Size of Nucleus

[tahitiangirl]

Hi everyone. I just had a question. How do you know what size a pearl's nucleus is? Does it matter if the pearl is 10 or 8mm? Do most cultured tahitian pearls get the same size nucleus, and if so what is that size?
Thanks,
-Steph

 

[Josh]

Hi Steph,
All pearls that have been exported legally will have at least 0.8mm on the nucleus on each side. I say "legally" because the numbers don't add up down here. It would appear that there are large numbers of pearls making their way to Honk Kong that have never seen our x-ray machine. My site www.kamokapearls has a pic of if you want to see it. This is all a bit frustrating for us farmers that are playing by the rules, x-raying all our pearls and paying the tax of $2.30USD a gram. Obviously the cheaters are not paying the tax either. I have even seen pearls in strands in websites mentioned on this forum that would not pass the initial visual inspection before the pearls get scanned. Sorry about the tyrade but sometimes it's hard to hold back on that one when it is constantly making things difficult for us fair-players. The cheaters can obviously sell lower and thus control more market shares.
To get back to your question, some pearls can even have up to 2 whole millimeters of thickness. Most are around or a little over 1mm.
Down here most farmers start with a 2.0bu (bu is Japanese measure that equates to about 3mm) which measures out to about 6mm. These are what you typically have in 8mm pearls.
The first graft operation usually spans between 2.0 and 2.9 bu with the majority for most farmers being 2.1 to 2.4.

 

[AdamLasVegas]

Hi Steph,
All pearls that have been exported legally will have at least 0.8mm on the nucleus on each side. I say "legally" because the numbers don't add up down here. It would appear that there are large numbers of pearls making their way to Honk Kong that have never seen our x-ray machine. My site www.kamokapearls has a pic of if you want to see it. This is all a bit frustrating for us farmers that are playing by the rules, x-raying all our pearls and paying the tax of $2.30USD a gram. Obviously the cheaters are not paying the tax either. I have even seen pearls in strands in websites mentioned on this forum that would not pass the initial visual inspection before the pearls get scanned. Sorry about the tyrade but sometimes it's hard to hold back on that one when it is constantly making things difficult for us fair-players. The cheaters can obviously sell lower and thus control more market shares.
To get back to your question, some pearls can even have up to 2 whole millimeters of thickness. Most are around or a little over 1mm.
Down here most farmers start with a 2.0bu (bu is Japanese measure that equates to about 3mm) which measures out to about 6mm. These are what you typically have in 8mm pearls.
The first graft operation usually spans between 2.0 and 2.9 bu with the majority for most farmers being 2.1 to 2.4.

Its nice to hear from a farmer and his thoughts. I dig the tyrade man.

Cheers

 

[Josh]

Thanks for the support Adam. I just noticed that I spelled Hong Kong, Honk Kong. I guess I should thank my subconscious for the support too.

 

[knotty panda]

Josh: Passion for what one sees as inequalities brings about tirades. Passion is always a forgivable sin. But, getting back to the question, is the size of the pearl dependent upon the size of the nucleus?

 

[effisk]

is the size of the pearl dependent upon the size of the nucleus?

and upon the time in the water too.

Josh, I spoke with a friend from Tahiti recently. He told me that a lot of Tahitian pearls sold to Japanese and Chinese wholesalers (and probably others too) were re-processed (cleaned, polished, whatever they call it). Could that be an explanation for the thin nacre of some of the Tahitian pearls on the market?

very nice photos on your website btw!

 

[effisk]

I just had another look at your website. Can you tell us more about the MOP nuclei that you use? Is it specific to your farm? Are they from P. margaritifera shells?

This has nothing to do with pearls (and please excuse my curiosity): I suppose photovoltaic panels are common in the Tuamotu. How do the panels behave in this saline environment? And is Tenesol Polynesie the only company that builds these installations? (I'm working for a company in that industry, hence my interest).

 

[Slraep]

How do you know what size a pearl's nucleus is? Does it matter if the pearl is 10 or 8mm? Do most cultured tahitian pearls get the same size nucleus, and if so what is that size?
Thanks,
-Steph

Hi Steph,

Size of the MOP nucleus is proportional(usually) to the size of the cultured pearl. An 8mm cultured pearl will have a smaller MOP nucleus than a 10mm one. The bigger the nucleus, the more costly it is. The bigger the cultured pearl, the more costly it is. Nuclei come in all sorts of sizes, up to 21 mm(or has Paspaley broken that record already).

