grading question from new member

[treepeony]

Hello,
I am new to pearls. I bought from PP a set of freshadama for my 19 daughter, and a beautiful single pearl SS golden pendent for my wife. Everyone was very happy
I got a lot of valuable information from here, and I am very grateful.
For our 10th wedding anniversery in June, I planned to get my wife a set of white SS pearls. Now I really can't afford those perfect ones that I have seen, so I saw that amongst the baroque style, some of the pearls are almost round on some necklaces, while on other necklaces the pearls were really baroque.
But the necklaces had similiar grades. So that's my question. Once a pearl is baroque, it doesn't matter how round it is, but other factors determine it's grade?
Jonathan

 

[jshepherd]

Hi Jonathan,
I waited a bit to answer this question hoping another seller would chime in but I will go ahead now anyway.

Shape is always factor in determining the value of South Sea pearls. The more round the pearls, the more valuable. But, shape does not determine the quality of the pearl. If a pearl is drop or semi-round, it may still have perfectly clean skin and high luster. South Sea and Tahitian pearl grading allows for other shapes to be categorized as A (or AAA depending on the system) provided the same grading criteria developed my the Ministry of Perliculture in French Polynesia is applied to White South Sea pearl grading as well.

I will see if I can scan up a GIE Perles de Tahiti grading chart to this thread.

 

[treepeony]

thanks

thanks

Hi Jeremy,
Everyone loved the pearls, thankyou.
I have really gotten interested myself.
I'm not sure I'd wear them, but there is something captivating about them. I would like to see this grading system. I see that it is french. If there is a link in french, that would also be fine. (rather than have to scan anything).
Are there people who collect pearls as a hobby?
Jonathan

 

[jshepherd]

I found one online that is quite good. The actual materials GIE gives away in Papeete and at the US shows are a bit more detailed. But you can get a pretty good understanding here.
http://www.perlesdetahiti.net/site/en/508.html

And yes, there are a lot of people who collect pearls as a hobby. I imagine a lot of people here on this forum do as a matter of fact.

 

[jerin]

Hi Jeremy,
Everyone loved the pearls, thankyou.
I have really gotten interested myself.
I'm not sure I'd wear them, but there is something captivating about them. I would like to see this grading system. I see that it is french. If there is a link in french, that would also be fine. (rather than have to scan anything).
Are there people who collect pearls as a hobby?
Jonathan

Hi Jonathan and welcome to our forum!
At the beginning we all start out as simple buyers of these beauties but as time goes by and we buy and buy we also become "collectors" as pearls have a habit to get one quite addicted! At first you want a certain type of pearl (SS, FW, Tahiti or Akoya) then You want different colours and shapes, very important too is to have different sizes to choose from... , you see the list goes on and on....

I started with freshwater pearls in different grades and personally they are my favorites because of their versatility, great prices and different looks and colours!

I haven?t got any white South Seas yet as I want round pearls and not baroques (only when it comes to SS), but as these pearls don?t come cheaply, I?ll have to wait until I can add some to my personal collection

 

[treepeony]

thanks

thanks

Jeremy,
Thanks for the link. I will study it.
By way of example, in looking at two items you have:

http://www.pearlparadise.com/detail.aspx?ID=1130
http://www.pearlparadise.com/detail.aspx?ID=1171
They are both "baroque", but the first loks like for the most part the pearls are semi round. The second had clearly baroque pearls. While the grades are AA for the first and >AA+ for the second. So it seemed to me that one could get semi round and save some money over the perfect rounds. That was where I was headed in my thinking.
Jonathan

Inge
Thanks Inge for the welcome. There are certain photos that I keep looking at over and over. There's a 22kt pendent with Keishi pearls that someone bought from Drusydesigns, that is just amazing. It was under a thread stop me from buying or something..
Jonathan

 

[GemGeek]

There are certain photos that I keep looking at over and over. There's a 22kt pendent with Keishi pearls that someone bought from Drusydesigns, that is just amazing. It was under a thread stop me from buying or something..

Hi Jonathan,

That would be my fault. If we share our pearls visually, we can all enjoy them. We can go back as many times as we want to see our favorites - I do! If you hadn't found this forum, you might have no idea that pearls were set in granulated high-karat gold. It definitely grows on you and its appeal is timeless.

One thing I like to do is check the "who's online" feature to see what people are looking at. I find a lot of cool threads that way. I started by looking through the forums for interesting threads, but this site is huge and it would be a full time job to read all the postings.

Welcome. I think you are well on your way to becoming a part of our community.

Cheers,
Blaire

 

[treepeony]

Well

Well

Blaire,
That piece with the 22kt gold and the irregular keishi pearls looked like it came right out of pirate's chest dug up on a deserted island.
I've thought of asking if Drusydesigns can get another ......
Jonathan

 

[GemGeek]

It can't hurt to ask! Carolyn Ehret is very nice. The pendant is small, but absolutely precious and I expect to enjoy it for a lifetime. Now I just have to find the right high-karat gold chain. With gold at $900.00, I couldn't find a worse time, but at least I can buy one wholesale in Tucson this February