Appraising Akoya Pearls

[canuk-gal]

Hello:

I hope this is the appropriate forum for asking the following questions about some family pearls, if not, accept my apologies in advance!

My Mother has two strands of what I "believe" to be "fine quality Akoya" pearls; one a "matinee" length, the other an "opera" length. Being the wife of a jeweller, she was the recipient of many nice gifts of jewellery, pearls amongst them.

Recently my aging Mother asked me to assist with downsizing her jewellery collection, and I believe she wants to include the pearls in this downsizing process.

My questions are:

1) By virtue of age alone, can one suggest that these pearls are (Japanese) Akoya in origin? They were purchased from a highly respected pearl dealer app. 30 years ago.

2) Are all gemologists/appraisers able to acertain the origin of the pearl by examination? Do they have such experience with pearls, in specific?

3) The pearls have been rarely worn, are 8-9mm in size, round, creamy color, lustery, and very clean. They have been stored 'appropriately". For pearls, how is value derived?

4) I have made an appt. with an Estate jeweller whom I know personally, so assess part of my Mom's collection. What kind of $ value can she expect to receive for these kind of pearls?

Hope this post makes sense and I look forward to any feedback that may be provided.

cheers--Sharon

 

[Zeide Erskine]

Hi Sharon,

I think I wrote several messages on the subject of appraisals before. There are various levels of appraisals depending on whether they are being appraised for insurance, buying, or selling purposes. One should also keep in mind what the local market is.

Sadly enough, when you intend to sell, all you really need are brand name clasps, boxes, and papers. The pearls themselves are an afterthought. In most cases that also applies to the appraisal process itself since most estate jewelers are not going to look beyond the clasp. Any marketing effort (cleaning, restringing, clasp upgrades, etc.) would be something to negotiate with a jeweler taking them on consignment. You (or your mother) would probably have to invest into cleaning and restringing if you were going to put them up for auction. If you know a celebrity, let the person wear it once and be sure to take a picture showing the clasp and the celebrity's face. That is usually the best value enhancer in our day and age.

Zeide

 

[canuk-gal]

HI Z:

Thank you for your reply. Given your direction, I will read what you have previously written on appraisals. It will help to inform her decision.

cheers--Sharon

 

[canuk-gal]

I think the insurance companies are kind of picky about appraisals too. They won't accept everyone as one.

HI:

Does this beg the question whether all gemologists are "equipped" to acertain the quality/origin of pearls...I know I asked this queston in my original post.....in no way is this meant to diminish the credentials of gemologists, but there are generalists and specialists in the gemmology field, some who have a "little" or "much" exposure to certain items ........

cheers--Sharon

 

[Zeide Erskine]

Hi Sharon,

Although gemologists with a good grasp of pearls are very few and far between, the pearls themselves and their actual rarity and value are also subject to serious debate. As long as the appraisal is for insurance purposes it is relatively easy. That is were the clasp test comes in. If your pearls have a consistent set of brand name clasp, box, and papers all is hunky dory should the respective company still exists. The jeweler can just call them and ask them what a new strand would cost today. If your jeweler is just eyeballng your pearls for what they may be worth in the market today and your pearls have a custom clasp, it starts to get murky. The same goes for companies that no longer exist. If you have a strand of mystery pearls (i.e. your jeweler has no clue what they are) with a mystery clasp (base metal on pearls that obviously pass the tooth test) all bets are off. Typically you will get an eBay-based guesstimate on those.

Zeide

 

[pearltime]

From what I have read Insurance companies won't pay you $15,000 for the loss of a ring insured for $15,000. Usually there is a clause in the contract stating they will replace it. Therefore the insurance company will purchase the same ring from a broker for $5000.00. It's a bit of a scam. Insurance companies love high appraisal on diamonds etc. because they know you will pay a high premium to insure the piece. They never have the intention to pay you the amount you insure it for.(because they can replace it for a smaller amount). Also you should get a new appraisal every three years.

The forms for an appraisal can be bought on-line. Anyone could claim they were an appriaser or a GIA graduate.

 

[National Pearl]

canuk-gal

canuk-gal

Hi there, concerning one of your questions:

"By virtue of age alone, can one suggest that these pearls are (Japanese) Akoya in origin? They were purchased from a highly respected pearl dealer app. 30 years ago."

Based on the statement that you know these pearls are "fine" quality Akoya and purchased from a reputatable jewelry 30+ years ago, and that the size is 8-9mm, I think you can come to a safe conclusion that the Akoya are indeed Japanese in Origin. Even now, the Chinese despite their many advances in culturing are rarely capable of producing large Akoya of any consistent quality.

