Jeremy? I have a question,please.

[pinkjewel]

On one of your recent PP blogs, Hisano showed a picture of some gorgeous Vietnamese baroque akoyas. I am wondering how the farmer got such vibrant and unusual colors in akoya pearls. They are so different from any akoyas I've ever seen and I didn't know akoyas could even come in these vivid shades. Although I'm rather a pearl novice I have been under the impression that all akoyas are grown in the same type of mollusk. Did this farmer use a different type to grow such beautiful colors? And would that be why he had a large percentage of the mollusks die?
thanks in advance for any info!!

 

[jshepherd]

Hi Pinkjewel,

It really is just a numbers game for those really special pearls. Vietnamese pearls tend to have more blues and other colors than akoya grown in Japan and China, although you still can find them. Those particular pearls were in the shell for three full seasons, according to the farmer. He said he wouldn't try it again because the attrition rate was just too high in the third year. Those pearls in the blog post were the full collection of special ones he had brought to the show. Hisano is good friends with his daughters, which is why we were able to buy them.

In 2007, while I was acting as tour guide for the GIA Pearls Course writer in China, we were in a processing factory that had just brought in a harvest. There was a big metal bowl filled with baroque blue and silver pearls. To the processor, they were basically rejects. Don't get me wrong, a lot of them were with almost see-through parts to the nacre. But some of them were amazing. I put together a strand of them and showed them off here on the forum. As far as I know, nobody had seen these before. The Japanese had always culled them, maintaining the image that akoya are round, white and perfect.

The link below is the first one from 2007.
https://www.pearl-guide.com/forum/showthread.php?t=1498

This is a photo I took of the bowl.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/pearlparadise/3415913020/in/set-72157616305197053

Now you see them at the shows ranging in price from around $50 to $100 per strand (for a quality you really should avoid because they will peel) to more than $1000 per strand for really special ones.

 

[GemGeek]

I love my natural color baroque akoyas from Pearl Paradise. I'm not the only one here who succumbed to the lure of the color!

 

[pinkjewel]

Hi Pinkjewel,

It really is just a numbers game for those really special pearls. Vietnamese pearls tend to have more blues and other colors than akoya grown in Japan and China, although you still can find them. Those particular pearls were in the shell for three full seasons, according to the farmer. He said he wouldn't try it again because the attrition rate was just too high in the third year. Those pearls in the blog post were the full collection of special ones he had brought to the show. Hisano is good friends with his daughters, which is why we were able to buy them.

In 2007, while I was acting as tour guide for the GIA Pearls Course writer in China, we were in a processing factory that had just brought in a harvest. There was a big metal bowl filled with baroque blue and silver pearls. To the processor, they were basically rejects. Don't get me wrong, a lot of them were with almost see-through parts to the nacre. But some of them were amazing. I put together a strand of them and showed them off here on the forum. As far as I know, nobody had seen these before. The Japanese had always culled them, maintaining the image that akoya are round, white and perfect.

The link below is the first one from 2007.
https://www.pearl-guide.com/forum/showthread.php?t=1498

This is a photo I took of the bowl.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/pearlparadise/3415913020/in/set-72157616305197053

Now you see them at the shows ranging in price from around $50 to $100 per strand (for a quality you really should avoid because they will peel) to more than $1000 per strand for really special ones.

thanks for the quick reply, Jeremy. I do have some of your silvery blues- but these Vietnamese colors are just so unusual I wondered if they were done differently. I hope the farmer's daughters do talk him into trying some more as they really are special- but then I like the more unusual pearls. I'm not a basic pearls kind of girl. By the way- what do you think of the GIA Pearl Course now? I read one of your earlier posts (in 2007) that you were somewhat disappointed in it. I've been thinking about taking it (for fun and knowledge) and do you think it's better now than in 2007? I'd be doing the long distance and then taking the lab in either Carlsbad or New York.

 

[pearlescence]

Agree, they have some character. Round white pearls are probably my least favourite pearls. Ho hum

 

[jshepherd]

thanks for the quick reply, Jeremy. I do have some of your silvery blues- but these Vietnamese colors are just so unusual I wondered if they were done differently. I hope the farmer's daughters do talk him into trying some more as they really are special- but then I like the more unusual pearls. I'm not a basic pearls kind of girl. By the way- what do you think of the GIA Pearl Course now? I read one of your earlier posts (in 2007) that you were somewhat disappointed in it. I've been thinking about taking it (for fun and knowledge) and do you think it's better now than in 2007? I'd be doing the long distance and then taking the lab in either Carlsbad or New York.

Much better than before! It is still lacking quite a bit. Tt was borderline magnificent before it went through the editing process, unfortunately. The Pearls Course writer retired before it was finished, so GIA did the editing and photo placement largely without him. He was the one and only pearl expert at GIA Carlsbad. GIA really is a diamonds and colored stones institute.

If you want to read what is likely the best course in the world, get Strack!

 

[jshepherd]

PS

If there were enough of those special pearls to make a strand, it would be amazing. But it would also be prohibitively expensive. Those pearls weren't cheap!

 

[pinkjewel]

PS

If there were enough of those special pearls to make a strand, it would be amazing. But it would also be prohibitively expensive. Those pearls weren't cheap!

Oh, yes- a strand would be amazing!!!!!! This way, though, each can be a focal point. The blue strand you linked in the earlier post is gorgeous. Have you been able to get more of those?

thanks for the course suggestion- I will look into it,too!

eta- ah, I see Strack is a book.

 

[jshepherd]

Not quite like that strand, no. I made that strand myself from the bowl of pearls while I was in China. It went home to somebody here on this forum, but I just can't remember who!

 

[pinkjewel]

Not quite like that strand, no. I made that strand myself from the bowl of pearls while I was in China. It went home to somebody here on this forum, but I just can't remember who!

Lucky person who got that strand!

 

[Nora]

I made that strand myself from the bowl of pearls while I was in China. It went home to somebody here on this forum, but I just can't remember who!

Jeremy,
As far as I can remember, this strand went to some publication about pearls. Jerin was the one who got the nicest of your offer than. I was the second in line.....

Here is another photo of natural color baroque akoya taken by Jeremy:

 

[jshepherd]

Jeremy,
As far as I can remember, this strand went to some publication about pearls. Jerin was the one who got the nicest of your offer than. I was the second in line.....

Here is another photo of natural color baroque akoya taken by Jeremy: View attachment 25518

Yes, that's right! And that is THE bowl! For some reason I remembered a metal bowl, but it was plastic!

 

[betty577]

Yes, that's right! And that is THE bowl! For some reason I remembered a metal bowl, but it was plastic!

Sigh...for those blue, ranging to teal, I would say $1000+ per strand is perfect. What glorious pearls.