2 Weeks of Pearls in AZ

[Caitlin]

Tucson Gem and Mineral Shows, February 1, 2005

The Gem & Lapidary Dealer’s Association Show -GLDA
This show used to be in downtown Tucson and opened this year is a brand new resort hotel in the Tucson Mountains. It requires a tax license and more to get in. The booths were crowded together in the main hall and had narrow aisles. This show had the least possible space for aisles and was a jungle to move around in. Not much in pearls and those being at the highest possible prices. I found some very high luster pearls (comparable to AA luster Akoyas) at Taj, an India bead store. They wanted $45 a strand wholesale, for 6-6.5mm fw round pearls. The 8mm were more like $90 a loose strand. All the rest of the pearls at other booths were finished pieces and much more expensive than at any of the online suppliers who post at this site. I collected a number of cards and Taj Beads was the only one with an online presence.

International Gem Show February 1, 2005
In the afternoon, I went down to the south side and visited the Intergem show on Michigan Ave @ Country Club.
My GLDA badge got me waved right in. This show was enormous; bigger than the main floor at the TCC. I found a couple of dozen purveyors of pearls. There qwere at least 2 dealers with 100’s of feet of pearls piled high in every color, size shape. I got it down to a drill, “I am looking for round, white FW pearls 5.5-6.5, your best quality”

I found 2 booths with those sizes in fw with incredible luster. One company is called Evergreen Trading Co. from LA. They are exclusively a FW pearl importer and wholesaler. I talked to Roy Chen, the owner. I actually bought a strand of 5.5-6mm beads for $10 that is equal in luster to my AA Akoya strand. He sells 6-6.5 & 7-7.5 of equal luster for$25 & $35. I need to visit again and ask for 10 strand, one pound and one kilo prices. He does business direct with Chinese farms then travels the G&L tradeshow circuit. He has piles and piles of every size, shape, color, and quality of FW pearls.

The other booth I liked also had about a half an acre of every kind of fw pearls-Pearl Concepts of NYC. I asked my usual question and was shown a beautifully well-organized section of pearls and told prices were 35% off sticker. They had something I had not seen yet -2 and 3mm pearls of mirror-like luster. I bought a strand of 3mm for $4.25. That is high for such small pearls, but they are exquisite.

 

[Caitlin]

Tucson Gem and Mineral Shows, February 2, 2005
The American Gem & Lapidary Association.
This show was at the Tucson Convention Center and is considered the main event, though the other shows have grown to fill almost every hotel in town. There was all kinds of security to get in and they read our badges with guns at every different hall. The aisles were huge and there was lots of seating. The prices were high for pearls though I found about 20 booths that had fw pearls I liked. The prices were still way too high- even with triple keystone or 25% discounts, etc, they were still about double retail. Nevertheless there were exhibits at this show that were very educational for pearl lovers.

The first was the Paspaley pearls at the Stuller exhibit. Stuller and Paspaley have formed a partnership with Stuller marketing Paspaley pearls under the Paspaley name. Stuller deals only to retailers. One exhibit box contained three collarbone length necklaces with enormous matched, graduated white pearls. From huge to gigantic. They were brilliant and white and unblemished and perfectly round and perfectly graduated. They also had those terrific little clasps hidden in the back pearl. They were named the Athena, the Aphrodite and the Artemis. They were priced at $96,000, $100,000 and $104,000, not necessarily in that order. Now that is pricey! And it was typical of the prices at this show. Stuller also had several bowls of loose Paspaley pearls and I was invited to run my fingers through them and hold them. I was also invited to try on a strand priced at a mere $21,000. I did. Although not chunky, exactly, it was a bit large. You really know you are wearing it!

Another outstanding booth was the American Pearl Company which specializes in American freshwater pearls, and all unusual pearls such as conch pearls, as well as all usual pearls. They have a pearl farm in Tennessee that produces natural (keishi) pearls of unusual shapes, wings and teeth shapes especially. They also had a collection of small natural Mexican pearls. These were peacock colored with a lot of variation in each pearl in baroque to off- round shapes and weighed just a few grains each. There were charming and I held the lot in the palm of my hand. I guessed it to be about a teaspoon full of pearls. My daughter bought 2 of similar size and color to set in a ring with some color changing garnets she also found at the AGTA show.

