Color enhanced GSSP?

Sea Urchin

Sea Urchin

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Joined
Feb 7, 2012
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I've been greedy enough for a while, but for future reference, does anyone know anything about color enhanced south sea golden pearls? I usually prefer natural colors but I'm pretty sure the price of a large golden pearl with the lustrous, deep golden with red overtone that I want, would be out of my price range. I've heard some of the enhanced ones were drop-dead gorgeous and that the treatment is permanent. So, maybe I would make an exception. Does anyone have any info. or pics or know where to get such a pearl? :p
 
There are a lot of companies out of Japan that deal with enhanced golds, and that might be a good way for you to go. The enhanced pearls have that deep golden to bronze that it sounds like you're looking for. If you are looking for a large, fine quality with color like that, it will cost a fortune. Those pearls are usually only offered within large mixed lots, or as individuals for sale. The rarity (and the incredible current demand in Asia) means sellers who have them can ask high prices.

I don't know of a company in the US that deals in the treated, unfortunately. But they are available at the Hong Kong, Kobe and even Las Vegas shows.
 
Do the companies that offer the treated pearls tell you that they are treated? Is this considered an OK thing to do with the gold pearls..I guess like dying Tahitians chocolate brown? I've seen photos of red/gold pearls that someone bought at a show in Singapore and wondered whether or not that sort of treatment was disclosed at the time.
 
Unfortunately, a lot of treatment is not detectable without lab scrutiny and there are plenty of gold pearls that are treated and even the seller may not be aware of it. You would think you deserve a discount. :)
 
Most of the companies that sell treated golds specialize in them and do tell you. It is possible to identify most treated golds too. A couple of things you can look for are dye concentrations and Newton Rings - both telltale signs. The biggest telltale sign would be the price. Gold South Seas are expensive and deep gold South Sea pearls are very expensive while yellow South Sea pearls are cheap. Dyed tend to be deep gold.
 
I read information coming from the labs, mostly involving high-end gold pearls. Jeremy is right. You can usually see signs with a loupe on the more typical treated gold pearls. They can also be heated or use a combination of treatments. :)
 
Oooo I'd forgotten about those beautiful pearls whicker ! Thanks for posting the link. And Jeremy and GemGeek thanks for the info on the treated golds. Out of curiosity, do the companies that specialize in treating the gold pearls do it to achieve a 'special' colour..like the red-gold etc or just to create the deeper gold shades? Does that deep red gold occur naturally as well? I've never seen one...tho tbh I've never paid much attention to the golds as they are so hideously expensive.
 
GemGeek said:
Unfortunately, a lot of treatment is not detectable without lab scrutiny and there are plenty of gold pearls that are treated and even the seller may not be aware of it. You would think you deserve a discount. :)
Click to expand...

I have been reading about gssp, and I came across GIA article on information on Dye Treatments. It was mentioned there that while most dye-treated gssp have dye concentrations ,some can still show no evidence of dye, but can only be detected by UV and PL-spectroscopy. So, if you're on the market for dyed gssp , I guess if it's cheap and doesn't even show dye concentration in the naked eye , it would be a good deal!
 
GemGeek said:
If you can see dye concentrations on gold ssps with the naked eye, it would be a bad dye job! ;)
Click to expand...

LOL! Ditto to your post that most dyed pearls are undetectable!

On the other side of the coin, it would be hard for those who are looking for undyed gssp to determine if it's dyed or not , especially to those who are new to pearl buying and have inexperienced eyes like mine. The only thing that I would be able to tell one from the other is the price at this point.
 
Since I saw this thread, may be i can post my question here:

Last Wednesday i purchased two GSSP necklaces at a local department store during their biggest sale event. Because I was not sure which one I like the better - of course I like the large one, but the price of the large one is about twice of the smaller one.

When I compare them side by side today, I found the colors/tones were so different, the large one seen a bit at yellow side and bright, while the small one is more metallic. so i took some pictures and want your experts to take a look.
Also I read somewhere that one should not buy any GSSP under 10 mm, is it true?
13643394865_08b7d6d663_h.jpg

I put a 22k ring next to the smaller pearls, and another 14K gold chain next to the bigger pearls.
13643482445_c884646b1c_c.jpg

Does those pearls look OK?

thanks in advance.

ps, I just found this one, it seems a better deal than mine.
http://www.tahitianpearls.biz/golde...sale-golden-south-sea-pearl-necklace-gnai.htm
 
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