One in a million

[jshepherd]

Any guesses as to what this may be? The size?

 

[pattye]

WOW if those are freshwater, I want some of those too! Awesome!
Pattye

 

[jshepherd]

Hmmm....Nope!
Here is a comparison photo to help out. The strand next to the piece in question is an 8-8.5mm Akoya necklace.
And yes, it is a single photo taken together.

 

[Caitlin]

18+mm South Sea? They sure are shiny

 

[jshepherd]

Well that does not make the game any fun, does it?

Yes, it is a 17-21mm White South Sea strand. It came about as a result of my earlier searches for the 18mm, ungraduated gems.
Here is another picture of this strand when compared to the 17.5mm, ungraduated strand we put together last month. The visual difference is huge in person.

I rather keep my strand of blush white solid nacre klonks then even if they are only a hair below 15-17mm

Then again, you could maybe find a buyer for a strand like this and proceed to buy enough FW clonks to dress all your friends and family.

 

[jshepherd]

Here is a close up of the same piece...

Now back to work. Only 1 day left of Christmas mayhem.

 

[Caitlin]

Hi Zeide & Jeremy
I put the + because some are obviously larger, but still, I came pretty close. It looks like the SSP meisters are getting good at shiny.

How many years would it take a SSP to get to that size without a bead nucleus?

 

[Zeide Erskine]

Hi Caitlin,

About 15 years. Chances for a round are slim though and the pearl growth would have to start when the maxima mussel is just a year old and last until it dies of old age.

And Jeremy,

If you find me a solid nacre one like that, I won't mind that it cost only 1% of the PPBs. It will be far rarer, though.

Zeide

 

[Caitlin]

So pearls that size are another part of the art of SSP meistering.......
Do many of the scallops survive their first pearl harvest and produce keshi?

 

[jshepherd]

And Jeremy,
If you find me solid nacre one like that, I won't mind that it cost only 1% of the PPBs. It will be far rarer, though.
Zeide

Sure it would be more rare. Because a solid nacre one like that does not exist, and this one does. But unless there is one like this in someones personal collection (like Nick Paspaley), this necklace is a one of a kind piece - the only one.

 

[jshepherd]

22mm gem round is the largest round ever produced by Paspaley, and it did not go into a strand. The largest pearls Paspaley has sold in the recent years have been between 18-19mm, and only as center pieces. There is not a producer today that has a similar strand. I know, as I have spent more than 6 months searching.
The strand Amanda made was 16-18.1 or .2. A full 3mm difference is huge as you can see in the comparison photo - so comparing the two is akin to comparing a 8mm gem Akoya with an 11mm gem Akoya.

Amanda posted this bit of an article not too long ago:

According to an article I just read, the record breaking Australian South Sea cultured pearl necklace size is a 16-20.1mm strand and it set a record breaking price for pearls at $2,310,000 at Sotheby's.

Wasn't there someone earlier this year on this very forum who asked if anyone had a 22mm SS pearl to finish a necklace??

No, there was someone who mentioned a lot with a 22mm and a few 18mm in response to someone looking for a 20mm. But we can be sure the grade of the '22mm' was not gem, as it was not Nick himself posting the response.

That is what makes this strand one in million. Sure, large South Sea strands can be had, but not perfect strands graduating up to 21mm. Your wealthy clients probably have one of the strands like Amanda put together - one that would retail for around a half million. There is a substantial difference.

 

[Caitlin]

HI Jeremy
I think it is fantastic that you have designed and put together those 2 elite necklaces (just as I thought it was great when Amanda did a fancy deal with SSPs earlier on). It took expertise on many levels to broker the deal and also to be able to put the strands together to carry off the looks you want, one of equal sizes, one tapered. That was a virtuoso act. Bravo!

Congratulations on the way you keep pushing the boundaries of your pearl expertise to new experiences. Not bad for a decade's work. May your next decade be at least as prosperous!

 

[jshepherd]

I wish I could say I put that last one together. That was matched on a farm level (the only way), and was created to be the best. I have never seen anything like it before... and I do not believe there is another one in existence.

 

[Valeria101]

Striking pearls! ... and glamorous business dealing with them. It looks like the strand contains more than one pearl above the Neverland barrier of 20mm. Definitely the sort of memorable news needed before Christmas.

It might be a strange idea, but those freshwater crazies you keep talking about, Zeide, don't seem to compete with the SS ... in my confused mind, that is. Yours are best of their kind as these are of theirs. (Almost) doesn't matter if the twine don't meet. It is a bit strange that both are 'pearls', but again... strange world, awesome pearls! If the Freshwater series at Pearlparadise should have a pinnacle like the SS has acquired, no question what those should look like.

 

[Valeria101]

GOOD grief! That's one 'edgy' pearl look, if there ever was...

The quote comes as a strange coincidence too: the new year edition of a very conservative (HA!) leather-bound organizer landed in the office along with the usual New Year corporate tchotchkes... with a portrait like that on the front page followed by very sage landscape photos for the front page of each subsequent month. WTH?