Southsea Pearl vs Edison Pearls

E

EileenK

Well-known member
Joined
Aug 20, 2013
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I am curious to know if there is any difference in quality between South sea pearls and Edison pearls.

I love the Edisons because of their lustre, size, and affordability. The Edisons also come in beautiful natural colours. I have a huge white edison perfect white pearl from pearlescence and it is stunnning. Mirror metallic. For that quality, at 15 mm, I would be paying tons more if it were Southsea.

Of course price of a south sea pearl strand would be different from an edison. Apart from that, what else?

Thank you for your thoughts.

Oh, and I bought 2 strands from Pearlescence today. Edison and Ming. When they come, I will show you.
 
I happen to prefer salt water pearls over freshwaters, but both can be beautiful in their own ways. Someone recently posted a strand of white Edisons that were very very close to looking like superb quality SSPs. I don't recall who it was, but maybe someone else will remember.
 
I think it may have been IcyJade, JerseyPearl. She had a pic comparing her round white Edisons and oval wss as well as a few other white strands. I'll see if I can't find it...
 
I haven't seen photos of any Edisons that are as cool a white as SSP.
FWP mostly seem to be a warmer white.
 
Thanks for finding that photo - it shows excellent examples of large white strands. Personally I agree that it's hard to beat WSS pearls .. but...if money is a factor and you want some big white pearls then Edison is the way to go.. Though at the top end the Edisons are pretty darn pricey ( but still about 1/2 WSS) But for a few thousand dollars you can get a pretty reasonable strand and the WSS will be far more.
 
I love Icyjade's strand of SSP. Anyway, when I receive my pearls from Wendy, I will let you have a look. These are in shades of pink and raspberry. I thought it best to buy these as SSPs are white - so another time, maybe. I think Wendy has fantastic SSPs in blue too!

I think the Edisons can also be heavy so 15 mm for earrings may not be wise.
 
perlas said:
What is the current thickness of Edison pearls? This article says 5mm - 12mm...which is outstandingly thick. Is this correct? And at 36 months cultivation? It seems not to add up.
Click to expand...

Yes it sounds off. Nacre thickness from the bead to the outside edge is the proper measurement. Their 5mm would be 2.5 on each side of the bead when measuring diameter. But it does take a long time to get 6mm thickness on even a freshwater pearl. :)
 
GemGeek said:
Yes it sounds off. Nacre thickness from the bead to the outside edge is the proper measurement. Their 5mm would be 2.5 on each side of the bead when measuring diameter. But it does take a long time to get 6mm thickness on even a freshwater pearl. :)
Click to expand...

What is the nacre thinkness for a good AAA SSP?
 
2017-04-12_18-47-36_000.jpg
The pearls on the card are Extreme metallic freshwater Edisons at the top and bottom with White South sea in the middle. These are really not good examples because these are unusually metallic but you can see Edison and WSS together.
 
Pearl Dreams said:
I haven't seen photos of any Edisons that are as cool a white as SSP.
FWP mostly seem to be a warmer white.
Click to expand...

Mostly warmer white, but snowy white is possible, just super rare. Plus if I'm looking for a SSP alternative, only metallic fwp would do. Otherwise the fwp will just be 'flat'... metallics on the other hand are really quite nice. I do love my metallic Edison

From left to right: Super white fwp, metallic Edison, ssp, repeat...
quick photo so not the best quality but hopefully it shows the diff.
IMG_4720.jpg

JerseyPearl said:
Of course...Icy has the most outstanding collection! That is indeed the strand I was thinking of. Thank you BN.
Click to expand...

Thank you BN and JP. :)
 
EileenK said:
I am curious to know if there is any difference in quality between South sea pearls and Edison pearls.
I have a huge white edison perfect white pearl from pearlescence and it is stunnning. Mirror metallic. For that quality, at 15 mm, I would be paying tons more if it were Southsea.

Oh, and I bought 2 strands from Pearlescence today. Edison and Ming. When they come, I will show you.
Click to expand...


Do please post a photo of your single pearl and definitely the strands when they arrive ! We love photos !!

.
 
I find that the difference is much more obvious in person than in pictures. There is something about the nacre quality that makes freshwater pearls (even metallic ones) have a different look to them than WSS or Akoya pearls. Freshwater nacre looks almost transparent to me - like soap bubbles, while saltwater nacre seems more solid looking somehow. It's hard to describe, but I can easily tell the difference between my WSS pearls and my metallic freshwater ones, even in the same sized round studs. The FWP white color is also warmer and less silvery. More of a winter white.
 
Icyjade, where did you get your SSP strand? What size are they? Thank you.
 
IcyJade, your photos are wonderful and thank you so much for sharing them with us.

LondonPearl, I'm curious to what you mean regarding longevity. Is the edison pearl surface is not as durable as the ssp surface?
 
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