Cultured Pearls vs. Akoya pearls

[Zeide Erskine]

Freshadamas

Freshadamas

Hi Jeremy,

Nice picture. I said about the same quality. That is in almost but not quite.

Zeide

 

[jshepherd]

Just looked at the other pix, the drops definitely look quite a bit better - heavy polish/luster.

I bought an 11mm round single for $650.00 and he was asking up to $1,600 for single pearls.

Prices have definitely gone down since. You can hand-select singles from the 10-11mm now and not pay more than 220,000 RMB/kilo. I have seen preselected from 140-185,000 (highest grade loose - not strands). This is in China, however. The larger sizes, especially a matched strand as described 12-14mm, would have to be collected from loose and take a lot of time. Price would vary widely as well as each pearl would have to be individually negotiated if the intention were to only make one strand.

 

[PearlBirthstone]

WOW! That is all I can say.. They are gorgeous!

 

[Satine De La Courcel]

Jeremy,


About the picture, WOW, Yummy! beautifully rich colors!

Cheers
Ash

 

[Richard W. Wise]

Jeremy,

Re: Pearls on my website

No, definately not 'standard earring quality' they are all pretty much the same quality, the rounds did not shoot as well as the drops.

I like your images, the pearls pictured are similar to mine. How did you shoot them, lighting and so forth?

Another question, I see a lovely misty monochromatic overtone on your images but Zeide describes orient as "prismatic" and if that translates as a breakdown of light into its componant (rainbow) colors, I do not see orient in those images, either yours or mine.

 

[Richard W. Wise]

Amanda,

There are a number of forums on the net. I divide them into two classes, genunine forums and what I call "shill-sites".

One sort of shill is a person, normally a woman who works in a casino. Her job is to latch onto a high roller, usually a man, and use her charms to entice the mark to keep playing and losing money. When I first discovered this site I assumed that since it was run by a pearl company it was a Shill site designed entice consumers and drive traffic to the commercial side of the site. Diamondtalk and Pricescope are notable examples.

Jeremy is to be congratulated because, though he is without doubt, a merchant, he is also interested in deciminating true information. For the 8,000 years or so that we are aware of the gem trade's existence, secrecy and disinformation has been part of its stock and trade. Though it is an old habit and we can understand why it was important in the past, today it works against the interest of all honest merchants.

The more consumers know, the better. This is the age of information and like it or not there is tons of it out there, lots of it false. If we fail to get out the truth, we will suffer for it.

In my book I purposely excluded any discussion of and did did not include a chapter of akoya pearls. Why, because, in the words of a friend of mine and pearl expert, a majority of the akoyas in the market are "a highly processed fraud."

Though I don't share completely her opinions on "pearl plated beads" Zeide's posts are exactly on target. Beads with nacre thicknesses of 1/10th of a mm that are bleached white then dyed pink and will flake if scratched with a fingernail may be a great retail item but to call them pearls is to degrade the definition.

A few years ago, publicity surrounding the sale of a single emerald (The Fred Ward case) caused the emerald market to crash. It still has not completely recovered. All of a sudden consumers were made aware that in some cases the beautiful gem they bought was filled with polymers. W wouldn't want to be holding a big stock of thin skinned akoyas if and when that happens to the pearl market.

 

[Caitlin]

Wise words.

Wise words.

I concur with your opinion of this forum, Richard.

At first I was surprised at the information Jeremy gave out, then I seized the opportunity to learn. That's why I have stayed around to ask questions- I get answers! I have really learned a lot in the past year plus, though not enough to earn that appellation under my name in this forum!

It appears from everything I have seen since coming to this forum, that Jeremy plays by all the rules of good business practices and is ethical, so this forum provides a safe arena for a unique confluence of opinions and knowledge.

And due to the nature of the internet- or is it the web or maybe it is the noosphere ? , the word is out. Long may this forum flourish as a place customers can come for truth, students can come for knowledge and fledgling future perliculturists can be inspired!

And that was before my first cup of coffee.

 

[TievoliJewelry]

I have been a member for almost 2 years. I was also vey surprised at the amount of information. I have been in the jewelry business for a long time, and that amount of disclosure is rarely heard of.
But, after a time I finally realized the absolute brilliance of it.

 

[KAC]

especially with pearls it makes a lot of sense to educate the consumers as there is so much misinformation out there. The sad part is, a lot of the misinformation out there is done on purpose, not out of ignorance.

And if you think this site is good now, just wait till you see the new version

 

[jshepherd]

I like your images, the pearls pictured are similar to mine. How did you shoot them, lighting and so forth?
Another question, I see a lovely misty monochromatic overtone on your images but Zeide describes orient as "prismatic" and if that translates as a breakdown of light into its componant (rainbow) colors, I do not see orient in those images, either yours or mine.

The images are shot using a strobe flash with a canopy and other pieces of equipment I really do not understand. Our art director (Natalie) would know how to describe it much better than I.
Shooting orient is very, very difficult. It will change in different light and from different angles. The luster will typically 'jump' at you if it is present in the piece. Freshwater pearls do not typically photograph well simply because they tend to lack the sharp luster of cultured Akoyas. These new pieces shoot shoot very well, as you saw from the last image it was completely raw. The only photoshop was to add our company mark.