Metallic Goldens - GSSPs or Golden Akoyas?

[perlas]

Recently, I've seen metallic goldens of 7.5mm-9mm that looks of natural color. They are not frequent and included in lots of varying luster and intensity of orient. In a lot, there will be 2-4 pearls with very high orient, and of different overtones so it is difficult to get a nice match.

They are being sold as golden south seas. The thing is, such strong orient is higher than usual for GSSPs as GSSPs are usually satiny so I would like opinions that they maybe golden akoyas? I have also seen golden akoyas in the past, and most are not a deep gold, so even natural bronze golden and deep gold akoyas are quite rare and usually not of such high orient (at least what I have seen in the past).

The strong orient pearls usually look bronze golden, and sometimes appear a bit with blue or green because of the orient - not body color. I have hand-picked the pearls myself and took the most lustrous with high orient, which is noticeable compared to other pearls in the lot.

Here is a photo and I have placed them together with GSSPs and an 18k gold ring for color and luster comparison. Subject pearls are top right and bottom left.

Top left: 11.8mm GSSPs
Top right: 9mm high orient, high luster golden pearls
Bottom left: 8mm high luster pearls, orient not as strong as top right
Bottom right: 7.8mm GSSPs



Here is another photo and as you can see, subject pearls based on surface have a thick nacre coating.

 

[Pearl Dreams]

Is there any chance these could be bead nucleated fwp?

Are any of the bead nuked FWP this size, or are they all larger?

 

[MSC]

Whatever they are they're gorgeous!

 

[Tucs]

The top right pair is absolutely exquisite!

 

[JerseyPearl]

I agree...gorgeous gold pearls!

 

[Katbran]

Wowser...I don't care what they are...I want em lol But I see what you mean .. those two pair are similar in colour( at least in the top photo) and it seems to be the body colour. I attached this GSS photo as your mystery ones make me think of this colour ( but you can see the green that you mentioned quite obviously in this one) . We might need more expert GSS eyes on these. ( gosh they are gorgeous tho !!)

 

[Baby-Love]

I have one GSSP that you can see the green quite obvious as well.

 

[kelluvpearls]

Gorgeous pearls, I like how the colours are not one dimensional!

 

[Sanippy]

Gorgeous pearls, whatever they are. I love the top right pair. Stunning!

 

[Katbran]

They are an interesting colour .. Do they look deep gold to,the eye ? There is a bronze tone in the photo.

 

[perlas]

Hi Pearl Dreams, I don't think they are FWPs with beads because of the fact that they are appealing, it would have been produced in bigger sizes with bigger beads by now, IMO. Also, yellow dyed FWPs looks very unnatural.

Hi Baby Love, I can see the green orient in your Pearl but I'm certain it is a GSSP, no doubt!

Hi Katbran, they look deep gold with a hint of bronze in a lot of deep golds. I noticed that the higher the orient, the pearls tend to get some bronze tinge. Nevertheless, the lot of small deep golds are lustrous (see smallest pair of studs in the photo). The orient all over the pearls mask the body color. I can compare it like seeing a soufflé in a FWP in round, smoother version, but ofcourse the colors on the soufflés are much more exaggerated.

Thanks, everyone. The pair is indeed gorgeous regardless of what they are. Pearl culturing techniques are still advancing and who knows, we may have rainbow akoyas or GSSPs commercially in the future. Not too long ago we have rice crispies instead of souffles, fireballs instead of Edisons, and ringed oblong FWPs instead of round metallics!

 

[Pearl Dreams]

perlas,

I guess I wondered if they could be FWP because of this metallic, golden natural colored FW pearl in my exotic strand that I bought from PP in 2008-- although this one doesn't have a bead nucleus. The gold color is not identical to that of my GSS, but is still golden.

This strand is 8-9mm and the gold pearl is just off-center, so in the same size range as yours. Could yours be non-bead nucleated FWP?

 

[perlas]

Hi Pearl Dreams,

Thank you for the photo. You have lovely exotics. I have also compared it with one of my strands of rainbow FWPs and one has a yellowish bronze color. The reason I did not consider FWP is the difference in orient. FWPs with high orient tend to have a pinkish purple to strong purple orient that I have not seen in SSPs. Also, the one of the subject pearls have sort of a chiseled surface common in thick nacred SSPs.

The rare golden FWPs don't look the same in person with the subject pearls although in my experience looking at golden FWPs in mixed color strands, they can be golden bronze rather than bronze golden (deep golden yellow to be the dominant body color). But then again I haven't seen your pearl in person and your golden pearl has such strong orient and luster it masks the body color!

Here are photos of the studs compared to a golden FWP with no bead. 1st photo, they almost look the same but the next two should show that the body color of the studs is closer to that of GSSPs and akoyas.





View attachment IMG 3377

 

[pattye]

Beautiful pearls, but I wouldn't guess on these~between the camera and monitor, colors aren't true.

 

[perlas]

Actually Pattye, even between the real pearl and the camera, especially in high luster, high orient pearls, the colors also aren't precise! It has been a challenge for the longest time. I also have only been taking photos via an iPad with no flash.

 

[pattye]

Perlas, Your photos are wonderful; I certainly didn't mean this as a criticism of them. My laptop monitor display isn't the best. I feel I will forever struggle with taking accurate photos. I don't have an IPad or an IPhone either. Maybe someday.

 

[perlas]

Pattye no offense taken. I was also just pointing out my limitations in taking photos. I do not have a professional camera and iPads do not have a flash so I always need natural light!

 

[Pearl Dreams]

You can get around the orient by submerging the pearls in water and then photographing. I'm using natural light, indoors (using a regular autofocus camera, nothing fancy).

Here are some photos I just took.

• The exotic FW strand submerged in water in a white bowl. The metallic gold pearl is the one between the pink and white pearls.
Interesting colors, no? I don't know what the body color is -- it seems like 3 different colors: blue, green and pink.

• The gold FW strand next to my GSS strand in a dry white bowl (this photo actually makes it ruddier than it looks to my eye), and also submerged in water. The color of the GSS doesn't change appreciably but the gold FWP certainly does. In other words, the gold color of this FWP is produced by orient-- it's not a body color.

 

[Pearl Dreams]

Here is another (dry) comparison of the gold FWP and the GSS to compare color; the gold FWP is definitely redder:

 

[perlas]

Nice input Pearl Dreams! I will try them tomorrow.