Australian akoyas

Naming of molluscs is a difficult matter

Naming of molluscs is a difficult matter

I won?t get into a debate about the ?P. imbricate complex? as I referred to it, because I am not a taxonomist. I do note some recent molecular identification methods (viz. Masaoka and Kobayashi, 2005) have suggested speciation but I will leave that to others to puzzle. Suffice to say that the Australian species we culture is also found in Japan and ?Akoya? is a Japanese word hence we refer to our product as Akoya pearl. I?m not sure what you call an Atlantic pearl? I am aware that Pinctada is not a true oyster (Ostreidae family) but a member of the Pteriidae family which may be more akin to mussel (due to its byssus) than scallop. But the vernacular is pearl oyster.

In relation to the nacre growth we achieve, all I can say is that ?down under? we grow them bigger and faster on the sites we have and we plan to get on the world Akoya pearl scene ASAP now that we have approvals in place. This is not an advertisement!

Regards

Damian
 
Damian said:
... we plan to get on the world Akoya pearl scene ASAP now that we have approvals in place. This is not an advertisement!
Click to expand...


Quick question... I hope it is appropriate.

Obviously, the thick nacre in the picture peaked my attention as many other's. And so did the colors! Clearly, it is not fair game to imply much from a small picture of a pile of pearls, but there seem to be some intriguing colors on the line, including some light bluish-gray. Are they going to be on the market in natural colors? And if so, what is out there?

Many thanks!

Ana


PS. Sad that every great pearl has to be called 'Akoya' and every shell is an 'Oyster'. At least not here... You did mention 'Pacific pearls' and that feels delightfully exotic, and straight righteous in the context.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Zeide,
You mention the "rhodium vapor bling"! Do you have any real evidence that vapor disposition is being used commercially?
 
Hi Richard,

You mean other than being able to polish it off with a sunshine cloth? It is not exactly an industry secret and you find discussion of it in the Strack book, too, under pearl treatments.

Zeide
 
Zeide,

Got the Strack book. Really is the best thing out there as you said. On page 661 under Other Coatings I found a brief reference. Sounds like the coating is not particularly durable. Guess I was under the impression that this was some sort of subtle undetectable way to pump up the orient.

Had not read about it anywhere in the literature but perhaps it has simply been in various journals under the the general term coatings without any specific reference to the cause or type.

Any specific detection method other than wear that you know of? I suspect it does not produce air bubbles?
 
The pearl that is cut in half showing the nacre thickness of the pearl from Port Stephens Australia is possible. When I worked for the company, Australian Radiata, we achieved about 1.5 mm of nacre cover in about 18 months given the right conditions and the correct farming practises.
The shell size for this seed was between 60 to 80 gram and was less than 2 years old when the seeding operation took place.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Valeria101 said:
Quick question... I hope it is appropriate.

Obviously, the thick nacre in the picture peaked my attention as many other's. And so did the colors! Clearly, it is not fair game to imply much from a small picture of a pile of pearls, but there seem to be some intriguing colors on the line, including some light bluish-gray. Are they going to be on the market in natural colors? And if so, what is out there?

Many thanks!

Ana


PS. Sad that every great pearl has to be called 'Akoya' and every shell is an 'Oyster'. At least not here... You did mention 'Pacific pearls' and that feels delightfully exotic, and straight righteous in the context.
Click to expand...


The photograph was one taken for the last Development Application and the web site.
Some of the original pearls showed signs of blues or pinks as well as the true pearl colouring with very few blemishes on the surface without polishing.
 
effisk said:
I am not surprized by this.

I look forward to hearing from that scientist I mentioned earlier. He might add his own version of the story.
Click to expand...

I am surprised by the story from the former employee as I personally know that employee and would be surprised given his level of expertese as to wether he actually wrote the story in the first place.

Why would he wait until now to write on this web site given that he left the company some time in the past? The immediate reaction, of a disgruntled former employee would be, if he left not through his own accord would be to "bad mouth" the company at his earliest convenience NOT wait more than three years to do so.

