Big Honking Bead Nucleated Freshwaters

[lionlaw]

This may be a dumb quesiton, but why don't you see more of the bigger bead nucleated freshwater pearls (above 12mm) for sale at jewelers or online pearl vendors? Are they rare? Or is it that they aren't desirable so there is no market? Or are they out there, and I am just looking in the wrong places?

As an example of what I am talking about, here are pics:

 

[pearlescence]

There are also big honking non nuked pearls out there. Nuked ones are expensive, but the non nuked come much cheaper and are. of course, solid nacre.
How about these 12.5mm to 15mm natural colours (also possible in gold tinged)
Or smaller and pretty round at 10.3-11.1mm
or big pond slimes - 10.8-13.2mm

 

[pattye]

Lionlaw and Wendy,

Of course, I am drooling! Beside the point!

Good quality bead nucleated are very desirable, still pretty rare, and quality is improving, but IMHO there are probably still a lot more poor quality harvested by proportion, although the process is improving. I don't know how many beads can be inserted in the mollusk compared to tissue nucleation, in which around 30 or more can be implanted. Perhaps Jeremy or someone can answer that--I don't remember it being discussed before.

Lionlaw, remember you are light years ahead of most retailers in your knowledge, even though you have been exploring pearls for perhaps a fairly short time.

Wendy, wonderful photos of beautiful pearls! Thank you for the great examples! Wonder how much longer the tissue nucleated have to stay in the water to reach the size of the bead nucleated?????

 

[GemGeek]

They are growing bigger mussels, but the mollusk size is a limiting factor.

 

[lionlaw]

Thanks for the pics Wendy. The strands you have on your web site are very nice.

I am not looking to buy, just wanted to educate myself more. I like the way the bead nucs have the extra coating look to them like the pearl was dipped in xtra layers (I am sure there is a technical name, but I have no clue). I know there are larger regular freshwater pearls out there, just wondered why you dont see more of the bead-nuc ones.

Or maybe you can get the coating effect with non-bead nuc pearls and I just dont know what to look for?

 

[pearlescence]

Good bead niukes are very expensive compared to good tissue nuked pearls...and I don't stock the fireballs because they are just about the only pearls I really do not like
Funnily enough I am working with some huge black comet/tadpole pearls and from curiosity I broke one up - bead inside. In fact some show several beads, so I am wondering if they were the first bead nuke attempts?

 

[pattye]

Lionlaw,

Are you talking about the sort of drippy nacre look? Some South Sea baroques have that------

Ah, Wendy--so you are a pearl "smasher" also! Do you have any photos?

 

[KAC]

I just don't think there is enough of them yet to see them on a mass scale in brick and mortar.

I won't carry them personally unless I could be certain they are not using Giant Clam(Tridacna gigas). Plus as wendy said, pure nacre versions are available, so why go with with bead nuked when there is an ethical alternative.

Still, it remained hard to believe that the beads came from freshwater shells. Seven millimeters is the maximum for spherical beads from Chinese mussel shells. The only freshwater mussels that can produce nuclei between 9 and 12.5 mm in diameter are the mapleleaf (Quadrula quadrula) and the washboard (Megalonaias nervosa), which are both found only in the US rivers and lakes. American mussel shell beads are too expensive for Chinese freshwater pearl farmers.

source: https://www.pearl-guide.com/innovation-continues-in-chinese-freshwater-pearl-culture.shtml

 

[pearlescence]

Honking pearls,,,?
I just went into the stockroom and listened carefully...no

 

[GemGeek]

Honking pearls,,,?
I just went into the stockroom and listened carefully...no

That's my girl!!!

 

[Caitlin]

Thanks for the pix, Wendy. Very illustrative and also beautiful.

 

[Nerida]

I think part of the reason that we aren't seeing the larger nucleated FW is because they are really a 'work in progress'. Consistent quality isn't really readily available as yet. I do stock them, I do like them, but pricing varies considerably from purchase to purchase.

Yes Wendy, all comet/tailed pearls are bead nucleated.

 

[Chameleon]

Are the large bead nuked fw-s more expensive only because they are quite rare still? What might have been the original reason for trying to cultivate bead nucleated freshwater pearls? To get them bigger and rounder? I am voter for the full nacre freshies though

Maria

 

[lionlaw]

Ok, I didn't know about the ethical situation (which is why this site is great for education).

