If you could only have five pieces, what would they be and why?

[Pomelo]

Pomelo, your danglies are a perfect example of knowing your own style, what you love and what you will wear. They look fantastic on you!

I have created a lot of opportunities for myself through travels and through getting to know so many wonderful people in the pearl world, and so often it’s just seeing something unexpectedly that I just have to have.

Oh my, if you’re working your way through the Show Us Your Pearls thread, you can understand why many of us can’t choose just 5 favorites!

Hehe thank you.

I’m having a lot of fun going through a few pages of the thread every night for inspiration

 

[lary007]

Interesting question... I think the tahitian strand I and pendant is mostly because of they are easy for me to wear. The edison ring and the souffle probably made the list for a mixture of what I wear frequently and because I view them as remarkable or something that would be harder to replicate. It's also important to note that it seems they would be hard to replicate right now. That could really change at any time!

I wear pearls almost every day to work and church, so most of my collection gets worn with some regularity. I wear the tahitian strand and the pendants a lot. The edison ring is a little more "precious" so I usually don't wear it to work, just nicer events. I do like to ogle all of my pearls, though. I have a lot of really special loose pearls that I just sit and stare at a lot since I can't really enjoy them any other way.

I have more casual pearls that get worn super often and just don't show up on this list because I think they're more easily replaced. Not that I want to get rid of them, but if I found myself at the point of having to sell them to make money they would be easier for me to replace later on if I had more money.

 

[Red]

I've been thinking about your challenge for the past few days, and I have finally narrowed it down to my five pearl pieces. I chose my favorite pieces from five categories: Earrings, pendant, short necklace, long necklace, and ring or bracelet.

1. Earrings. I wear pearl stud earrings almost every day. I have lots of different color studs, mostly from Pearl Paradise where I have spent time after many a Ruckus pairing up pearls for earrings. However, the perfect pair of studs, my go-to pair for every day, and the pair that I would save in case of fire, probably because they would already be in my ears, are my Sea of Cortez studs. They are simply the perfect color and the perfect size for everyday wear. I love how they frame the face. Here they are back in 2020.

And, here they are today. Enduring perfection.

2. Pendant. I have worn a pendant most days of my adult life. For years it was a silver medal, then a diamond and sapphire cross, but in recent years it has been a pearl. I picked up this souffle from Kojima many years ago, and it is an enduring favorite. I have not tired of this beauty. Here it is worn and shown with a beautiful souffle strand from Pearl Paradise. You can easily see why it remains a favorite with its beautiful colors.

3. Short necklace. My favorite short necklace is my Sea of Cortez keshi necklace. Pearls were purchased from Douglas, and pearls were drilled and set by Oceans Cove. I am wearing it in my first picture above, and here is the glamour photo. I like how it adds interest to nearly any top. that I'm wearing.

4. Long necklace. I have lots of choices here. I adore my Kamoka Harvest strand, my Pearl Paradise green Tahitian drops, but for long-lasting love and wearability I am going to select my Robert Wan multicolor round Tahitians. They can be two different lengths depending on whether I have on the detachable bracelet. These pearls can go fancy, and they can go everyday.

5. Ring or bracelet. I haven't been wearing rings or bracelets much since the COVID pandemic and all of the necessary hand washing. But, I am going to select my Sea of Cortez 'erotochromic' mabe ring by T Lee for my ring. Mabe pearl from Douglas, of course. I love looking at this gorgeous pearl. The ring has a low profile that makes it more wearable for everyday.

Finally, if I could add a bracelet, I'd pick my Fijis. Love these colorful pearls.

Thank you for this exercise. To make my choices I focused on pieces that I have enjoyed for years, and know that I will enjoy for many years to come.

 

[BWeaves]

Red! Great to see you and your beautiful, unique pearls again.

I find I wear a certain pieces several times in a row, and then I force myself to wear something I haven't worn in a while. Then I end up wearing the next piece several times in a row, but I try to switch out different earrings, and layering pieces. Lather, rinse, repeat.