 

[Bigwellpearls]

Akoya pearls Galore in Haian,Zhanjiang,China

Akoya pearls Galore in Haian,Zhanjiang,China

Nowadays Japanese jewelers frequently go to Haian, Zhanjiang, Guangdong, China to buy large quantity of Akoya pearls grade A and take them back to Japan to retreat all of them with their expertise. Undoubtedly, they claim China’s Akoya pearls as products of Japan.And export the item to developed nations at rather high prices.
Vigor He

E-mail:bigwellpearl@163.com

MSN:vigorhe@hotmail.com

 

[National Pearl]

Akoya

Akoya

Attending a recent show in Vegas, we saw many Akoya pearls that were in the 6-7.5mm range that were claimed to be "Japanese" Akoya. The quality looked just fine, so I was puzzled why they would feel the need to claim that they were 100% "japanese" akoya, when we knew they had been cultured and harvested in china.

On another note, our interest in visiting the show wasn't to purchase strands, but rather to see new designs and non-traditional pieces that might make a nice addition to our local and online business. We didn't see much of interest in the akoya arena, but we did see some nice designs that incorporated the multi-color tahitians. very nice. We do not currently have any direct connections with Tahitian farmers, and do not feel we are quite big enough to venture into such a heavy investment since our exposure on the internet is quite small (we have not quite reached our year mark online) and our local business demographics would not support high-quality tahitian or south sea.

 

[Bigwellpearls]

Quote，“Attending a recent show in Vegas, we saw many Akoya pearls that were in the 6-7.5mm range that were claimed to be "Japanese" Akoya. The quality looked just fine, so I was puzzled why they would feel the need to claim that they were 100% "japanese" akoya, when we knew they had been cultured and harvested in china.”

In history of Akoya culturing in the world, Japanese Mikimoto was the pioneer of succeeding in cultivating oyster by inserting bead into oysters’ tissue and growing up, cultured pearls born similar to natural pearls..
Japanese pearl farmers and manufacturers had set up their good reputation in the world for a couple of decades. However, in 1970s China’s intelligent talents began to be involved with culturing Akoya pearls in large scale. Chinese government has attached great importance to stimulate pearling industry. In 1990s, in China, the total harvest of cultured Akoya pearls exceeds that of Japan. Guangdong, Guangxi and Hainan are culturing Akoya pearls areas.
With the pollution of the waters in Japanese sea, expensive labor and cost of operation, Japanese Akoya are forced to surrender to China’s Akoya. But Japanese jewelers are bold to survive and never shrink by taking advantage of their established namebrand “ Product of Japan” . Undoubtedly, they have to claim China’s Akoya pearls as Japanese ones.
At present, China lacks of competent designers for jewelry, China’s jewelers neglect jewelry design and innovations of pearling industry.
An Akoya Pearl Guild is dying to found in China.
Vigor He


E-mail:bigwellpearl@163.com
MSN:vigorhe@hotmail.com

 

[National Pearl]

Akoya pearl guild

Akoya pearl guild

"An Akoya Pearl Guild is dying to found in China. "

An Akoya pearl guild could benefit if the indusry and the consumer if they were able to standardize culturing practices and quality standards. A benefit to the Akoya farmers would also be stability of pricing. Though it would impact the end-comsumer, an akoya guild could certainly control pricing and keep them at a higher price, similar to what we see with diamonds, but something like that is always difficult to pull off because there will always be someone who gets greedy and will be willing to undersell.

Vigor,

what is your vision for an Akoya pearl guild? What would be its primary purposes and function?

 

[jshepherd]

Vigor,

I think you are confusing the 80's with the 90's. Production in the 80's dropped to 10 tons, with an oyster mortality rate of close to 70%. The 90's showed the largest harvests with another drop to under 20 tons in 2001.

 

[Bigwellpearls]

"An Akoya Pearl Guild is dying to found in China. "

An Akoya pearl guild could benefit if the indusry and the consumer if they were able to standardize culturing practices and quality standards. A benefit to the Akoya farmers would also be stability of pricing. Though it would impact the end-comsumer, an akoya guild could certainly control pricing and keep them at a higher price, similar to what we see with diamonds, but something like that is always difficult to pull off because there will always be someone who gets greedy and will be willing to undersell.

Vigor,
what is your vision for an Akoya pearl guild? What would be its primary purposes and function?

Hi Andrew,
An Akoya Pearl Guild is an authoritative organization which consists of local Akoya pearl farms and pearl plants, its basic purpose is to guarantee stable quality of Akoya harvest, mutually abide by its regulations and discipline .To coordinate conflicts among manufacturers due to plundering raw materials, pricing in accordance with international market practices. To recruit intellectuals to carry out research on the culturing of Akoya pearls so as to accomplish the objective of sustainable development for pearling industry.
Vigor He

E-mail: bigwellpearl@163.com
MSN: vigorhe@hotmail.com

 

[National Pearl]

Akoya Pearl Guild

Akoya Pearl Guild

Vigor,

The charter for such a guild is noble and I think would be very good for the Akoya industry. Though for reasons I stated before, it might be difficult to establish because of the competitive nature of the business.