Updated with a shortcut! Comparative pearl sizes-- how much difference does 1mm larger really make?

[pearl-man]

I've imported and resold pearls since 1965. I was never much interested in the growing details beyond what my jeweler customers could easily understand in a sales presentation. I've had this question a few times and if I had the insight to present this information, if I had it, it would have made my, explanation much better assuming they knew about the volume of a sphere.
Kudos

 

[CortezPearls]

This is fantastic and useful information! Wish I had it in my "radar" the last time I gave a pearl sales education course. Thank you very much for sharing

 

[Pearl Dreams]

I just added this to my original post.

I've learned of a shortcut to determine how much larger one pearl is than another.
Same result, less math!

Divide the diameter of the larger pearl by that of the smaller pearl, and cube the result.

e.g. How much larger is a 12mm pearl than a 6mm pearl?
12 ÷ 6 = 2
2 x 2 x 2 = 8
A 12mm pearl is 8 times as large as a 6mm pearl.

e.g. How much larger is an 8mm pearl than a 7mm pearl?
8 ÷ 7 = 1.143
1.143 x 1.143 x 1.143 = 1.493
An 8mm pearl is about 49% larger than a 7mm pearl.

I have to credit ChatGPT for this.
I asked ChatGPT how to tell how much larger one pearl is than another and this is what it came up with (screen-grab):

 

[pattye]

Knowing the percentage larger is truly eye-opening! Thanks so much, Pearl Dreams! I like this easier math!

 

[Pearl Dreams]

That was the first time I used ChatGPT, on a whim.
Less math is a definite plus!

 

[Pearl Dreams]

Also-- I posted this on Pricescope and a member suggested that when comparing strands of different sizes, one should use the square (not cube) to determine weight differences in strands. She pointed out that a necklace with larger pearls uses fewer of them for any given length.

I tested this out with an 18", 12mm necklace (33 pearls) and an 18", 10mm necklace (39 pearls) of Majorica glass pearls (thus eliminating as many variables as I could) and it seemed to bear out. Although a 12mm pearl has 73% geater volume than a 10mm pearl, a strand of 12mm pearls was only about 46% heavier than a strand of 10mm pearls, using a jewelry scale.

Link to that discussion:

How to know how much larger one pearl is than another

I did a whole thread on this topic on the other pearl forum some years back, including calculating the volumes of pearls of different sizes, but today I asked ChatGPT the question and it gave me a shortcut answer. Divide the diameter of the larger pearl by the diameter of the smaller pearl...

www.pricescope.com