 

[CathyKeshi]

This is a wonderful thread! I've been thinking about it for days What a treat to see everyone's thoughts and choices, or inability to choose ... so far I'm in with the latter ... But categories of favorites for me would definitely include Gold South Sea and especially my original Harvest Strand; Fiji pearls from strands to keshi to all time favorite earrings; Kasumi ... everything; Sea of Cortez everything and especially my "fairy princess" keshi necklace; Multi-Color Tahitians; Multi-Color Akoyas; Anything Keshi ... and now I add in who made each piece, or grew the pearls, or found the pearls in a treasure hunt in a far away place, or who helped me choose or ... okay, I've failed this challenge gloriously.

 

[Pearls&Pugs]

This is such a fun challenge. I’m a fairly new collector myself, as I have only just started purchasing pearls over the past few years. I’m going to try to answer, and I’m excited to see how my answer changes years from now.

At the moment, my favourite pieces consist of either those with strong sentimental value or those that I worked very hard to save for. My love of pearls was inspired by a beautiful pair of black Tahitians that my husband (at the time, fiancé) bought me for Christmas. This pair started my madness for pearls, and I treasure them because my sweet husband diligently researched pearls and saved-up to buy them for me.

The second pearl item I treasure is my pair of wedding earrings. I used the excuse of my wedding to splurge on some beautiful white south sea earrings from Pearl Paradise, and I made a matching triple-strand freshwater bracelet to match. My dress had a halter neckline, and so the south sea earrings were the perfect highlight to my wedding ensemble. Needless to say, there is a lot of sentimental value attached to them!

My third choice would be my strand of round/near round 8mm green Tahitians from CMW. I love mermaid colours, and so when I began learning about the brilliant range of colours Tahitians could have, I knew I had to have a strand of green/blue Tahitians someday. Luckily, CMW had the most stunning strand available, called the “jinx” strand, and after agonizing over the purchase for a long while, I decided to take the plunge. And I have no regrets! Its colour is so vibrant and the pearls are lovely, lustrous, and smooth! They are so very much like how I imagine mermaid-scales to look!

The fourth choice for me would be my strand of golden South Sea pearls. I also adore golden jewellery, and I was thrilled to learn that pearls can have such beautiful metallic gold hues! How incredible is it that nature can produce such a gem?! Anyways, I really wanted to have a strand of golden south seas, but I never thought that it would be in my price range. But Jun at JNB had a gorgeous strand of light/medium gold baroques for sale, and I couldn’t resist the temptation. It landed me on ban-island, but it’s so much fun to wear this strand that I feel the enjoyment is worth it in the end!

The final piece I’d choose is probably my baroque Akoya earrings that I made myself with pearls from Druzy. They are wrapped with gold-filled wire and attached to gold-filled and CZ findings. I have a matching necklace that I made with the rest of the pearls (it was a set of 6 pearls), but the earrings are so much more wearable, so I think that they would be the item I choose. So blue!

As you can probably tell, I’m an earring and necklace girl. I love bracelets and rings too, but I find them inconvenient for daily wear. I’m looking forward to seeing if this preference too changes with time!

 

[jeg]

I love this thread, Pomelo! Your question has generated posts from long timers as well as those of you fairly new to posting on PG. I am really enjoying seeing everyone’s choices and/or hearing their thoughts.

Where have you been hiding Pearls&Pugs? I am very sentimental about pearls, too, and I would have a hard time not including pearls that have special meaning or were special gifts. Your choices are lovely!

I think we should try to come up with a question of the month!

 

[Pearls&Pugs]

Thank you, Jeg! I can be shy at times, but I am trying to challenge myself to be more outspoken. This friendly forum seems like the perfect place to help build some confidence!

 

[CatMom]

I can't pick just 5 individual pieces so I am going to go with 5 types that I wear the most:

1. Tahitians - I haven't met a Tahitian yet that I didn't love.
2. Blue Akoyas - Blue has always been my favorite color
3. White Akoyas - Classic
4. Golden SSs - I just really like them, lol.
5. Copper/Lavender/Mauve Metallic Edison FWs - Perfect for Summer/Fall.

