This isn't deep gold, is it?

No, I didn't take that photo. I am not that good of a photographer. :) My wife wishes she had those so I could take the photo though. That strand and photo is on American Pearl's website, listed for $28,000.00. Any takers??? :)

Edited to add: The earrings are an extra $4,400. I am no expert, but that's a true AAA combo at a AAA price. If you have the money though, to my eyes they are worth every penny. Here's the link: http://www.americanpearl.com/12to14godiro.html
 
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Thanks for the link est190.
A very nice necklace indeed. My compliments to the designer, it's beautiful. They are also honest about the shade variance.
I had a look at their 10mm round gold strand. It is also the same grade but if you look you clearly see several flaws.
For the price I think it seems a good deal but why not "Go and have a look at them live".
For me, it defies logic that someone would buy it over the internet and have it shipped to their house, then feel it and try it on.
I'm a little amused with internet prices like the one you show, "Retail price 98K, our price 28K".
Who is the judge in all this.
And just to be pickkey, I'm sick of people refering to Drop Circles/Circle drops as Baroque. Look at their "Baroque" Gold Strand.
Anyway I'm pleased you have reminded all of us as to the high quality of South Sea Pearls that are produced.
Thanks and goodnight.
 
Wow, amazing strand indeed. I viewed the site to see what else they had in the golds-minus the diamonds. I found golds from Indonesia not none from Australia. Can any one tell me what differences might be betwen the two regions (colour, etc?) or do they both produce the same range of quality, colour, etc?
 
Hello Rusty,

I too am amused by the.... "Retail price 98K, our price 28K". I'm seeing this a lot in online shopping.

Can you tell me what "Drop Circles/Circle drops....versus.... Baroque means?

Thanks, Artemis
 
There is a spectrum of pearl shapes, round being on one end of the spectrum and baroque on the other end. In between you have off-round, drop, circled, etc.

But I also see "baroque" used as a catch-all for "not round".
 
Good call Pearl Dreams.
Hello again Artpearl. Indonesia has an Industry that also uses Pinctata Maxima. Meaning they grow the same pearls as us. As do the philippines.
Quite a few years back, Alex Kailis (2nd biggest SSPearl producer in Australia, at the time) was in my shop on Thursday Island. I asked him about his families percentage of Gold as opposed to Silver. He said "quite low but, if you want real gold pearls go to the Phillipines. No one does Gold like they do".
Now that comment was from the son of one of the founders of our great but young Australian South Sea Pearl Industry. You must understand though, The Australian industry has from the outset been focused on Large Round Silver (most like to call them white) Pearls. Gold pearls despite their individual beauty for years have been a nice sideline in the pursuit of silver. On a marketing level I was personally involved in re-establishing international awareness of the Torres Strait Pearl Industry. What I First hand experienced was an intense desire (You could call it a lust) to "have a Gold Pearl" amongst consumers. It was quite ammazing to see first hand how many people over fifty years that declared they had never seen Gold Pearls before. I should point out this response came from people from all over the world. I had clients from virtualy every corner of the globe.
It was a facinating time of my life, face to face contact with clients hopping on and off ships. Thats where I learnt of the lack of knowledge amongst the general public about Pearls. Hence my support of the Pearl-Guide.
Sorry I began to digress again. We can grow Good Golds, its just that in the past no-one put in the effort. Bron and I on our small scale are working towards (we hope) Sixty/Fourty, White and Gold.
Now there's a general acceptance amongst old hands in the industry that the west coast produces a higher percentage of siver cream than the east coast (australia).
East coast has a higher percentage of silver grey. I do not dispute this.
We are in the early stages of studying environmental reasons for variance. That's not for discussion at this stage.
Now, Baroque Pearls are an informal shape. Circle pearls have the groves around them, usually multiple. Circledrops or Drop circles have a nice pretty formal drop shape with maybe one or two grooves. Now anyone with a basic understanding of the english language could be confused with that.
So, try this, As a Pearl Farmer circle pearls bring the lowest price. Somewhere along the line some circles will become drops or circledrops because you can get more money, money money for them.
Sorry about that but we also need to buy food.
I'm not out working because it's bucketing down rain and has been for several days. We are currently in what I hope is the worst of it.
I hope the sun is shinning for you all.
See Ya, Rusty.
 
Hello again Rusty,

Thank you so much- amazing info. Still so much more to learn and consider.

It is also great to get the perspective from farmers and industry people and learn about your efforts by region. I am going to have to google map your location to see where your farm is located.

Of the "Baroque" shapes, I believe I like to Circle drop the most, probably, like most other people. When necklace strand are made, are pearls shapes random picked but matched on colour?

Hope the rain stops soon. It is snowing here today.
 
Hi Artpearl,
Good make or match in a necklace takes into consideration both shape and color and surface quality and size and probably more.
 
Good call Marianne
What it realy comes down to Artpearl is someones position in the Industry.
I only speak from the South Sea Pearl sector but I think it goes right across the board.
With SSP's being the higher end of the market, your capacity to pay for volumes of premium grade or not will dictate the quality of your strands.
Up to about 5K is whats called fashion pearls, every day wear. These are generally made up of the not so expensive pearl shapes and qualities. With SSP's there is a huge difference in price between Round pearls and all other shapes.
Something more about Baroque Pearls I left out before.
I'll explain in my plain english. I hope you are aware of the Baroque period in Architecture and Art, I think it was in the 17th century, well it was given it's name from the Portugese name for Mis-shapen Pearl. It's either Baroqu-oo or Baroqu-aa or close to that. I got that off a client who happened to be an academic. One of life's joys, you never know who you are talking to until you ask.
 
Hi Rusty,

You inspired me to look up the definition of Baroque that I remembered from early art history classes. The Baroque period and style emerged following the renaissance and is defined by it's ornamentation and curved lines. When applied to the pearl it means irregular shape.

Here is the most orginal defintion of Baroque:

Origin:
1755–65; < French < Portuguese barroco, barroca irregularly shaped pearl (of obscure origin; compare Spanish berrueco, barrueco granitic crag, irregular pearl, spherical nodule), probably conflated with Medieval Latin baroco invented word for a kind of obfuscating syllogism. First Known Use: 1765
 
Well done Artpearl. I think we have all just learnt a bit of history, thanks to the Pearl-Guide.
It totally amazes me the historic tentacles of the PEARL.
 
Entrance
These are some baroque golden south seas that I paired with Oregon Sunstone beads.
Some of the pearls have color graduations from cream to dark yellow. This may not be my "best color", but I love to wear them:)
 
Oh! Marianne! You do not show us enough of your pearls. Those are fantastic. The combo is so perfect!!!!
 
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Those are amazing - they look like they've got pearls within pearls..... how lovely :rolleyes:
 
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