Ripple pearls

[bluidragon]

When I watched the short video on picking out ripple pearls he mentioned he looked for luster, color.... he pointed out that he tried to avoid pearls wth pits and blemishes. My question is when did the tern ripple come into the Pearl vocabulary? Why not use the term Baroque? Were the mollusks purposely pushed around to get the effect? The luster and colors that I observed were fabulous. But the term ripple? Please explain.
Thank you.

 

[GemGeek]

Ripple refers to the wavy pattern in the surface of the nacre. You can have baroque ripples and even round ripples. There is a good photo of ripple surfaces in the Hong Kong article on Pearl Guide News.
And you are right. Ripple pearls came about from the attempts to make Kasumi pearls, so they are a fairly recent development.

 

[Katbran]

The ripples can be quite pronounced or just light ridges..almost smooth but still textured. The colours can be intense or pale or white. Several years ago I found some places were calling them Furrow pearls but then Ripple seemed to take over. I think that when they first came out some sellers weren't sure what to call them lol

 

[JerseyPearl]

I was perplexed by the term "ripple" as well...since some baroque pearls can be rippley (not sure that is a real word)...somewhere I have a strand of old baroque akoyas which look like mini ripple pearls. I am assuming that the term "ripple" applies to just freshwater pearls, but I really don't know if that's the case.

 

[pearlescence]

I consider ripple as a descriptor of the surface form of the nacre rather than a type of pearl. I've had a strand of ripple gold south seas. Only the one. I wish I could find more of them.
My best, although unglamorous, analogy is the surface skin on cold custard or gravy....

 

[BlackPearlDudeDC]

I want images! For comparisons lumpy ripples versus smooth ripples

 

[Frost Me]

This is not the best picture Dude ( that was my grandmother (nick) name, and I love it!) it's late at night, so I will also do a photo in daylight. This show a pair of freshwater Ripple studs 11 mm. I love these they are a strange dead salmon gold. Left side has more texture than the right side. The right is almost smooth, but the color still moves in waves around the right pearl.

 

[GemGeek]

Great example. Those are going to pop in natural light.

 

[pearlescence]

You can't really have a smooth ripple pearl. A ripple is rippled by definition. A smooth pearl is a bead nucleated pearl (Edison, ming or no brands etc)

 

[Frost Me]

BPDude, daylight photos. Pearl far right much more texture obviously.

 

[BlackPearlDudeDC]

Frost Me those are really pretty. Look at the luster! I love the uniqueness of this type of pearl, there are similarities but each have their own "personalities."

 

[Katbran]

Good examples !!