Cortez Pearls - 2007 Harvest

[CortezPearls]

We are happy to announce this year's new Sea of Cortez Pearl Harvest. We have less than 3 days of harvest but result have been very good: larger pearls (over 10mm) & good color variety (even whites!).

I will begin posting photos and even a small video in the coming days. Hope you will find these interesting...gotta run! We have more Jewelers and Designers arriving these days, wanting to be a part of the special event. Today we will recieve Carlos Cabral, winner of the 2006 Silver Jewelry Design Contest held in Mexico City (December, 2006) organized by "Pe?oles" (the world's largest producer of silver).

Anyone care for "Pearl Meat"? It will be delicious!

Regards,

 

[Raisondetre]

How exciting! I can only hope production increases to the point where I can actually afford it. They are just so beautiful! Tons of pics please.

 

[Casey.R]

Can't wait to see them. The hunky guy is a model right, not the designer mentioned?

 

[Ingykiz]

Will you post the name(s) of your distributors? I know Care Erhet is one. This is one type of pearl that has eluded me but maybe I can get something this harvest.
Thanks,
Ingykiz

 

[CortezPearls]

Yep! The person wearing that big pendant (named "Vita et Pax") is the model. It was a huge event held in Mexico City, with all the big names in the Mexican Jewelry Industry. Carlos Cabral (the designer, not model) is here at the farm right now for the harvest.

Got some photos of the harvest...

Keep in mind that these pearls have yet to undergo processing: yes, washing with tap water & drying. The colors seem subdued thanks to the protein still on the pearls.

 

[CortezPearls]

And now for photos of pearls...

 

[CortezPearls]

We always do the Tucson Gem Show in February (since 1994), but you may also contact TriGem Designs & Carolyn Ehret for pearls in the USA.

Try this link:
http://cortezpearl.com/home/

 

[Perle]

Great photos! Beautiful pearls ? and nice location shot!

Perle

 

[CortezPearls]

Finally some videos!

Everyone seems to be using YouTube these days...so I will ride the same wave. First video to be uploaded is the one about 2006's harvest of natural pearls (yes, natural fine pearls...no tricks here).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iM2S2Guqo80

The next one is of this year's harvest of cultured pearls...just a couple of pearls and a keshi are in this very basic video. They were part of the very first group of harvested Rainbow Lips (Pteria sterna).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7EL05e-X2jo

Another video post will take place tomorrow...about our recent seeding/grafting operation on Panamic Back-Lipped Oysters (Pinctada mazatlanica)...we will see the results in...26 more months.

 

[PearlStruck.com]

Beautiful! Are those Pteria sterna? In the video you mention a natural. Is it a bi-product, or was that a non-nucleated shell?

 

[pattye]

Thanks soooo much, Douglas!

Those are awesome photos and videos! How's the chocolate coming?
I can't imagine how gorgeous a strand of keishi would be--what sizes are they, do you get many?

Pattye
so many pearls, so little time

 

[Valeria101]

Any chance to have a big picture of the keshis in hand, b e-mail? (assuming it was higher resolution & larger and was formatted into this tantalizing post-stamp size for posting here ) ?

Not if there is any trouble involved, of course...

 

[CortezPearls]

Hello everyone,

Yes...all the pearls shown in the photos are from the Rainbow Lipped Oyster: Pteria sterna. In the case of the natural pearls...they are a by-product, but we have been able to identify these and then grow them for that purpose.
The keshis are coming out in an enormous variety of sizes. Down from 1 mm to about 8 mm.
Right now we are still harvesting...I will take photos of the creme-de-la-creme pearls: keshi, cultured and mab?, and post them by the end of the month.

Haven't seen any "cocoa" (real chocolate, not irradiated) pearls yet...but we've seen true blacks and also whites: but always with beautiful overtones of green and pink/violet.

Also, many rounds in 12 mm size!

BTW, here is the video of the seeding operation:

http://youtube.com/watch?v=svpYPUWaJpY

The video is at double speed to make it shorter.

 

[CortezPearls]

We have finished harvesting the Cultured pearls...these are my impressions of the harvest so far: Some 3.8 Kilos of good pearls. Baroques still make up for the majority of the harvest (70%), rounds represent less than 2%.

Colors: we have seen more light colored pearls this year, more in the silver-gray with light pink and blue overtones. But we also had a more orange-brown colored pearls (true cocoa, unadulterated chocolate) than in the previous year (reason: a warmer winter?). We saw less green colored pearls this year, and more true-golden pearls. Plenty of blacks and darker pearls. More overtones in the purple and violet.

Also: lots of Keshi pearls...have a pair that is beautiful: 2 incredible bullet shaped keshi with intense metallic luster.

But today we found something intense: a "Fish Eye" Pearl...a pearl with such an intense overtone that it looks as if...why describe it? Please have a look at it!

Hope this pearl will want to make you long for more photos.

I am one happy pearl farmer today!

 

[KAC]

amazing pearl, I think that almost solidfies my favorite pearl as cortez pearls. What size did it come in at?

 

[CortezPearls]

The pearl is a near-round pearl measuring 9.1 mm...graded as Gem+. It will fetch a price of some $650 USD at our store (retail price). It has a buyer already...

 

[Slraep]

Aye Caramba, Douglas!! It hurts just to look at the thing. What a wonderful pearl. Something Tahitian with similarly intense overtones in that approx. size will set you back at least 1500 USD here(wholesale). The fish eye is a bargain at 650 USD. Just try and find some Sea of Cortez pearls here and see where it gets you---nowhere. But of course, you know that.

Slraep

 

[xeresana]

I have a pair of Sea of Cortez earrings made by Carolyn and everyone loves them. The pearls seem to change color with what I wear. They can look silver, purple, or blue. They are just so stunning. I want to drape myself in them.

 

[jshepherd]

$650 certainly does not seem very high for B&M retail. Tahitians in that size of Gem quality would go for at least that, if not more.

 

[knotty panda]

To the Proud Papa! Museum quality, I'd say. Takes my breath away. Congratulations!