Live Discussion: The New Bead-Nucleated Freshwater Pearls from China

[jshepherd]

I know a lot of people have been curious about the new type of bead-nucleated freshwater pearls being produced in China. I’ve been out to the farms twice in the past year and have seen a complete shift in how many of them are now culturing pearls. It’s a real transformation in freshwater pearl farming.

On Wednesday, Hisano and I will be hosting a live conversation on the Pearl Paradise home page, Facebook, and YouTube.

We’ll be sharing some videos from China and showing side-by-side comparisons of traditional tissue-grafted, body-beaded (aka Edison), and new mantle-beaded freshwater, and saltwater-beaded pearls.

This isn’t an “It’s Mine” event, so nothing will be for sale. It’s just an open, educational discussion, and we’d really like to hear what everyone thinks about these new pearls and where they might fit in the market.

If you’re free Wednesday afternoon, I hope you’ll join the conversation - Calendar Link

Image Left to Right:
Body-beaded FW x 1
Tissue-graft FW x 3
Mantle-beaded FW x 3
Akoya x 1
Mantle-beaded x 3

 

[Pearlgully]

Will this conversation be recorded and available to be watched at a later date for those of us who are unable to attend this Wednesday?

 

[jshepherd]

Yes, it will be on YouTube

 

[jeg]

I hope I can rearrange my schedule so I can see this!

 

[Pearl Dreams]

Looking forward to this!

 

[BWeaves]

I'm really looking forward to this, too!

 

[lisa c]

The akoyas seem hands-down out of this world, but really I wouldn’t turn down any of these strands. It’ll be interesting to see the price points.

 

[lisa c]

Actually, I take it back and shut my mouf, because I’m on a 12mini-screen. It’s just hard to wait.

 

[Pearl Dreams]

I'm curious about what the nacre thickness is, to get that luster.

 

[Perle magnifique]

Thanks. I'm really looking forward to this.

 

[ennui]

I hope to watch, just to clarify in my mind ... I'm thinking mantle-bead is a bead and a small piece of tissue, as opposed to mantle tissue only? The pearls in the photo all have amazing luster; I wouldn't turn any of them away.

 

[Pearl Dreams]

Surely though these are the best of them. Just as tissue-graft-only FW pearls come in a range of quality, surely the bead nuked ones do as well.

 

[Pearl Dreams]

Giving this a bump-- It starts in about 12 minutes!

 

[Pearl Dreams]

Folks, if you missed it live, by all means go and watch it on YouTube. It was really interesting!

 

[PearlyLibrarian]

For those who have seen it, I’m wondering what your thoughts are now!

 

[Pearl Dreams]

I thought it was fascinating that they have created a hybrid mussel whose nacre is so white that its mantle is used as donor tissue to produce pearls that do not need to be bleached. For me one of the big problems with FWP is that even bleached, they are for the most part just a bit too warm a white for my skin tone. These pearls that are naturally whiter would solve that problem.

I find myself wondering whether in time, some of these very white pearls will come to be pinked (since there is a market preference for pinked akoyas, because they flatter the complexion.) But that would add an extra step in their processing, and time is money-- so maybe not.

Also I think it's likely that it's just a matter of time before the minority of farmers that are still producing tissue-only cultured FWP will switch to bead nucleation. Why? Because it takes longer to produce tissue-only pearls of the same size as the beaded ones-- years, I think-- during which time the farmers have to feed and care for the mussels, while assuming the risk that the shells may die in the interim. And at harvest, I expect a smaller per cent of their harvest will be fully round. This can't be more profitable, surely. So probably financial pressures will lead to all the farmers eventually producing bead nuked pearls. So it seems to me, anyway.

 

[PearlyLibrarian]

I thought it was fascinating that they have created a hybrid mussel whose nacre is so white that its mantle is used as donor tissue to produce pearls that do not need to be bleached. For me one of the big problems with FWP is that even bleached, they are for the most part just a bit too warm a white for my skin tone. These pearls that are naturally whiter would solve that problem.

I find myself wondering whether in time, some of these very white pearls will come to be pinked (since there is a market preference for pinked akoyas, because they flatter the complexion.) But that would add an extra step in their processing, and time is money-- so maybe not.

Also I think it's likely that it's just a matter of time before the minority of farmers that are still producing tissue-only cultured FWP will switch to bead nucleation. Why? Because it takes longer to produce tissue-only pearls of the same size as the beaded ones-- years, I think-- during which time the farmers have to feed and care for the mussels, while assuming the risk that the shells may die in the interim. And at harvest, I expect a smaller per cent of their harvest will be fully round. This can't be more profitable, surely. So probably financial pressures will lead to all the farmers eventually producing bead nuked pearls. So it seems to me, anyway.

I had the exact same thought about whether this will eventually become the new normal due to increased theoretical profit for farmers. Especially since my understanding is they have to be grown simultaneously with Edison (body grown nucleated) pearls which also fetch a higher price?

I didn’t catch whether the difference in time to grow a tissue vs bead pearl for the same final size was stated? I was wondering what the time difference is, exactly.

 

[Pearl Dreams]

I don't think it was stated in the video. I seem to recall reading that a tissue-only pearl can take 5-6 years to grow to a good size (say, 9-10mm). I'll check Strack and other books and see what they say about that.

But however long it is, it is bound to be considerably longer than starting from a bead nucleus. The nacre thickness in these bead-nuked pearls is 1.5-2mm. Well, in a tissue graft-only pearl, that would mean the pearl itself was only 1.5-2mm in diameter, right?

 

[Pearl Dreams]

I'm on page 436 of Pearls by Strack, in the section called "Growth Rate and Growth Time." This is for the sankaku mussel a.k.a. Hyriopsis cumingii.
It says the growth rate ranges from 1mm-5mm per year, depending on water temperatures and the season, with other factors listed as also influencing the rate.

"The growth rate appears to decrease with time...The size is reported to be 3 mm after one and a half years and 7mm after three years. One source quotes a period of four years for pearls of 9 mm and a time of six to seven years for sizes above 10 mm. Other sources claim eight to ten years for pearls above 9 mm and five to eight years for for pearls from 7 mm to 9 mm. Pearls below 7 mm are claimed to require about four years.... "

So you see the information is all over the place. But bottom line-- it takes time for pearls without a nucleus to grow large! Meanwhile the mussel needs to be fed and kept alive. Clearly time is saved by starting with a bead nucleus. And time = money.

 

[BWeaves]

I thought Jeremy and Hisano's information about the new pearls and the farming techniques was very interesting. I liked the whiteness and the luster of the new pearls. The older I get, the more I like white vs. pinked pearls. And they have quite thick nacre. 2mm vs. 0.4 mm for my natural white Hanadamas.