Marc Freeman of Freeman Pearl Company in LA had lots incredibley beautiful FW pearl strands of outstanding luster, roundness and etc. I though they were Akoyas. I asked if they were shell nucleated, which he denied. He said he bought them in China himself. When asked further, he said he goes directly to farms. He said he does not speak the language much. He must be making a tidy profit at $90 a loose strand for 6-6.5mm. That price is double Taj’s and their pearls were of equal luster and beauty.

All in all, I like the AGTA shows. The prices were high, but I knew what I was seeing was genuine or properly disclosed.

 

[Caitlin]

The Tucson Gem and Mineral Show Feb 3, 2005

Gem and Lapidary Wholesalers at the Holidome
This show is much more down home than the AGTA or GLDA shows. It is in a big tent. Prices are decidedly lower. There is a broader array of booths with less expensive manufactured goods. This is where to buy a lot of accessory-type jewelry from every country you can imagine. You can buy all kinds of mountings and gems to make your own jewelry. There are dozens of bead booths at this show and maybe a dozen booths with piles of pearls in all shapes, sizes, and colors. I did not see anything special in pearls. No one matched the prices from the show yesterday afternoon. Many people are carrying some South Sea pearls. Abright yellow/gold seems to be very much in evidence in most booths except Stuller’s. The vast majority of the South Sea pearls are much smaller than the Paspaley pearls. Sorry I haven’t commented, but none of the Tahitian pearls have knocked my eye out, yet.

GJX
More of the same as this AM. Even many of the same companies have booths in more than one show, so it is getting repetitive. Who would have thought there were so many beads in the world, let alone pearls! Next week, I do some serious bead shopping with my sisters- something we do most years.

I am also planning on visiting Carolyn Ehret and her company booth, Drusy Creations, on Monday, for another educational stop. She has a Kasamiga strand of pearls and also one of the few strands of Mexican pearls in existence. I have heard rumors that the only Mexican Pearl farm and company is having a bad year and hope she will know more.

 

[jshepherd]

Great overview, Caitlin. It sounds like you had a great time at the shows!

Jeremy

 

[Caitlin]

Tucson Gem & Mineral Show – February 7 Part 1

I took 3 days off, though the show did not. Today I walked Tucson’s favorite part of the show- the strip from Congress to 22nd Street on the frontage highway. There are several wholesale shows on this route at the 4-5 major hotels along the way, but every other square inch is also filled with booths and tents. Every hotel room, and there are thousands on this strip of road, is brimming with goods. Everything is mixed together rough rocks and stones to finished goods.

I noticed carved granite or marble plates and bowls. They had dinner plates salad plates soup bowls and giant bowls. A dinner plate was $35. There were stone fountains, especially ones with the rotating balls in all sizes from tabletop to 3’x 5’ x5’. There were little outdoor booths everywhere, selling every kind of cheap jewelry, handbags, wind chimes, t-shirts. Lots of jade and Chinese and Tibetan antiques. African beads- the first Africans I have seen so far, wood carvings from Africa and Bali, Fake Thai Baht gold, real Thai Baht gold, and of course, beads everywhere. Mostly the tumbled beads of every imaginable type. onyx, semi-precious beads like turquoise and amethyst, jasper, but faceted beads were big everywhere too. Glittering beads, sometimes on multicolor strands. There were food booths from every corner of the world. It looked like a Mercado in Mexico or a suq in Bahrain- though it did not smell like one!

There were three educational pearl booths. There were lots more pearl booths than that, but they were limited in quantity and/or quality.

The first booth I want to mention was United States Pearl and Shell Company of Big Sandy TN, run by Earl Peche Sr. I saw the upscale version of this booth at the GLDA show, where I met and talked with Earl Peche, jr. but didn’t mention it earlier. This booth was the down home version. Their booth was in a motel room that spilled out for 20x30 feet beyond the doors. First there was a variety of polished oyster, mussel and even abalone shells in barrels. Beyond that there was a huge table with boxes of pearls piled up high. I mean hundreds of boxes with thousands of singleton freshwater pearls. from the harvested clamshells of the Mississippi basin. They were all natural pearls- and all were unusual shapes, wing and teeth shapes were common. The roundest were drop-shaped. Mostly white and iridescent, but some other colors too. It looked really disorganized and untidy, unlike the booth at the GLDA show, but I had no doubt Earl Sr knew where every pearl was.

