Are keshis considered natural pearls?

[judimcc6]

Since keshis are non-nucleated and, what I call, Pearls Gone Wild, are they considered a free-form natural pearl?

 

[pearlescence]

I would say not since they still have their roots in a cultured pearl. and they are farmed

 

[knotty panda]

I have seen them advertised as naturals by auction houses. Anything under 2MM is considered natural regardless of their origin.

 

[Caitlin]

natural keshi. Is that an oxymoron or what?

kp, What have you seen auctioned? Bigger than2mm? Tiny freshwaters? Auctions are trying to mislead people? to create new rules for themselves?

Natural pearls don't have keshi, though they have some tiny pearls that are usually baroque, they are not part of any culturing process (which is the definition of keshi last time I looked- in agreement with Wendy).

I want to see an example of an auction house doing that. They really should not be messing further with already messy terms until some kind of consensus is reached. (I would go with terms the Pearl Association of the AGTA agreed on, for instance, or terms the GIA and AGTA labs agree on.)

There never has been a real thread on the keshi confusions- including many people making it spell like Heishi, the tiny cylindrical beads of the Southwest pronounced he-she. keshi is pronounced with a short e sound- eh- keh-shi.

 

[SteveM]

I want to see an example of an auction house doing that.

An apparent lion of the industry, no less. I was surprised that thread didn't have more legs, perhaps this will revive the discussion. Or maybe Bonhams is above and beyond the reproach of PG?

 

[judimcc6]

So, because a keshi is a by-product of the culturing process, one would not consider it a natural pearl?

 

[pearlescence]

if you define natural as a pearl which is formed spontaneously (due to an outside agent)in a mollusc which does not live on a farm then keishi are clearly not natural are they?
They are formed because of a process of farming.

 

[GemGeek]

Wendy is right. Keshi are a byproduct of pearl culturing, so are not considered natural pearls. But that doesn't stop people from trying to pass them off as naturals...

 

[Lagoon Island Pearls]

I would say not since they still have their roots in a cultured pearl. and they are farmed

Agreed.

Anything involving human intervention is not natural, hence the term cultural. The two terms are not, and can never be interchangeable.

 

[KAC]

nope not natural - they only exist because of man's intervention even if it isn't on purpose. I never understood the hub-bub about keshis, although some can be very pretty.

 

[jshepherd]

Keshi used to be a term used for both small accidental cultured pearls and small natural pearls. Today, keshi are called keshi cultured pearls.

The "textbook" definition:

keshi cultured pearl: Trade term for a saltwater pearl produced as an accidental byproduct of the pearl culturing process.

 

[judimcc6]

D'accord. Glad to be clear on that.

 

[SteveM]

On Pattye's thread concerning her cracking keshis we linked to this fine overview article on keshi by Professor H?nni, former director of the Swiss Gemmological Institute.

I wonder what Bonham's would say to their customer upon X-Ray revelation of the interior of this big, beautiful 22mm keshi (photo from H?nni linked above)?

I once ordered big, beautiful keshi cufflinks?fortunately my good friend and jeweler in Rarotonga (Cook Islands) refused, citing the lack of anything in which to anchor the pin.

Not that all keshis are hollow, by any means. But it may be considered a tendency as a vacated pearl sac completely filled with nacre is probably the exception and not the rule.

 

[pattye]

Great images, Steve!

Some "plump" keshi in my collection are decidedly light for their size, and it is easy to deduce that the interior would be hollow.

 

[Caitlin]

LINK

Above link goes directly to the "Trade Alert" thread wherein some few dishonest persons are selling keshi over 2mm as natural pearls.