 

[BWeaves]

I can't pick just 5 individual pieces so I am going to go with 5 types that I wear the most:

1. Tahitians - I haven't met a Tahitian yet that I didn't love.
2. Blue Akoyas - Blue has always been my favorite color
3. White Akoyas - Classic
4. Golden SSs - I just really like them, lol.
5. Copper/Lavender/Mauve Metallic Edison FWs - Perfect for Summer/Fall.

Well, that covers almost everything, hahaha.

 

[eolian pearls]

Such a tricky tricky question!!!
I have been thinking about this for days too;-) Many hard choices to make
So here it goes :

pearl type - Tahitians are the ones that started my pearl obsession, blue akoyas are very close second favorites, I dont have budget for a strand of SOCs but the two mabes I have are my third favorites together with my gem luster WSSP drop. Luckily goldens dont work for my complexion and freshwater pearls are lovely but the easiest to give up for me.

pearl shape - I love baroques and circles in earrings and bracelets, for necklaces I prefer ovals or drops.

classics versus edgier pieces - My casual lifestyle favors light layering pieces as opposed to full strands of pearls, my lovely white akoya necklace from Takahashi is actually my least worn piece, I only had it once on last year. My dark Tahitian strand gets more wear but still not as much as tin cups, pendants, floating pearls...

favorite pieces versus most worn pieces - I love love LOVE my Tahitian Love necklace I know every pearl on it by heart as I slowly collected them all but again...it is my second least worn piece...The same goes for my silver blue akoya strand from Takahashi...I love looking at all the colors changing but I never really wear it...

Hmmm...my final 5...

Necklaces - Bliss rope is an easy choice, I wear ropes a lot and this one features so many of my favorite colored pearls.

SOC mabe necklace, a very special pearl and sentimental necklace as I bought it with the money gifted by my Grandmother.

Bracelet - “Tahitian harvest bracelet” different colors, different shapes, my most worn T barcelet together with a floating pearl on leather (my daily go-to) so I would keep my baroque akoya floating pearl which can be a necklace and a bracelet too.

Earrings - I love love love pearls and gemstone combinations and I have quite a large earrings collection but only for one piece here I would with pistacchio, silver akoya and blue T combination.

This was so so hard!!! I am happy I wont have to make this choice IRL ;-)))

Thinking about advice for new pearl collectors I would say try to see as many different pearls as you can and put them against your skin, pearls look different on pictures and then can either become alive when you wear them or you realize the color doesnt really work for you. This was a case for peacock Ts for me, I love looking at them but they never look as good as lighter pastel pearls on me. As you see more pearls IRL you will discover what your preferences are re-shapes, colors, size...

And go with recommended pearl sellers that have return policy because A) quality pearls can get pricey and you really should only get what you really love on you and B) it doesnt make sense to be stuck with “great deal pearls” that have bla luster and colors...

 

[Pomelo]

I've been thinking about your challenge for the past few days, and I have finally narrowed it down to my five pearl pieces. I chose my favorite pieces from five categories: Earrings, pendant, short necklace, long necklace, and ring or bracelet.

1. Earrings. I wear pearl stud earrings almost every day. I have lots of different color studs, mostly from Pearl Paradise where I have spent time after many a Ruckus pairing up pearls for earrings. However, the perfect pair of studs, my go-to pair for every day, and the pair that I would save in case of fire, probably because they would already be in my ears, are my Sea of Cortez studs. They are simply the perfect color and the perfect size for everyday wear. I love how they frame the face. Here they are back in 2020.

View attachment 469610

And, here they are today. Enduring perfection.