I found out that this is one of the companies that sells the clamshells for making beads to nucleate pearls, though they told me that particular part of the business has fallen off. They clean the shells before selling them and keep whatever is in them. They have a supply going back to 1973 when Earl Sr went into the business. Earl was bitten by the pearl bug and he has diversified from his original clams. He has had a presence in China for at least a couple of decades and collects all kinds of Chinese pearls and craft shells for the American trade. His 6mm best fw pearls were lovely, but no break in price. Earl knows the value of his pearls.

Part 2 later

 

[Caitlin]

Tucson Gem and Mineral Show February 7, part 2

Pacific Pearls. A strictly mail order and trade show business. They had loose strands and half drilled and un-drilled. They had a lot of baroque. They were all unfinished pearls. I saw a strands of pearls I thought might be Kasumi pearls and I asked. They were. They looked very distressed. They had a lot of single pearls from there too. Some of them were lovely. They are true pink pearls, though some are peachy and some are plum-y in color Once you seen the color, it is hard not to recognize it again.

I realized that these people were a different breed than I had seen before. They were pearl connoisseurs. Quality over quantity. They had a few of the best of several kinds of pearls, especially freshwater, and South Sea pearls. They traveled a lot and went through a lot of pearls to come up with these. It appears that designers would use them because Pacific Pearls has already done the high grading and presents only the best to the trade.

For instance, they had a hank of slightly flattened oval pearls, about 8.5mm. They were smooth and uniform with a satiny luster, completely unblemished and perfectly matched, to the naked eye. They were juicy in their perfection. $35 a strand. I knew I would dream about this strand if I did not buy it, so I did.

Drusy Creations. This booth was attended by the owners’ son, Nick Ehret. It featured mostly finished pieces designed by Carolyn Ehret, although it carries some dainty and refined Balinese gold jewelry too, and the Ehret’s collection of finished drusy jewelry. Corolyn told me previously that she studied pearls for years before incorporating them into her designs. Now, more than one show case was devoted to pearls. The Ehrets collect special pearls, then set them. They do not sell much unfinished. They had the Kasumi strand whose portrait I posted under the Kasumiga pearl thread. This strand has 22k gold spacers and also a couple of gold beads at the end to make it long enough. The pearls were less distressed looking than Pacific Pearls strand, but still pretty rough skinned.

Nick produced 2 strands of Mexican pearls, unfinished. They were both a silvery gray with iridescences to other colors. They were round, but not real smooth. They were fairly high priced. ($2-3k) If you had the money and an emotional attachment to Mexican pearls, this might be a good investment because the provenance is perfect and they are very rare pearls at this point. They also had some beautiful pendants and many pairs of earrings featuring 22k gold and unique and rare pearls. For $275, you can pick out a great piece. This family lives in Tucson and we have agreed that I will go interview them about their history with pearls, after the show is over

 

[Caitlin]

Tucson Gem and Mineral Shows, February 8, 2005

Today I went with a jeweler friend. She chose to tour the old Ramada Inn (heaven knows what it is called this year!) It had a lot of rocks and minerals, fossils and crystals. We found one booth with small ammonites, polished into gentle shapes revealing the spiral shape of the shell, then drilled at the top. They were gentle earthy tones of greenish to tan. I haven’t seen ammonite presented like this before and I have always loved nautilus-shaped shells. 12 for $10. I plunked down $10.

I am now thinking of getting some stone beads to pick up the colors of the pendants, accented by some creamy/peach-tone fw pearls. So I go to the Intergem show on the east side of the freeway- across the freeway from yesterday. Parking is free. Inside, it is the usual spread of booths, a duplicate for the Intergem show behind the Holidome, but now my focus has temporarily shifted. I am still looking for pearls, but now also stone beads. I find a booth and get some tube-shaped stone beads in striped jasper or agate or something and some round stone beads in earthy tones. A dozen strands for another $10. Now I am committed to making 12 ammonite and stone bead necklaces. 12 clasps needed. Plenty of Soft Flex and crimping beads, too. This was a short day but I call it quits, go home and lay out my beads and pendants on a tray and look at them. This will be an easy project and will go quickly.

Tomorrow is another shopping day. I will be going with my daughter to buy fw pearls for a family member who makes wonderful jewelry from beads and fw pearls.

