Wild pinctada radiata pearls - lilac color?

[Coco]

Hi,

I am considering to buy a lot of pinctada radiata seed pearls (as described by the seller, someone that I generally know as being trustworthy). What I am confused about is their color - they are a light shade of lilac (with a lot of variations in darkness and shade), with some of them a very light bronze/greyish color. I have only ever seen Pinctada radiata pearls in white/cream colors. Do they also exist in the shades described above?

Thank you!

 

[jshepherd]

Pincatada radiata are usually white, cream and or a pale yellow. Some shells have brown or lilac nacre, but it's more rare.

Do you have any photos? I assume you want to make sure they aren't mixed with keshi or other species.

 

[Lagoon Island Pearls]

What I am confused about is their color - they are a light shade of lilac (with a lot of variations in darkness and shade), with some of them a very light bronze/greyish color. I have only ever seen Pinctada radiata pearls in white/cream colors. Do they also exist in the shades described above?

I wouldn't say you're confused. I'm inclined to think you're reasonably skeptical. I agree with both you and Jeremy that we'd expect a hint of "butter" and bright, glass-like lustre from gulf pearls, although some grades may appear golden or silver/gray, or even granular.

Tiny (seed) pearls may present as violet. As a rule-of-thumb, purple colors are derived from exceedingly thin pearl sacs or minimal spaces (ie) flat spots and annexing (close proximity). For example, many shells have purple margins at the outermost radius. This is due to mineralization on both sides of the mantle at a periostracial level. So thin are these layups that tablets of precipitated aragonite are only arranged in a manner which reflect/refract purple light. In most cases, the color of a pearl is determined by the genetic makeup of proteins, but purple not so much. Purple pearls almost always present with clear conchiolin. Again, so thin are these layers, it's often not long before the purple colour fades as aragonite reverts to calcite.

I would like to see images and scale also.

 

[Coco]

Thanks for that information, very interesting! So these shades do exist...just not very often.

I would love to share images, I see how that would be extremely helpful, but the ones I got are not mine, but the seller's...and I have seen some ridiculous copyright suits over posting someone's image without their permission. So I am very careful posting anything online these days, sorry.


If I do end up buying them and can take my own pictures, then I can post them here...at the risk of course that you guys tell me they are not what the seller said they are, and being mad at myself!

 

[jshepherd]

If the products are for sale you can post the images here for us to review without worrying about a copyright issue. If uncomfortable, you can always let the seller know. We get posts like this nearly every day on the forum and have never encountered an issue. As long as you aren't presenting them as your own or using them to sell products you're safe.