Ball bearing look question and white/silver or silver

[Budford]

Many years ago my husband bought me some Tiff pearls and they were beautiful, silverly, and looked like they had ball bearings in them with a mirror finish, but I made him return as I already had my mom's 18" pearls. Now I would like some 16 pearls and we went looking. We looked at M, Tiff and Blue Nile in person at our local luxury mall as I wanted to see the sizes of pearls and necklaces. All inventory was low and we were told about a pearl shortage. The Ms were in a set where the earrings were silver and the necklace was creamy and 18 inch. At Tiff, they only had 2 18 necklaces, one creamy and both had shockingly mismatched sized pearls on the strands. The Blue Nile was too long at 18, pearl was too big at 8, but was clearly the nicest necklace we saw. The color was white parls with a silver look, but no ball bearing look. Am I wrong to want that? Also, Im not sure if what I am looking for is white pearl with a silver cast or what the silver akoya color is on websites. Thanks in advance.

 

[StarryPearl]

Did you try Pearl Paradise? Sounds like they might have what you want.

By the way, what is “ball bearing look”? Do you mean circles?

 

[Budford]

It looked like there were silver beads in the pearls under the irridescence. Thanks for responding. I appreciate it.

 

[Pearl Dreams]

I believe the OP is referring to the metallic look of high luster pearls. I also recommend Pearl Paradise.
Besides white akoya pearls (which may have silver overtones) there are also naturally colored silver /silver-blue akoyas, which have not been through the usual bleaching process.

 

[Budford]

another question. On these sites, why does the price not change between lengths? Why is it the same price for a 16 or 18 inch even at the higher AAA level? thanks in advance.

 

[Pearl Dreams]

If you're talking about Hanadama grade pearls, the lab that certifies them as Hanadama certifies the 18" length strand.

I expect it can be strung shorter on request, but you should probably get the extra, leftover pearls, loose. Not only in case you want to lengthen the strand someday, but you could also have dangle earrings made from them if you like, and they would match.

Talk to the vendor.

 

[Budford]

Thank you Pearl Dreams.

 

[Budford]

Which one? Last one has moms so be kind lol seems real.

 

[Pearl Dreams]

In the last photo, the luster seems sharper in the second necklace -- the one above your mom's strand.

 

[jshepherd]

All three appear to be akoya strands. In the first photo, the luster is better on the right strand. You can see this by the crispness of the reflection when you zoom in - snippet attached.

The third photo shows another strand of akoya that look to be a bit older (your moms?). The pearls have thick nacre and are semi-round with decent luster.

Quality-wise, using the third photo, the order is 2-1-3, with 2 being the best of the three.

 

[Budford]

Thank you very much. I really appreciate it.

 

[pearlescence]

Lots of strands of silver akoya in Hong Kong. Which indeed looked like ball bearings

 

[Budford]

Thank you very much.