I found a purple pearl in a clam I was eating-The Quahog Thread

[jshepherd]

It sounds like a quahog pearl. I think you may mean Arthur DeMello not Anthony. I don't know the guy, but a quick Google search points to Arthur. After cross-searching his name with pearls I found this page. From the few pearl questions I have found answered by Mr. DeMello online, I would venture to say he is more of a stone appraiser (and appears to be a very good one) than pearl appraiser.

His answer about the quahog at the link above tells me he does not have any real knowledge about quahogs. Calling it a purple quahog and misspelling quahog are the first two clues. Then his monetary answer seems only tied to the $14 (or so) brooch that was found a few years ago - the one that had Matlin's impossible valuation attached to it. That piece has not yet sold, from what I understand. But many, many other pieces have sold, and 2007 featured a lot of quahogs in Tucson. This means there is some degree of market pricing, but only a few sellers would understand it well.

My gut tells me that not a lot of wholesalers would be interested in a 3 mm quahog. It would sell better by the carat as part of a lot. And it would have to be a part of a lot to really interest a wholesale buyer. It may then go for an average price of a few hundred dollars per carat. How the buyer would then value a single small stone would vary. But it would not affect the overall cost of the lot by more than $100 or so.

Unfortunately a 3 mm quahog pearl is going to have very little value regardless of the quality.

 

[Caitlin]

Quahogs in the Sea of Cortez???

 

[knotty panda]

They migrated south for the winter and forgot to steer clear of the nets. Hey! It could happen!

 

[jshepherd]

Well, one can be quite certain you are not going to eat a plate of 70 Pteria sterna or Pinctada mazatlanica. Well maybe... but only if you travel to Mexico with Fear Factor.

 

[robbo46]

West Coast ( Seattle ) Purple Pearl

West Coast ( Seattle ) Purple Pearl

Ok. ANOTHER purple pearl from a clam. But this clam is what we northwest people call a butter or steamer clam. We got it about 9 years ago from the Key Peninsula near Seattle. It is almost perfectly round 5.87-6.00-6.01-5.89mm approx 1.50 ct. purple with a very high lustre. Until the article we saw from East Coast it had been sitting in a bag in her jewelry drawer. Now we'd like some answers. The dept. of fisheries says quahogs are not here. Any Takers?

 

[Raisondetre]

Takers as in sale or providing an explanation of why it's there? Advertising on this forum is not allowed. I hope this is cleaned up soon. We should have a report spam button.

 

[Caitlin]

butter or steamer clam

Do you have a more formal name for the clam than that? What color is the inside of the shell?

We love to see a picture of the pearl.

 

[Slraep]

Now we'd like some answers. The dept. of fisheries says quahogs are not here. Any Takers?

Hello robbo,

Could be the Protothaca staminea, also called rock clam, black clam, native little neck or steamer, or the white clam (Saxidomus giganteus) also called the butter clam. There is the Manila clam (Venerupis japonica or Tapes japonica), a small, dark-shelled, one hinged clam that is almost always what people get when they order steamed clams in Seattle.

Got the info from Ivar's acres of Clams resto.

Slraep

 

[robbo46]

Takers Explanation

Takers Explanation

Takers as in sale or providing an explanation of why it's there? Advertising on this forum is not allowed. I hope this is cleaned up soon. We should have a report spam button.

I am asking for help if anyone on this forum has heard of purple pearls in the Northwest No Advertising Implied Sorry

 

[Barbara Durham]

Sea of Cortez pearl

Sea of Cortez pearl

Thanks, Jeremy, for your replies and effort. Yes, his name's Arthur, not Anthony. It's such a perfect shape and pretty color, though. Sorry for the poor quality picture. I know 70 clams sounds gluttonous, but they're small, and SO good. He must import them (which he denies), but I'd only heard of pearls in clams from the Atlantic coast. Barb

 

[Satine De La Courcel]

A New Jersey man foudn a pearl in his steamed clams just liek teh Florida couple found in their steamed clams...

http://www.wcbs880.com/New-Jersey-Man-Finds-Pearl-in-Oyster-Dinner/1465693


cheers
Ash

 

[microshnik]

I see that advertising is not allowed here, but is asking if anyone is willing to sell? (If not, I suppose no one is likely to see this. )

I am a Rhode Island native and resident. In all the years my parents dove for quahogs to make their own clam chowder, they never found a pearl, so I had no idea such a thing existed. I am now an amateur collector of natural jewel stones (rough precious and semi-precious minerals, as well as unaltered pearls), and was really taken aback when I discovered an eBay listing for a quahog pearl. A little research showed that people like to set the really stunning purple ones in jewelry, so I feel I would be remiss if I did not try to acquire one.