View attachment 469611

2. Pendant. I have worn a pendant most days of my adult life. For years it was a silver medal, then a diamond and sapphire cross, but in recent years it has been a pearl. I picked up this souffle from Kojima many years ago, and it is an enduring favorite. I have not tired of this beauty. Here it is worn and shown with a beautiful souffle strand from Pearl Paradise. You can easily see why it remains a favorite with its beautiful colors.View attachment 469613View attachment 469612

3. Short necklace. My favorite short necklace is my Sea of Cortez keshi necklace. Pearls were purchased from Douglas, and pearls were drilled and set by Oceans Cove. I am wearing it in my first picture above, and here is the glamour photo. I like how it adds interest to nearly any top. that I'm wearing.

View attachment 469614

4. Long necklace. I have lots of choices here. I adore my Kamoka Harvest strand, my Pearl Paradise green Tahitian drops, but for long-lasting love and wearability I am going to select my Robert Wan multicolor round Tahitians. They can be two different lengths depending on whether I have on the detachable bracelet. These pearls can go fancy, and they can go everyday.

View attachment 469615
View attachment 469616

5. Ring or bracelet. I haven't been wearing rings or bracelets much since the COVID pandemic and all of the necessary hand washing. But, I am going to select my Sea of Cortez 'erotochromic' mabe ring by T Lee for my ring. Mabe pearl from Douglas, of course. I love looking at this gorgeous pearl. The ring has a low profile that makes it more wearable for everyday.

View attachment 469617

Finally, if I could add a bracelet, I'd pick my Fijis. Love these colorful pearls.

View attachment 469618

Thank you for this exercise. To make my choices I focused on pieces that I have enjoyed for years, and know that I will enjoy for many years to come.

Oof Red, where do I start?! Thank you for putting so much thought into this!

“Enduring perfection” is a wonderful phrase and I love the connotation it has that (1) it’s perfect for us as individuals and (2) we are at peace with the piece, with no desire to tweak or upgrade. I think it’s hard to not compare/want something new and shiny.

Your SoC pieces are beautiful - and erotochromatic is such a good word for your mabe! I must find a way of seeing SoC and Fiji pearls in real life.

 

[Pomelo]

Interesting question... I think the tahitian strand I and pendant is mostly because of they are easy for me to wear. The edison ring and the souffle probably made the list for a mixture of what I wear frequently and because I view them as remarkable or something that would be harder to replicate. It's also important to note that it seems they would be hard to replicate right now. That could really change at any time!

I wear pearls almost every day to work and church, so most of my collection gets worn with some regularity. I wear the tahitian strand and the pendants a lot. The edison ring is a little more "precious" so I usually don't wear it to work, just nicer events. I do like to ogle all of my pearls, though. I have a lot of really special loose pearls that I just sit and stare at a lot since I can't really enjoy them any other way.

I have more casual pearls that get worn super often and just don't show up on this list because I think they're more easily replaced. Not that I want to get rid of them, but if I found myself at the point of having to sell them to make money they would be easier for me to replace later on if I had more money.

I found myself nodding along to your point about remarkability (which I am told is not a word) and replicatibility (which is also not a word haha). I think this is why I get particularly excited about vintage/discontinued signed pieces.

Have you posted your loose pearls anywhere so we can ogle at them too? And do you plan on setting them or prefer them loose?

 

[Pomelo]

This is such a fun challenge. I’m a fairly new collector myself, as I have only just started purchasing pearls over the past few years. I’m going to try to answer, and I’m excited to see how my answer changes years from now.

At the moment, my favourite pieces consist of either those with strong sentimental value or those that I worked very hard to save for. My love of pearls was inspired by a beautiful pair of black Tahitians that my husband (at the time, fiancé) bought me for Christmas. This pair started my madness for pearls, and I treasure them because my sweet husband diligently researched pearls and saved-up to buy them for me.

The second pearl item I treasure is my pair of wedding earrings. I used the excuse of my wedding to splurge on some beautiful white south sea earrings from Pearl Paradise, and I made a matching triple-strand freshwater bracelet to match. My dress had a halter neckline, and so the south sea earrings were the perfect highlight to my wedding ensemble. Needless to say, there is a lot of sentimental value attached to them!

