Small Tahitian Pearls

[FrankL]

Hello,

I landed on this community while Googling for some Tahitian pearls for my wife. I know she wants black pearls for Mother's Day but she doesn't like big jewelry.

There is a local place here that has a necklace that I am told measures 12x11 and is sort of a gray color and has a little green hint to it. It's nice, but I can't see her wearing this every day. I was looking at this necklace that seems to be the smallest I've come across. https://www.pearlparadise.com/products/18-inch-8-0-9-9-mm-aa-aaa-round-tahitian-pearl-necklace

Is this the smallest they come?

 

[jshepherd]

Tahitian strands don't get much smaller than this range because the shell is quite large and the pearls are considered on the larger size.

A few years ago we started seeing even small Tahitians in the 6 mm range, but very few strands so far. We wrote about them in Pearl-Guide news last month and I blogged about them in 2016. That said, an 8 mm pearl is less than half the size of a 11 mm pearl. Pearl Dreams put together Volume vs Diameter post here a few years back. You will see a substantial difference between the two.

 

[86Corvettegirl]

I have a couple of Tahitians that are smaller, size 8-10mm graduated. They aren't as heavy as my larger strands of Tahitians & South Seas so they're easier to wear & they will layer nicely with larger pearl strands. I think, generally, the smallest Tahitians are around 8mm.

 

[Marianne]

That is certainly a beautiful and extremely versatile strand, FrankL.

 

[JerseyPearl]

Personally, I love smaller Tahitians. My sweet spot is 8-10mm. Jeremy had a few strands in the smaller sizes on his website, not sure if they're still available, but they were stunning.

 

[Cees]

There is only one farmer in Tahiti to grow the 5-6 and 6-7 pearls. He sold out almost his whole stock in 2 days. The first new harvest in these sizes are around September this year.
The funny thing last year March is that I bought 2 strands on day 1 of the Hong Kong Fair. In the evening I decided to buy another strand. Overnight he had decided to double his prices, because of high demand of Japanese customers.

 

[BlackPearlDudeDC]

Supply and demand, I am often on the losing side LOL.

There is only one farmer in Tahiti to grow the 5-6 and 6-7 pearls. He sold out almost his whole stock in 2 days. The first new harvest in these sizes are around September this year.
The funny thing last year March is that I bought 2 strands on day 1 of the Hong Kong Fair. In the evening I decided to buy another strand. Overnight he had decided to double his prices, because of high demand of Japanese customers.