 

[Caitlin]

Tucson Gem &Mineral Show February 9, 2005

Today my daughter joined me again and we went back to the Intergem and G&LW tents. Pearl Concepts is at the Intergem pavilion and we picked up more of the 2.5mm seed beads in white and peach @$2.86. Pearl Concepts has strands of 1.5mm seed beads- about the size of size 16 beads-tiny! They want $12 a strand- $10 if you buy 10 or more. I passed, though sadly. I did get 16 strands of some very inexpensive and smallish nugget pearls for $1 a strand.

Then back to Evergreen Trading Company where we bought white, peach, silver and peacock beads for the Auntie in 4mm and 8mm sizes 11 strands for $88. Then we bought some coin and keishi pearls and some 5-6mm white round AA pearls for $15, a strand of faux Tahitian fw pearls for $10- about 18mm! Several other strands of various shapes and sizes. Altogether about 15 strands for $91. I talked to Roy Chen a little more about where he gets the pearls. Then his assistant who speaks better English told me that Roy’s dad –until recently, controlled about 80% of the freshwater pearl trade coming off the farms. (What ever that means. I take it he gets a good pick)He said Roy got his pick and thus is able to carry some very lustrous and high quality pearls. His round white pearls are absolutely top luster. He has a lot of beautiful Keishi and biwa-style pearls too.

After lunch we went back to Intergem and bought round semi-precious stone beads, lapis, amethyst, tourmaline, smoky quartz, rose quartz, African jade 4mm and 8mm in size. Each strand cost just under $3.00. We also got some Thai silver beads. I would have bought soft flex wire, but the supply store does not do wholesale. I can do better on soft flex and pliers on the net.

Many of the shows are going on until Sunday and I may go check it out on Sunday for closeout bargains, but I am essentially done. There was just too much to see and do. I missed several major shows but they were mostly duplicates of ones I did see.

 

[jshepherd]

I love your articles about the show, Caitlin. I almost feel like I was there myself after reading what you wrote. Have you ever thought of going to the HK show? If you are ever interested let me know. It is a trade-only fair, but I can get you a free admission.

 

[Caitlin]

Thanks for enjoying my posts. I really enjoy reporting on what I am seeing and learning about pearls. It is a good outlet for my pearl energy. I am so consumed by pearls- and friends and family can only take so much pearl talk before they glaze over. This forum is a really fun place to ask questions, get good answers from knowledgeable folks.

I have never thought of going to Hong Kong, let alone to the pearl markets. Before I visited this forum, I was just looking for a quality strand of pearls, or two, for each of my daughters. Your suggestion I get a kilo of loose pearls to get the size I want, put my thinking about pearls in a whole new place. Opened vistas, inflamed the imagination…. Who knows, maybe next year in Hong Kong!

Pearls have changed my life in the last 6 months. I have rekindled my old sideline of beading after about a 4 year hiatus when I developed heart problems and had no energy to either bead or go to the shows and craft fairs to sell them. Now I am retired from my old, stressful job and pearls have rekindled my enthusiasm. I have had several vague pearl dreams, like, I dreamed I was sorting pearls a couple of weeks ago. I am just a goner for pearls. I just can’t help loving FW pearls, especially, with all their shapes, colors and sizes. Now I have to make a bunch of glasses holders to use up all the little guys I bought at the Show! I think I will also make some pearl strands for those badge holders Buyers have to hang around their necks at shows.

I have been on a steep learning curve in the last 6 months. I feel like I have achieved a beginning amateur standing in pearldom. I can now talk pearl a little bit so reporting and reviewing is a good niche for me. Expect more of same.

 

[GemGeek]

Caitlin, I never get tired of reading this thread. I may branch out more the next time I go to Tucson just because of reading your adventures. I signed up as a Pearl-Guide member not long after reading your report.

One of the things that was really confusing for me last year was how many "Evergreens" there were. A friend sent me to "Evergreen" to get faceted CZ briolettes and I think I saw three variations on the Evergreen name before I found the right one. I didn't see any with pearls.

I want to be sure to get to the pearl Evergreen and now I see that it's Evergreen Trading Company. Next time I'll check the Colored Stone show guide before I go and see if they still have great deals on those freshwaters.

I keep a show diary so I can remember the people I want to see again. Next time I'll also be sure to visit Carolyn Ehret now that you folks made me fall in love with her jewelry!

Thanks,
Blaire

 

[BAS]

GemGeek -- thanks for bringing this decade-old thread to our attention! What a great read.

I wonder how much has stayed the same and how much has changed since Caitlin first wrote this piece? I wish I could join you guys -- have a wonderful time at the 2015 show next month!