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Speaking of pearls in cosmetics, Mikimoto also sells skin care products (and maybe cosmetics as well?) with powdered pearls added. They use rejects with low quality/incomplete nacre, and (IIRC) the entire pearl including the nucleus, which is made of freshwater mollusk shell, is ground up. Which...

A few darker pairs on the second row were only called "Akoya Pearls" but they still ask for the same price as the hanadamas below 😅

The quickest way to find out is to buy a LED light box and look at the pearls there. I played with light box shooting before, and I could tell you that objects never looks the same in light box vs under "normal" light, because white LED is blindingly bright, much closer to the object and the...

I am totally unfamiliar with the pearl business in China so could you please elaborate?

The shop is called LucasPearl. The seller called himself Mark and he claims to work in Qiujiaan, Wenling, where he also ships his pearls from. He also claims that he was in the pearl business for 15 years.

I guess they are imitations. The drill holes looks somewhat larger than that of typical genuine pearls and the area surrounding the drill holes of each pearls are every-so-slightly flattened, but then it could be the camera angle and/or reflections, and I'm still very new in collecting pearls.

My pleasure:giggle: I guess people would be more interested in relatively obscure shows like JMA show compared to big shows like the September show, and it is an refreshing experience to glimpse at the business side of the hobby as a layman, so I decided to write this post. Speaking of the...

Thanks 😊 The show was a fun visit and I am happy with the purchases since I got most of the pearls on my wishlist and a few pleasant surprises.

Thanks for the appreciation😊 Japanese Mabe in gold colour was on my wishlist since I first heard about it. Luckily, a lot of Japanese pearl companies attended the show, and there were a few companies selling such pearls. I also tried to find Cortez Mabes and Paua Mabes during the visit...

Photo time! I blew up my pearl budget for this show in just two days, that's why I didn't visit again:nervous: Other than the pearls in the photo I also bought other jewellery, but they're not as interesting or just generic pieces like plain necklace chains for pendants. First of all, the...

I've just returned from JMA International Jewelry Show hosted in Hong Kong last weekend. In case you are wondering, JMA International Jewelry Show is a jewellery show organised by Hong Kong Jewelry Manufacturers’ Association; unlike the September jewellery fair organised by Hong Kong Trade...

Hi @CortezPearls I don't know the exact name of this shape, maybe skewed marquise? Japanese are more creative in mabe shapes, probably because they are selling them as specialty jewellery. I've seen skewed marquises, kites, hearts with a hooked end, and even mabes in the shape of magatama, a...

Hi everyone! I have been spending some time peeking around and asking a few questions, thanks for your super helpful and polite responses. As a thank-you, here are the photos of my pearls that I find interesting and/or unusual. This is a 18K gold blue mabe pearl pendant of Mabe-gai (Pteria...

Thankyou! I just checked ROLAY's and Cees' profiles, their pearls are certainly gorgeous.

Thanks for your suggestion, but for some reason the Instagram search result didn't come up with any account related to pearl. Could you please provide the Instagram account name?

Thankyou for your advice, I thought it would be difficult enough to find sellers that sell only a few loose keshis to retail customers, so I didn't add more specifications in my original post. I am looking for small to mid-size (4mm - 12mm) GSS and WSS keshi semi-rounds and droplets; ideally...

Oh no, I forgot to mention where I live! I live in Hong Kong. While HK has a lot of shops selling pearl jewellery, mainly big brand name chain stores, there are far fewer shops that sell loose pearls to retail customers, let alone special types of pearls like keshi.

Hi everyone, I plan on commissioning a custom pearl jewellery that would use golden South Sea and white South Sea keshi pearls, but the jeweller doesn't have any, so I have to bring my own pearls. Could you please suggest some reputable pearl sellers that also sell loose, undrilled GSS and/or...

I wholeheartedly agree. In my case it is buying for collection's sake - I've lost count of how many times my brain tells me I should buy something because it is a typical/exceptional/rare/unusual/etc. specimen, or just to complete a collection, which in many cases prove to be a mistake...

Thankyou, this is a great advice! I buy jewellery, gemstones etc. mostly because they are pretty, but sometimes forget that aspect and instead buying for the sake of collection, even if the item doesn't spark my interest. Now I end up with a drawer full of stuff that I rarely look at, and really...