Pearl Education (Warning: Somewhat of a Rant)
- Thread starter callire
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I always feel like ranting about pearls, gold, platinum, the cost of repairs, gems, diamonds....yadda yadda yadda! lol I can relate. And great post!
Another thing that just burns me up is name-branding diamonds. It's as bad and misleading as thinking a Mikimoto is better than anything else because it's Mikimoto.
Yeah and how about name-branding gold after stamping your own logo onto a ring or bracelet? Ridiculous.
Why would anyone ever buy silver from Tiffany or gold from Cartier?? It's SOOOOO expensive and like 8 times the mark up. People should totally buy from Overstock because it's a lot cheaper and it's the SAME QUALITY as Tiffany or Cartier.
Why would anyone ever buy silver from Tiffany or gold from Cartier?? It's SOOOOO expensive and like 8 times the mark up. People should totally buy from Overstock because it's a lot cheaper and it's the SAME QUALITY as Tiffany or Cartier.
A name brand diamond that grades the exact same as a non-name brand diamond is indeed the same quality. Same thing with a pearl or any gem.
Sarcasm doesn't make you any more correct.
Sarcasm doesn't make you any more correct.
Very helpful! i've started buying pearls when my parents introduced me to my first set after college. I've never really bought name brand. Always gone to a rebutable boutique to pick pearls. A couple of my pieces are purchased from HaiNan island which is in the south of mainland China and they offer lots of different grade of pearls without the premium (well if you don't get tricked by your tour guide)
I love their selection and i've also gone to a freshwater pearl site to pick my own clam and pearls inside! it was a very special experience
I love their selection and i've also gone to a freshwater pearl site to pick my own clam and pearls inside! it was a very special experience
Callire: what do you think of someplace like PiPearls (on ebay) for basic Japanese fw pearls? He has diff grades too, even akoyas (he does, if I have the right guy, fw and sw). He at least used to have a huge pearl farm. I like him for dirt cheap, everyday pearls, b/c as we all know, pearls do not make good everyday jewelry.
I would like to add more south sea or tahitians to my collection, but I'm always scared w/pearl buying. Even my "coveted known jeweler akoyas" don't look like they have much more nacre (size) or luster (the nacred color) than my plain old freshwater cultured ones.
And as a random aside: in all my years of buying pearls, I have only ever seen one true, natural (x rayed w/NO nucleus) spontaneous pearl-it was 12 mm in size, round, south sea golden in color, and over the top in price.....for a single pearl ball, people. It was the awesomeness, though.
I would like to add more south sea or tahitians to my collection, but I'm always scared w/pearl buying. Even my "coveted known jeweler akoyas" don't look like they have much more nacre (size) or luster (the nacred color) than my plain old freshwater cultured ones.
And as a random aside: in all my years of buying pearls, I have only ever seen one true, natural (x rayed w/NO nucleus) spontaneous pearl-it was 12 mm in size, round, south sea golden in color, and over the top in price.....for a single pearl ball, people. It was the awesomeness, though.
In the photograph that was linked to, you can't see the difference in the pearls. But it was a photograph and on a computer. You often can't see the difference between things in a photograph and a computer that have a difference in real life.
From what I have seen, freshwater pearls have been getting better and better--but they still don't look like the best quality akoyas, especially those from years back before the pollution problem in Japan. I have a string of akoyas I bought in Japan in 1981; a friend's mother who really knew pearls helped me to choose them. I haven't seen other pearl necklaces of this quality very often in the US. It is something not only about the roundness of the pearls and the lack of imperfections, but as someone else said, the orient. They have a superb lustre to them that I definitely don't see in freshwaters, nor in modern Akoyas (which are now pulled out of the oyster too fast due to the pollution). They are not rose pearls--they have a creamy, slightly golden hue. These were considered to be the same quality as the rose but more suited to darker or more olive complexions.
The South Sea can be grown much larger, up to gumball sizes--but they lack the glow of the Akoyas and tend to be, to me, too white. The Tahitian are beautiful, but not everyone wants to wear black pearls.
I can see that people would pay for Mikimotos because they would be assured that they are getting a certain quality (although if you can get the quality without the price so much the better).
Of course not everyone wants a superb string of pearls, just as not everyone wants a D flawless ideal cut diamond. And some people want to compromise between quality and price. But I would hate to have people thinking that there is no difference between different qualities of pearls because you can't see the difference in a photograph--or because they have only seen an inferior quality of Akoya.