However, I was also rather shocked at the asking price -- the listing I found was "buy it now" for $10,000! This one was a good size -- 9mm long -- but not what you would call pretty. I watched it come down in price over the course of several weeks to $250, and I decided that if it came down to $150 I would buy it. Sadly, someone else went for it at $250.

So I've seen the estimates at their rarety, and the resulting estimates of their value make sense in that light -- if you were to buy enough clams to search through them and find a gorgeous purple pearl, you could easily end up spending hundreds of thousands of dollars. But it seems the market won't bear such prices, for whatever reasons. I know I personally would love to own one, but I certainly don't want to have to mortgage my house to buy it!

Which leads me to the point of this post. There are currently two more pearls on eBay:
- a gorgeous dark purple but absurdly tiny (I estimate 2mm) one starting at $100 ("rare extremely dark quahog pearl")
- a large (9mm) but less colorful one starting at $5000 ("Quahog pearl with lavender spot!")
I have found others for sale here, but again they're looking for $5000 or "a reasonable offer". Based on what I've seen and heard, the people who are interested in acquiring a quahog pearl aren't really willing to shell out (pun very much intended ) anything close to the "real" value of these pearls, so I imagine I will get to watch these prices come down. Maybe I'll get lucky this time.

In the mean time, I'm looking for something on the less-pricey side, and I realize I will probably have to forfeit quality and/or size to meet the price. I have no intention of reselling it or mounting it in jewelry -- I feel very strongly that it is sacrilege to drill an unblemished pearl! If you have something you're willing sell, I'd love see pictures. Bear in mind that my theoretical maximum price is $150, which I know is rather on the cheap side. I can only hope that someone out there will be more interested in the money than the natural beauty of these little wonders.

-Mandy

 

[microshnik]

My pearl is dark purple, looks like a mini M&M, only 3mm but uniform.

Sitting next to that dime, it looks to be more like 5mm. Did you have it measured? Do you have a carat weight for it?

-Mandy

 

[Barbara Durham]

You're right, Mandy!

You're right, Mandy!

I just measured it myself, it's actually almost 6mm! It's not going for $150, though, not yet. I'm in Mexico for the winter and will take it to a gemologist when we get back to the states in April. Stay tuned!
Barb

 

[Caitlin]

Hi Mandy
I think the lower end of the range is the realistic one. $250.00 should be top dollar for one that isn't pretty. People tend to overvalue their own quahog pearls. The tiny ones should be around $50.00 I actually got a couple of teensy natural pteria sterna pearls (From the Sea of Cortez) Through the American Pearl Company at about $40 a carat- that was $56 for both pearls about 2mm each in size.

Since pteria sterna pearls are really beautiful- they are naturally black pearls, nacreous with overtones- and Quahog pearls are not usually so pretty, I would not pay more for a clam pearl than a natural pearl! (unless it was both exceptionally large and beautiful).

 

[jshepherd]

I have done some research recently into the wholesale value of quahog pearls. This does not easily translate to retail value yet, but I have an idea of what they should sell for now. I wanted this information because we get so many emails from people who have found these purple pearls. Every time one of these 'finds' makes the news, people start to come out of the woodwork with pearls they had found years ago, or little rocks or even pearls they have just found recently.

The high valuations like the $25,000 valuation of the quahog in Florida recently is completely bogus. The pearls are not as rare as that. Typically they will sell in the range of $200-$600 per carat. At $600 per carat they have to be something really special. If they are of poor quality, like the $5000 eBay pearl, a wholesale buyer may only pay in the range of $100 per carat.

I got this information from a large buyer of quahog pearls, one that even has a complete, perfectly matched strand that is not currently set. Something like this may command a price in the $100,000 range. Also, pairs and triples can command a high premium.

 

[boo]

Hi, Mandy! Good luck with your hunt. I also have a great fondness for Quahogs, having grown up on Long Island Sound. I would love to have a small quahog pearl just for the coolness/sentimentality factor, but alas, I keep finding other pearls to spend my money on For now, I will just have to stick with the "worry stone" shell fragments I collected as a young girl.

 

[robbo46]

NW Purple Pearl

NW Purple Pearl

Do you have a more formal name for the clam than that? What color is the inside of the shell?

We love to see a picture of the pearl.

Here Is a pic of the pearl from steamer clam.

 

[robbo46]

Purple Pearl

Purple Pearl

The picture I just posted does not show the true color of the pearl. The color is a very consistant eggplant color. It is perfectly round (5.87-6.00-6.01-5.89) and approx. 1 1/2 cts. This came from a steamer clam we picked from a pacific northwest beach approx. 9 years ago.

 

[Barbara Durham]

I'm ready to have my purple pearl appraised, but have googled to no avail in the Minneapolis area for a pearl appraiser. Not that just any appraiser would have knowledge of the Quahogs. Can anyone direct me to an appraiser, even if I have to mail it?
Barb Durham