SSP Philippines

[pinoy pride]

Dear friends,

I have been a passive reader of your forums for quite some time now.

I was quite surprised to read some of your comments re the SSP pearls of the Philippines. I bought in Greenhills last year some pairs of ?said to be? SSP water pearl. I paid around 6k to 8k php for them (around 100 to 150 euros) I took the back to Europe got them appraised by 4 different jewelers and they all told me they were real ones and valued them for 800 to 1000 euros. How is this possible??
And if there is no real SSP in Ghills then what do the 35 Pearl Farms in Philippines do with them? I know Jewelmer?s export them and sell them in their shops in Manila, but what about all those little pearl farmers around Palawan, Visayas and Mindanao??

Also I read on some of your comments that it was very hard to get real SSP for less that 1000 US at wholesale prize (I guess you were refering to). I have been going through some of you web pages and have seen that you sell some of them online for around 200 to 300 US, so that makes me wonder how is this possible? I guess it depends on the quality, probably those of 200US are only A grading but then why is it said by some of you for example that with less than 3.500 US you can?t buy anything?

I would very much appreciate your filling in since I?m a bit disconcerted on this aspect.

Salamat.

 

[jshepherd]

The comments come from the numerous threads on this very forum where visitors who have bought "South Sea pearls" at that very same G. Hills market, and members who have been there and post pictures of the pearls, and each and every time they have been freshwater pearls.

It is possible that there are some true gold South Sea pearls at the market. But if the shopper does not know the difference, there is a high likelihood they will be taken advantage of.

 

[KarinK]

Hi and welcome Salamat

The only part I can comment on in your post is the value of pearls in Europe. Resently I looked at the window of a high end jewelry, and I almost fell over when I saw what they were asking for Chinise Freshwater pearls. An example is: "Chinese freshwater pearls with pink overtones and strong luster with a WG clasp with diamonds" - Normal price: $9,200/€6,600, your price: $5,300/€3,800.

- Karin

With prices like that, it would not be at all impossible to find jewelers

 

[pinoy pride]

Thank you very much for both of your answers.

Jeremy, Ive been reading a lot of your comments on this forum. I admire your knowledge and thank you for sharing it with all of us. For this reason I was quite surprised when I read in one of your answers that you would need 3.500$ to buy a SSP in the Philippines. I have no doubt you know perfectly well what you are talking and that's why I address to you this inquiry! Ive seen your webpages and you are selling AAA SSP for 200-300 US, so what kind of pearls were you referring to?

Regarding my second question, I am really curious to find out about the "commercial" activity of those little Pearl Farmers in the Philippines... where do they sale their products?? If in Ghills most of the products are FW from China and there is no real SSP... As far as Im concerned, out of the 35 pearl farms in the Phils, 7 belong to Jewelmer.. what about the the other 29?? Do they immediately export it.. Are they wholesalers, or do they all provide Jewelmer!!!

Thank you very much in advance for all your comments and for helping me quench my thirst for knowledge!!

 

[jshepherd]

I've nearly 4000 posts on this forum, so it took me a while to find the thread you are referring to, but I believe it is this one from 2006.

We need to put the $3500 comment into context. The poster was planning to travel to Manila to start an import business of Golden South Sea pearls, and had planned to invest (with his partner) a total of $3500.

My response was -

A $3500 investment will not get you far with Philippine pearls. Even a $35000 investment would not go far. You are definitely on a Beijing budget.
To give you an idea, you can spend $3500 on one, single pearl in the Philippines.

Not only could you spend $3500 on a single pearl. You could spend more than $10,000 on a dark gold, large, perfect pearl. You can also spend $20,000 on a single strand of freshwater pearls in China. It's all about context.

I'm curious about your count of the farms in The Philippines. Where did you find the information about the 35 farms? A few years ago there were 37, not 35. So I really am curious.

The large majority of production goes through Japan, and nearly everything is exported. Jewelmer does keep and process a portion of their own production (I've read somewhere it is about 10%), as they market their own brand in The Philippines.

The pearls are primarily purchased by what is known as "hama-age" lots. In other words, by harvest or a percentage of harvest. The companies that can do this, spending upwards of a million US at a time, are the large pearl processing houses, primarily (almost exclusively) in Japan. This has been the case since the 1950's under the diamond policy, and most of the farms were Japanese co-ops.

Golden South Sea are probably the most difficult of all harvests to match into strands because color distance from cream to dark gold, or burnt orange. So the investment is massive. One hama-age won't do it. There will always be a percentage left over to mix with the next harvest and so on.

The pearls are also sold at auction. Jewelmer holds sales in Manila, but most of the auctions for golds take place in either Hong Kong or Japan.

As for Green Hills, this forum has been around for nearly seven years now, and I don't believe there has been a single poster who bought actual South Sea pearls from this market. Every post I can recall seeing showed freshwater pearls from China, which were offered as South Sea pearls from Mindanao. I have also seen this on the CPAA forum. In other words, people shopping for South Sea pearls at this market are very likely to be taken advantage of.

 

[perlinda]

Thank you Jeremy for such valuable information!

Salamat, maybe you managed to get the real SSP, do you mind sharing us pictures of your purchase?

 

[pinoy pride]

Guys, see attached some pics of greenhills SSP, would be interested to hear your comments.

Thanks!

 

[Caitlin]

Try again.

 

[pinoy pride]

 

[pinoy pride]

 

[R&B]

Hello Pinoy pride
That is the best way to buy pearls, you can see totally what you are buying, nothing to be hidden.
Look the sales person in the eye and ask if they have been treated is all you can do.

 

[jshepherd]

... And if you are buying them as a gift, ask if they have a full refund policy

Those look like the real deal - South Sea and Tahitians.

 

[Katbran]

Darn, I can't see the photos

 

[lisa c]

Neither can I.

 

[pattye]

To find his photos go to his album on his profile page. I couldn't find them at first either.

 

[Katbran]

Ah, of course, thanks for that Pattye!

 

[lisa c]

Thanks Pattye!

 

[Cees]

Every time when I am in Manila, I visit the Green Hills market and almost all sellers there are Muslim ladies and gents dealing mostly in Chinese FWP's. There are a few sellers who really have a reputation of selling South Sea and Tahiti pearls, which they buy from Hong Kong and from Kobe dealers. The sellers who sell golden South Sea pearls there are reluctant to inform you if these pearls have been enchanted (dyed). Many times the knowledge about pearls from the sellers is just not sufficient to feel confident to buy golden south sea there. However the market is lively and I have seen strands of Tahiti pearl strands with label info from genuine pearl Kobe pearl traders I recognized.
As the pearls have to move there as anywhere else, as new harvests come in, some very nice Tahiti pearls there can be bought at good prices. The golden pearls I don't dare to touch as I don't want to have 'treated' South Sea pearls in my possesion. But again the market is fun, and let some of the sellers open their safe to show you the better quality South Sea and Tahiti pearls and prices can go down by at least 50 percent if they realize you know more about pearls than they do. I bought a beautifil almost round, high luster peacock 16.35 mm Tahiti pearl there with one spot on one side for peso 8000, which was a real bargain. Manila at least has a pearl market which can not be found in many other capitals of the world.

 

[pattye]

So that would be about US $188? That is a very good price!

 

[Cees]

yes and here a photo of that Tahiti pearl