My third choice would be my strand of round/near round 8mm green Tahitians from CMW. I love mermaid colours, and so when I began learning about the brilliant range of colours Tahitians could have, I knew I had to have a strand of green/blue Tahitians someday. Luckily, CMW had the most stunning strand available, called the “jinx” strand, and after agonizing over the purchase for a long while, I decided to take the plunge. And I have no regrets! Its colour is so vibrant and the pearls are lovely, lustrous, and smooth! They are so very much like how I imagine mermaid-scales to look!

The fourth choice for me would be my strand of golden South Sea pearls. I also adore golden jewellery, and I was thrilled to learn that pearls can have such beautiful metallic gold hues! How incredible is it that nature can produce such a gem?! Anyways, I really wanted to have a strand of golden south seas, but I never thought that it would be in my price range. But Jun at JNB had a gorgeous strand of light/medium gold baroques for sale, and I couldn’t resist the temptation. It landed me on ban-island, but it’s so much fun to wear this strand that I feel the enjoyment is worth it in the end!

The final piece I’d choose is probably my baroque Akoya earrings that I made myself with pearls from Druzy. They are wrapped with gold-filled wire and attached to gold-filled and CZ findings. I have a matching necklace that I made with the rest of the pearls (it was a set of 6 pearls), but the earrings are so much more wearable, so I think that they would be the item I choose. So blue!

As you can probably tell, I’m an earring and necklace girl. I love bracelets and rings too, but I find them inconvenient for daily wear. I’m looking forward to seeing if this preference too changes with time!

Thanks @Pearls&Pugs , and yes - would love to track our preferences over time! Some of the finer vintaged responses have mentioned how their tastes evolved.

Your earrings are beautiful but oh my, the mermaid Tahitians with their stunning blues and greens. Just wondering how you found their online photography to translate into real life? I’m hesitant to buy Tahitians when there is international shipping/returns involved.

 

[Pomelo]

This is a wonderful thread! I've been thinking about it for days What a treat to see everyone's thoughts and choices, or inability to choose ... so far I'm in with the latter ... But categories of favorites for me would definitely include Gold South Sea and especially my original Harvest Strand; Fiji pearls from strands to keshi to all time favorite earrings; Kasumi ... everything; Sea of Cortez everything and especially my "fairy princess" keshi necklace; Multi-Color Tahitians; Multi-Color Akoyas; Anything Keshi ... and now I add in who made each piece, or grew the pearls, or found the pearls in a treasure hunt in a far away place, or who helped me choose or ... okay, I've failed this challenge gloriously.

Hahaha I wonder if some of us are more “collectors” by nature, and others are “editors”?

The collectors derive enjoyment from having allll the different specimens, whereas the editors enjoy parsing through things to have just a few.

I am an editor by nature - my brain wouldn’t be able to handle having all the different colours of Tahitians, for example. Even with multicolour strands, my brain just fizzles when taking in all the colours!

 

[Pomelo]

Such a tricky tricky question!!!
I have been thinking about this for days too;-) Many hard choices to make
So here it goes :

pearl type - Tahitians are the ones that started my pearl obsession, blue akoyas are very close second favorites, I dont have budget for a strand of SOCs but the two mabes I have are my third favorites together with my gem luster WSSP drop. Luckily goldens dont work for my complexion and freshwater pearls are lovely but the easiest to give up for me.

pearl shape - I love baroques and circles in earrings and bracelets, for necklaces I prefer ovals or drops.

classics versus edgier pieces - My casual lifestyle favors light layering pieces as opposed to full strands of pearls, my lovely white akoya necklace from Takahashi is actually my least worn piece, I only had it once on last year. My dark Tahitian strand gets more wear but still not as much as tin cups, pendants, floating pearls...

favorite pieces versus most worn pieces - I love love LOVE my Tahitian Love necklace I know every pearl on it by heart as I slowly collected them all but again...it is my second least worn piece...The same goes for my silver blue akoya strand from Takahashi...I love looking at all the colors changing but I never really wear it...