It certainly wasn't me who wrote the article, as I too, am a former employee of both Australian Radiata Pty Ltd and Port Stephens Pearls Pty Ltd with a scientific background and no longer associated with the company.

It may well be someone trying to discredit the company Port Stephens Pearls Pty Ltd in a guise to gain support for their particular type of pearl farm operation or something similar.

I am sure all will be revealed in the future.
 
I am surprised by the story from the former employee as I personally know that employee and would be surprised given his level of expertese as to wether he actually wrote the story in the first place.
Click to expand...

Why don't you ask him yourself his profile is right here:
https://www.pearl-guide.com/forum/member.php?u=1170 - it seems you and port stephens are ones being a little deceptive. But of course you do have the forum to set the record straight.
 
Last edited:
I am going to point out one thing, that I am sure at least a couple of us have noticed. The O'Connor post and email contact show the possibility of someone with ESL background. The "correct" yet "incorrect" grammar is consistent in both posts - in such a way a Word would not catch.
Let's clear this up once and for all. If you are there, Mr. Connor. Let's speak on the phone. I promise to give my honest opinion, and I do not think you can fake an accent or a "set up" expertise before tomorrow or the next. Send me your number and I will give you a call. You can PM or email, jeremypshepherd@gmail.com.
 
That's a fair challenge I believe as I know Jeremy has spoken to the other side of the fence, we'll see how this plays out though.
 
Hi Ziede,
I am a master of aquaculture and for taxonomy issues I have to rely on people who work in our Australian Museum for these issues. They have nominated these "oysters" (I will call them oysters when in fact they are a mussel as it is the terminology that is commonly used down under) as "Pinctada imbricata".
They may not be what the pearls look like in the northern hemisphere but they are what we had at the time the photograph was taken. A possible reason why there is this difference is because this project was the first in the southern hemisphere and therefore the possibility of the pinctada imbricata could have spread from here or there.
As I have said previously in the forum we did have some blues and pinks about a similar colouring as yours or maybe a bit lighter. I have also seen some good olde Australian colours here (a green and a gold)which are my favourite colours but then again I am biased. these are all natural colours. Unfortunately, I do not have any photographs of these.
The pearl that is cut in half I am trying to get a measurement on it for you with an approximation of the depth of the nacre. I will post that information when I have it.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Did Connor ever rise up to the challenge? What's the verdict? Now that it's getting closer to the time for Australian Akoyas I'm just itching to get my hands on some.

A bit OT, but would this website be supplying Australian rather than Chinese/Japanese Akoyas? Not sure if it's been mentioned before. It is Australian based. I can't tell from the pictures whether the pearls are of stated quality.

http://www.pacificpearls.com.au/index.aspx
 
Raisondetre said:
A bit OT, but would this website be supplying Australian rather than Chinese/Japanese Akoyas? Not sure if it's been mentioned before. It is Australian based. I can't tell from the pictures whether the pearls are of stated quality.

http://www.pacificpearls.com.au/index.aspx
Click to expand...

I'd say that most if not all of the Akoya pearls would be sourced from outside Australia.
 
Hi Aycee

That is an interesting article. I am going to list it under Pearl News so it won't be lost at the end of this string.
 
thanks for the link Alain!

Very interesting article, which answers some questions about the oyster species.
 
Nice. I can't wait to get my hands on some. A 9-10 mm strand in all the pearl varieties would complete my collection. Gives me time to save up as well. They look real good in the pic.

I think I'm sick or something. Went to this work dinner yesterday and a few colleagues wore pearls. I couldn't help but notice the subpar luster ... my freshadamas rock!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

A
Akoya earrings from local store The Netherlands
Replies
10
Views
2K
Anna102
A
Bigwellpearls
Look at our newly-treated Akoya Pearls
Replies
0
Views
911
Bigwellpearls
Bigwellpearls
D
12th Anniversary purchase
Replies
10
Views
2K
CortezPearls
CortezPearls
M
Would love to ID these inherited pearls!
Replies
2
Views
606
meliseoz
M
Z
First pearls, possibly from Ming's of Honolulu. Are these blue Akoya?
Replies
6
Views
498
Zuzu'sPetals
Z
Back
Top