Cultured South Sea pearls from Mergui

[vincent pardieu]

Hi all,
I would like to invite you to visit the expedition report I just put online on my website regarding my visit to a cultured south sea pearl farm in Mergui in December 2007:

http://www.fieldgemology.org/Gemology%20burma%20myanmar%20mergui%20pearl%20south%20sea.php

I hope that you will appreciate the visit as if we found out that Mergui produce some interesting pearls, we were really touched by the Mergui people:

A report about this expedition was also published in the last issue of Jewelry News Asia.
Wishing you a nice visit,

All the best,

 

[Caitlin]

That was a fabulous visit to Mergui- altogether a really interesting and detailed article with wonderful photos and videos. Thanks for posting the link!

What happens after the cultured pearls are removed from the shells? Where are they sold? Do they lose their identity as pearls from Mergui to the more encompassing South Sea Pearls?

 

[Valeria101]

Hi!

Good to hear that your taste for travel is getting it's due

Quick question...

You write:

"It was very interesting to see as in the following photograph the result from a random harvest: These pearls were produced by oysters grafted the same day by the same technician and they stayed for the same period in the water the same cage: [...] U Myint Lwin explained to us that [...] the difference in size seems to be mainly due to the host oyster"

Does this mean that the nuclei of these pearls are all the same size and the quantity of nacre deposed on them accounts for the (vast) difference of size between the pearls?

 

[GemGeek]

Thanks, Vincent, for sharing your article. It's very welcome here at the Pearl-Guide forum. The photographs are stunning and give an intimate look into the lives of the Mergui people.

Cheers,
Blaire

 

[gravityalwayswins]

Did anyone notice in the video showing the preparation of the grafting tissue, it appears the man doing the implant at the end of the video is using dental tools for insertion of the grafting tissue?! Is this normally what the farms use? On one hand, it's an ingenious answer to a "what has EXACTLY the shape and size we want?", but on the other hand, I'll be thinking about that next time I go to the dentist and think about them using those tools in something other than my mouth.

 

[pattye]

Hi Vincent,

Adding my thanks for sharing your photos, narrative and videos of your remarkable journey. It makes me appreciate my beautiful pearls all that much more.

Pattye
so many pearls, so little time

 

[vincent pardieu]

That was a fabulous visit to Mergui- altogether a really interesting and detailed article with wonderful photos and videos. Thanks for posting the link!

Thanks Caitlin, I'm happy to read that you appreciated it.

What happens after the cultured pearls are removed from the shells? Where are they sold? Do they lose their identity as pearls from Mergui to the more encompassing South Sea Pearls?

Yes, to my knowledge most of them loose their identity as pearls from Mergui when they reach pearl trading centers like Hong Kong or Japan.

All the best,

 

[vincent pardieu]

Does this mean that the nuclei of these pearls are all the same size and the quantity of nacre deposed on them accounts for the (vast) difference of size between the pearls?

Yes and no: We could witness that the size of the nuclei which are inserted is not the same for all oysters.
It also seems that the thickness of the nacre produced by 2 oysters might be different even if they were grafted the same day and spent the apparently the same time in the water in the same conditions. I mean that it seems that the thickness of the nacre also seems to depends of the oyster stamina.

All the best,

 

[vincent pardieu]

Thanks Vincent, for sharing your article. It's very welcome here at the Pearl-Guide forum. The photographs are stunning and give an intimate look into the lives of the Mergui people.

Adding my thanks for sharing your photos, narrative and videos of your remarkable journey. It makes me appreciate my beautiful pearls all that much more.

Dear GemGeek and pattye,
Thanks for these nice comments, I will be very happy if these reports makes you appreciate more your pearls: Personally this visit has also really increased the interest I had for pearls in general and South Sea pearls in particular. I hope also that these photos of the Burmese people we met will also make people around discover and appreciate as much as we did the Mergui people which were very welcoming and kind to us. It was really easy to become crazy about pearls meeting such nice people and such a beautiful archipelago!
All the best,

 

[john675]

What a wonderful, and thorough, presentation. Thank you for posting it here and sharing it with us. I like the rings that two of you have - they are great settings for lovely pearls!
John