Slraep

 

[jshepherd]

21mm? What sort of monster would you put that into? Even with a P. max a technician would have an awful time getting that into the shell.

The largest that I saw on the Paspaley III was around 5 bu. I gave a 19 mm MOP bead to Paspaley while in Darwin. It was a monster bead from Josh. They were really impressed with the size.

 

[Slraep]

Ouch! The 21mm I saw was a composite of two halves of a sphere glued together. It was a company based in Denmark that was distributing them. They do exist!! The only company I could think of that would be able to use something like that is Paspaley. Maybe almost nobody is able to use them, but they do exist. I must admit you are right about what kind of monster mollusc that would have to fit into(the gonad, for heaven's sake).

I once asked, in one of the forum threads(can't remember which one) if Paspaley was using the huge glued composite MOP nuclei, but didn't get any answer. Someone was buying them if they were on the market, and this was a couple years ago.

Slraep

 

[Slraep]

What's Paspaley's biggest pearl? 20-21-22mm? So they are using MOP bead nuclei that are way under 19mm? How way under? The 21mm cultured pearl stays in the water for how long? Two years? Their MOP bead is 16-17mm maybe? That's what, 4-5mm of nacre??? I've been curious about this.

Maybe the guys at Paspaley were impressed with the 19mm whole cut MOP bead, but they certainly know of the hemisherical composites that are bigger.

Slraep

 

[jshepherd]

What we saw was 2nd grafting, so they may use something bigger on the rare 3rd. But they were not using anything close to the 19 milli that I brought with me.

 

[jshepherd]

What's Paspaley's biggest pearl? 20-21-22mm? So they are using MOP bead nuclei that are way under 19mm? How way under? The 21mm cultured pearl stays in the water for how long? Two years? The MOP bead is 16-17mm maybe? That's 4-5mm of nacre???

I've been curious about this.

Slraep

4-5mm of total nacre would not be out of the ordinary at all, and they claim many of their pearls have more than 4mm per radius.
I am not sure what their biggest round would be. The Paspaley pearl is not their biggest, just their best. But I have heard of rounds as large as 23mm.

 

[Slraep]

How long do the said Paspaley pearls stay in the water?

Slraep

 

[jshepherd]

About 2 years. The nacre deposition is faster/better than other shells.

 

[Slraep]

The nacre deposition is faster/better than other shells.

Why? What is faster and better about their maximas? Is water temp at an unfluctuating optimal level in Paspaley's corner of the world? 4-5mm of nacre deposition in two years is interesting.

Slraep

 

[jshepherd]

It varies per individual shell, but the size of the shell (P. max is the largest) combined with the warm water temperatures and the extraordinarily high nutrient content of the water leads to rapid nacre deposition.

 

[Slraep]

Hmmm...well, Burma, The Philippines and Indonesia have no lack of big monster maximas as well as warm waters and ample food. I'm not quite sure they can get 4-5mm nacre deposition in two years out of them, though. I find it odd.

At 23mm, that would mean 6mm of nacre deposition? Wow. Maybe, just maybe, they are experimenting with big composite MOP nuclei?? When a cultured pearl had reached the 18mm size, at the time, everyone thought that was going to be IT. Now we have up to 23mm. I am sure they are trying to surpass that, so trying hard to insert even bigger monster nuclei(composites) into even bigger monster molluscs(steroids?) doesn't seem so far fetched. Paspaley leaving the pearl to culture longer than two years DOES seem far fetched.

If a mollusc can live with an ultimate 23mm pearl inside it, it can certainly live with a 21mm nucleus inside it. Personally, I think this is crazy, but they will do it(have done it).

Slraep

 

[jshepherd]

I am not certain what their largest size is, but I do know they were pretty amazed by the 19mm bead.

Burma did produce some very large goldens at one time. They were once considered the producers of the world's most valuable cultured pearls until they decided to nationalize foriegn pearl company investment.

I wonder what the monster looked like that produced this beauty!



This is a Tahitian pearl of course.

 

[Slraep]

Holy Moly! Forget about the pearl. That's the kind of mollusc an old time natural pearl diver would get his arm or leg caught in and drown(just kidding, well kind of...). Great pic Jeremy!

Slraep