of Australia I believe, and still lives on the internet as far as I know.

Honora is probably the biggest seller of what we would call ripples or commercial grade beaded rounds in the United States and they call them all Mings, the name Tian Di Run uses for all of their beaded production.

The strand I posted is from Honora, and they were identified as "Mings" and not ripples....po-tA-to/po-tAH-to...still just as pretty as can be!

 

[lisa c]

Is this political, with the Chinese viewing "Ming" as an issue of Chinese dynastic respect/disrespect/disaffection? They might see us as non-Chinese boobs for not getting / understanding that, if such is the case. China, a huge conglomerate nation...only recently having revolutions, throwing off royalty, opening borders, historically protectivist, Purges...just musing.

Ming seems obvious and familiar and politically neutral to us, maybe not so self-evident or safely logical to the Chinese?

Is there a name percolating under all this already, on the Chinese-research-production side?

{I'm definitely not meaning to call any of us here Politically insensitive boobs, or to imply that I'd know a politically insensitive boob if I saw one, or that I should call attention to one if I recognized one, or was being one myself}

 

[Jacques]

wow you pearly people really get into it here at PG!
Jeremy thanks for the great article from 2011.

I submitted. Let's see!

It would be fun if they actually picked a name from someone here!

 

[cmd2014]

The regularly produced ones are already called cultured freshwater pearls. Cultured just means farmed, not that the pearl has a bead.

That makes sense. I'm looking forward to the new name!

 

[lisa c]

(Oops! Musings intercepted...must terminate.)

Why, yes, Jacques, we do really get into it! Sometimes. Often. Want to play?

 

[ennui]

I thought the winner was supposed to be announced March 12 ... has anyone heard anything? I didn't see anything on the CPAA site.

 

[jshepherd]

One name was selected by the CPAA that had a really good backstory to it. I delivered it to the president of the HKPA while in Hong Kong and he didn't seem to like it. He said he would bring the name and argument to the association to get their thoughts, but that is the last I've heard about it from their side.