Hmmm...my final 5...

Necklaces - Bliss rope is an easy choice, I wear ropes a lot and this one features so many of my favorite colored pearls.View attachment 469653View attachment 469654

SOC mabe necklace, a very special pearl and sentimental necklace as I bought it with the money gifted by my Grandmother.
View attachment 469655

Bracelet - “Tahitian harvest bracelet” different colors, different shapes, my most worn T barcelet together with a floating pearl on leather (my daily go-to) so I would keep my baroque akoya floating pearl which can be a necklace and a bracelet too.View attachment 469656
View attachment 469657
Earrings - I love love love pearls and gemstone combinations and I have quite a large earrings collection but only for one piece here I would with pistacchio, silver akoya and blue T combination.
View attachment 469658
This was so so hard!!! I am happy I wont have to make this choice IRL ;-)))

Thinking about advice for new pearl collectors I would say try to see as many different pearls as you can and put them against your skin, pearls look different on pictures and then can either become alive when you wear them or you realize the color doesnt really work for you. This was a case for peacock Ts for me, I love looking at them but they never look as good as lighter pastel pearls on me. As you see more pearls IRL you will discover what your preferences are re-shapes, colors, size...

And go with recommended pearl sellers that have return policy because A) quality pearls can get pricey and you really should only get what you really love on you and B) it doesnt make sense to be stuck with “great deal pearls” that have bla luster and colors...

Thank you @eolian pearls for your reply, you maybe have noticed that I am going through the 1000+ pages of Show Me Your Pearls and may have liked a few (okay, a lot) of your photos haha.

I can’t imagine the amount of work/love that goes into making your Love or Bliss strand! The pearls are lovely and the ombré is sublime.

And that baroque floating pearl has amazing colour and lustre! My bar for baroque akoyas has just jumped 10x

Very interesting that you point out you have some pearls that you love looking at but don’t wear. I have this same issue! I’d buy something, look at it and photograph it, savour the real-life and on-screen images, but know I won’t reach for them. And your advice about trying on as much as you can is the perfect excuse to do some more shopping…

 

[Pearls&Pugs]

Thanks @Pearls&Pugs , and yes - would love to track our preferences over time! Some of the finer vintaged responses have mentioned how their tastes evolved.

Your earrings are beautiful but oh my, the mermaid Tahitians with their stunning blues and greens. Just wondering how you found their online photography to translate into real life? I’m hesitant to buy Tahitians when there is international shipping/returns involved.

Thanks, Pomelo!

I was also nervous to purchase internationally, but I saw that a lot of members here had nice strands from CMW, so I took the chance. And I was so happy when I opened the box upon arrival and saw that the green Tahitians were as colourful and bright as they looked on the website! Every time I take the strand out to wear, I whisper “wow!” under my breath, which I think is the mark of a good purchase!

I’m still learning how to take nice photos of my pearls (I’m doing some experimenting at the moment), and so I can’t quite capture the vivid green colour of my pearls yet. I’d share the original website photos for comparison, but I think it might violate the rules of the forum since they’re not my own photographs (is that the case?).

 

[Pearl Dreams]

@Pearls&Pugs,

I think it's fine; just credit the website for the photo or post the actual web page where the photo is found.

 

[Pearls&Pugs]

Thank you for the clarification, Pearl Dreams!

Pomelo, here are two pictures of my mermaid Tahitians that I saved from CMW’s website. I won’t post the link though, since I believe it is now invalid. I think these show how the colours in the photos are accurate. Here’s one of my own pictures for comparison as well.

 

[Pomelo]

Thank you for the clarification, Pearl Dreams!

Pomelo, here are two pictures of my mermaid Tahitians that I saved from CMW’s website. I won’t post the link though, since I believe it is now invalid. I think these show how the colours in the photos are accurate. Here’s one of my own pictures for comparison as well.View attachment 469682View attachment 469679View attachment 469680

Wow I think these look even better “in real life” than their photos!

Oh dear, CMW’s website has now become a danger zone…