From what I have seen, freshwater pearls have been getting better and better--but they still don't look like the best quality akoyas, especially those from years back before the pollution problem in Japan. I have a string of akoyas I bought in Japan in 1981; a friend's mother who really knew pearls helped me to choose them. I haven't seen other pearl necklaces of this quality very often in the US. It is something not only about the roundness of the pearls and the lack of imperfections, but as someone else said, the orient. They have a superb lustre to them that I definitely don't see in freshwaters, nor in modern Akoyas (which are now pulled out of the oyster too fast due to the pollution). They are not rose pearls--they have a creamy, slightly golden hue. These were considered to be the same quality as the rose but more suited to darker or more olive complexions.
The South Sea can be grown much larger, up to gumball sizes--but they lack the glow of the Akoyas and tend to be, to me, too white. The Tahitian are beautiful, but not everyone wants to wear black pearls.
I can see that people would pay for Mikimotos because they would be assured that they are getting a certain quality (although if you can get the quality without the price so much the better).
Of course not everyone wants a superb string of pearls, just as not everyone wants a D flawless ideal cut diamond. And some people want to compromise between quality and price. But I would hate to have people thinking that there is no difference between different qualities of pearls because you can't see the difference in a photograph--or because they have only seen an inferior quality of Akoya.
Yeah and how about name-branding gold after stamping your own logo onto a ring or bracelet? Ridiculous.
Why would anyone ever buy silver from Tiffany or gold from Cartier?? It's SOOOOO expensive and like 8 times the mark up. People should totally buy from Overstock because it's a lot cheaper and it's the SAME QUALITY as Tiffany or Cartier.
The problem is that the perception of silver isn't that the only place to get good quality silver is at Tiffany's. Silver is regulated. Cartier and Tiffany design their sterling pieces- imo, there's no design involved in getting a "classic" 18 inch strand from Mikimoto (beside a tiny little M charm). I'm talking about the raw gemstones themselves versus the insane markup that some people think is the only option. Pearls are a very difficult gemstone to buy or sell because of the lack of standards.
IMO: Even if you disagree about me on the quality difference between top quality akoyas and top quality freshwaters (and this depends on what you want in a pearl-- personally I love the increased amount of nacre versus a huge bead nuc. and the orient over akoya luster), but I think we can all agree that lab certified hanadama from trusted vendors is the exact same quality pearls as hanadama Mikimotos.
Yeah, natural pearls are AMAZING
I'd love to own one!If you want to poke around the Pearl Guide Forum or Pearl Paradise (they have a good section of info on SS, GSS, and T pearls) you can learn more. I'd recommend buying from Pearl Paradise for golden south sea or tahitian. I've personally bought a GSS from PP, and I LOVE it! Kojimapearls.com also has nice tahitians, but they often sell out fast.
IMO: Avoid ebay as much as possible. Druzydesigns has AMAZING stuff, and she's one of the only vendors with Cortez pearls in the US (plus I think her prices are better b/c they're more often baroque). Kojimapearl (dunno if they're still selling on ebay) also has great pearls. You can go to kojimapearl.com and look at the loose pearls. I asked, and they'll string up any of their loose pearls into a necklace for an additional $25 (dirt cheap). If you're looking for cheap pearls, I've ordered from Apex_pearls from ebay, and it was fine. They weren't amazing pearls, but they were fine for the price. Pearllunar also has good pearls, and you can google "ebay sellers" at the Pearl Guide Forum for a better list. PiPearls looks to be in the sane vein as Apex_Pearl, but be very careful because sometimes you'll get horrible quality pearls.
edit: They aren't japanese freshwaters. Bet you anything that they're Chinese FWs, since most of the fw production comes from there. It doesn't really matter, but it's just misleading.
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I mean, really, could you imagine ONE TRUE pearl?? I'll change your wet pants as soon as I get out of mine....it was really neato just b/c of what it was.....otherwise, it looked like any other south sea I've ever seen (that's my eye).
ooooh, you like your pearls. Good then, I need more lilac too. I lost one stud in the yard a good year ago and am still sore over it.
And if I wanted an enhancer, I'd go to........(waits for you to fill in the blank....I'm partial to sapphires, esp pinks, but hey, most people call dirty ruby pinks....who?)?
and TIA in advance. I love this stuff!
ooooh, you like your pearls. Good then, I need more lilac too. I lost one stud in the yard a good year ago and am still sore over it.
And if I wanted an enhancer, I'd go to........(waits for you to fill in the blank....I'm partial to sapphires, esp pinks, but hey, most people call dirty ruby pinks....who?)?
and TIA in advance. I love this stuff!
I haven't disagreed that brand name and non-brand name pearls can't have the same quality. I definately never mentioned akoyas vs. freshwaters. I'm saying there's nothing wrong with preferring a little extra in terms of what many consider to be the "gold standard" name brand.
I wouldn't consider Tiffany to be an innovative designer... ambiguous lumps and hearts don't make the cut in my book. You can get a classic Mikimoto strand, but there's also several lines that incorporate dozens of unique designs, like the Pearls in Motion or the Olive line.