Freshadama questions

[Valeria101]

5% deviation is GIA' rule, right? Sounds harsh, but I could imagine seeing 5% diameter variation in a larger pearl, especially if all of that is on a single axis (roundish-towards-oval) or just towards one side (roundish-towards-button). Some pearls just seem to have bumps - wouldn't rally roll in every direction, but there' not enough deviation to see anywhere. I would not' know how to measure those to decide how much non-round they are in %... How does one grade roundness properly?


Wouldn't expect carbon-copy overtones in an untreated strand... Glad to hear you like the slight variation

Are the smaller purple pearls in the picture with four strands, also from Pearl Paradise?

 

[Casey.R]

Hi Valeria, it's the same strand but it does look like a different strand in the photo for some reason. It might be that there is a slight graduation and your seeing a part from the top and another part from the middle. It might also be a shadow. I used a flash in that photo and none in the other two.
The white ones on the end are akoyas from PP ( not hanadama or anything) and the white ones in the middle are freshwaters from stachura.

 

[Caitlin]

My lavender freshadamas look different on different days and in different lights. Sometimes they look lighter. They usuaally look like the picture in your hand.

I have a bracelet with some really, really purple metallic pearls,...(Pattye has seen them) Out of all my strands I was able to come up with about 5 pearls of true purple and they are way off round to baroque, so though my dream is to have a necklace all of that color-it would be horrendously expensive. That dark purple is really, really rare.

 

[Valeria101]

Hi Valeria, it's the same strand but it does look like a different strand in the photo for some reason.

Oh! funny that... they seem pretty different! Wow!

 

[Pearl Dreams]

I was hunting around online about the 5% deviation from round and came across this archive of Q&A's from PP (and I isolated a reply from Jeremy from one date):

http://pearlparadisefaq.blogspot.com/2007_04_29_archive.html

THURSDAY, MAY 24, 2007
Freshadama or Akoya

...Freshadama pearls are very close to round (less than 5% deviation)...

 

[Valeria101]

For the sake of the argument, 5% deviation from round looks like this:

The picture is crude...

I believe that on 3D this shows even less then in the 2D drawing - allot less. And looking for such small shape details on a 5mm pearl is quite a different deal then on 15mm (just visually, forget about how much harder is to obtain that 'perfect' ball in bigger pearls). And these are already the 'worst' cases.

I think that the historic 'eight-way-roller' idea of pearl roundness perfection refers to a stricter standard then the 5%: that button there doesn't look like it's rolling anywhere [an older thread has a video showing large SS pearls being rolled over to determine roundness beyond immediate visual appearances]

These being said: I am way more lenient then this about shape - I like to see some of those distinct natural pearl shapes

 

[silverseajewelry]

Hi. Casey, I have really high expectations of freshadama after participating here. I would also be disappointed with that strand, so don't second guess yourself.

 

[Caitlin]

Let me second 101
Un-nucleated pearls are rarely round. That 5% deviation is actually a very high standard- unmatched in the vast majority of natural pearls -which also were not nucleated.

Off round- is actually a signature, top of the line, look for un-nuked pearls of any kind. Even the Duchess of Windsor's or the Baroda pearls weren't within 5% of round. The Baroda pearls are actually baroque.

If you insist on round, you are better off going the PPB route. But it is better to learn to love those slightly off-round looks, for they bespeak the quality of not growing on a MoP bead. No PPB can ever achieve that slight off roundness that graces un-nuked pearls.

 

[xeresana]

My white freshadamas are *seriously* round. They look perfect. My lavender strand has more character. Though I bought the 7-8mm size both times, the white strand's pearls seem quite a bit larger. (Maybe the lavenders are more to the 7 side and white more to the 8?) The lavender pearls are not visibly round to my eyes (I'm a virgo, though - I'm supposed to be nutty with these things.) I decided to keep the lavender strand, because I really liked the color and the overtones. Here are my two strands -

 

[Casey.R]

Nice photos! I did contact someone from PP and I am going to exchange it for another strand.

 

[Casey.R]

Oh and they said some strands are just more round tthan others.

 

[pearllove]

Dear Casey.R,
You got me obsessively looking at my Freshadamas again. I have been staring at them for about 2 hours. I have three strands of the Freshadamas: 6-7mm white, 8-9mm pink and 8-9mm lavender. Of my three, the white strand is the most lustrous, but have the least rounds. The pink strand is better matched in color than the lavender, but is not as lustrous as the white or lavender strand. The lavender strand is lustrous, but the colors are not well matched. (I have a lavender bracelet and earrings as well and none of the colors match well. I actually like the color of the pearls in the bracelet the best as they are the darkest. I will be returning the lavender set for a better matched set.) To my eyes none of my strands look round when I look at them in my hands. However, when I wear them, they look round. In my experience after having purchased four sets of Freshadama pearls (two white, one pink and one lavender), there seems to be a lot of variation in luster among all Freshadamas and in colors among the colored Freshadamas. I will post some pictures tomorrow.

 

[pearllove]

Here are some pictures of my Freshadamas for comparison purposes. I find that the pinks and lavenders photograph darker than they actually are. The two photos of the earrings show the most accurate true to life colors.

6-7mm white Freshadama set

same strand next to AAA akoyas

8-9mm lavender Freshadama set

8-9mm pink Freshadama set

side by side comparisons

4 pairs of Freshadama earrings

 

[silverseajewelry]

Pearl love, yours look pretty round to me.

 

[pearllove]

Silverseajewelry, I think the luster helps to make the pearls look more round as well as hide surface blemishes. If you look at the strands in your hands the pearls definitely are not perfectly round.

 

[Raisondetre]

Very lovely. I do prefer the warmer glow of the freshadamas vs hanadamas though. I know I'm biased.

 

[GemGeek]

Pearllove, I enjoyed those photos immensely, thanks!

 

[jerin]

Hi Pearllove,

it seems to me that the pink Freshadamastrand has more round pearls than the lavendar, still I think they look overall very nice, the peach/pink one has nice luster too, at least not that I would return it. Perfect rounds in pearls without nucleus are perhaps possible but if PP does string all the perfect ones on just some of the strands, that would leave us other buyers with the ovalshaped ones and that wouldn?t be fair either.It is a give and take, I think, only PPB as the Akoyas are truly round and for now at least Freshadamas are the best you can get in Freshwaters.

BTW I think the Freshadamas hold their own very well in comparison to Your Akoyas reg luster. I hope you will be satisfied with what you get from PP next time. Let us know and thans for the photos.

 

[Pearl Dreams]

*musing*

If there are fewer lavenders and if they are also in greater demand than peaches and whites (as is my impression; I don't know if it's true) then the vendors would have to either use more of the off-rounds in the lavender strands to meet the the demand, or else cull out the off-rounds for other uses, thereby reducing the availability of lavender strands and maybe raising their price over that of the other colors.

 

[pearllove]

Jerin,
I love all my Freshadamas, especially the 6-7mm whites. They are so cute and just as lustrous as my AAA akoyas. I got these for my 16 month old daughter who is also a pearl lover. I am just exchanging my lavender set for a better matched one.