So how do I tell the difference between bead-nuked and full nacre freshies?

Of the strands Wendy posted, the bottom two look like big freshwater pearls to me and dont have the nacre dripping or extra coating layers I see on the bead-nuks. Is it just the bead nuks that have this? Or do some freshies?

Since I dont know the terminology, here is a pic of another set of freshies (14-16mm) I have that have the thick/layered nacre effect I am talking about:

It is dark here so I had to use flash which drowns out the luster on these, but they glow.

 

[pearlescence]

Nerida is the expert on what is current in China (having just got back from a buying trip all over, I understand)
I think there is a rarity factor in the bead nuked pricing - although the ones I have seen do have that glutinously thick very glossy nacre look, I do know what you mean. like the difference between layers of single and double cream?
More and more rounds are being produced, so in a few years we will all be wearing pearls as big as Marge Simpson's probably (whoop)

 

[judimcc6]

Am I interpreting this correctly? Same size FWP, the bead nucleated pearl is more rare and therefore, more expensive than the tissue nucleated? Are the bead nucleated considered unethical? Is the Hyriopsis cumingi mollusk too small to produce bead nucleated pearls over 7mm?

[Still, it remained hard to believe that the beads came from freshwater shells. Seven millimeters is the maximum for spherical beads from Chinese mussel shells. The only freshwater mussels that can produce nuclei between 9 and 12.5 mm in diameter are the mapleleaf (Quadrula quadrula) and the washboard (Megalonaias nervosa), which are both found only in the US rivers and lakes.]

Then, what mollusk is being used to produce the 13-13.5mm FWPs?

 

[Caitlin]

It has been bruted about that tridacna shells are used. A class of clams that has a lot of members of protected and/or endangered species, esp Tridacna gigas.

I think Jeremy just said in another thread than the Chinese can't afford to buy American mussel shells. I heard somewhere the largest cost $100 each or more, plus they are rare.

They may be experimenting with compound shells. I've heard a few mentions of that on this board, but it obviously hasn't been perfected or we would be seeing more of those 20-23mm nucleated pearls from China.

 

[Nerida]

Honestly, I wasn't shown any round nucleated pearls with nice lustre on this last trip. Plenty of okay ones, but the perfect pearls that one producer had rushed to show me last time weren't visible this time.

Judi, the pearls are still being produced in the same mollusk, hyropsis cumungi. The issue is which mollusks are the Chinese using for the nucleus itself - the freshwater US mollusk nuclei (the nuclei are made from shell) are thought to be too expensive for these growers. The shell that they have readily available is considererd to be too small to craft bead nuclei larger than 7mm - so the question is, what species is used?
There doesn't seems to be proof one way or the other that the endangered species mentioned by Caitlin is being utilized - the point is we just don't know if it is. It is a possibility, and one with ethical considerations, obviously. I personally am hoping that the Chinese growers have found some type of compound material, as Caitlin mentioned. This would enable them to have an increased nuclei size, and therefore a larger pearl.
The higher cost of nucleated pearls reflects the cost of the nucleus, the fact that there is only one pearl per mollusk, the increased length of time required to grow the pearl, the increased intensity of the farming and the low probability of a 'good' pearl being produced. They are getting less expensive, and just like other CFWP, there is simply TONS of junk being produced. Getting the good stuff, like always, is the trick!
The Chinese would love to challenge the SS pearl industry, and without nucleation, that simply isn't possible. Hope this explains some of the questions that have popped up in this useful thread. Here is a photo of some great nucleated FW.




These are simply gorgeous. I just wish that they were all like this...

 

[Pearl Dreams]

I saw a couple of strands of flameballs at a better-quality jewelry shop in New Haven last week.

 

[judimcc6]

Nerida,
Very helpful information. Somehow, I had thought the "host" shells weren't large enough. It's easy enough to understand that the nuclei shells aren't large enough to mother a pearl larger than 7mm. (So sorry about butchering the Hyropsis cumungi spelling) Because I see a lot of potato shaped 13mm FWPs, I am assuming they are tissue nucleated. The goal of bead nucleating FWPs, is...question...to create a round heavily nacre pearl with more luster than SS? The humongous oysters that produce SS are seemingly much larger than the mollusks that produce FWP. There's a bit of mathematics involved here. The interesting question might be... what is the Perfect Pearl?