surprised to find bead-nucleated FWP

[la_corsetiere]

I was attempting to repair a piece of jewelry last night, using a small (6mm to 7mm at most) round lavendar FWP. The pearl was fully drilled, off a strand I had had for some years, and was definitely not akoya. Due to some brutal mishandling, I managed to break the pearl, and was very surprised to find a round shell nucleus inside.

So, my questions arise - how frequently are these small round FWP's bead-nucleated? How do we know that the high-end high-quality round FWP's that we have always assumed to be solid nacre are NOT bead-nucleated? Is it a fallacy that most round FWP's are solid nacre? I'm talking about small sizes here, not the recent monsters that have been produced.

Inquiring minds need to know....

Sheri

 

[Marianne]

Indeed that is a puzzle. Or maybe the title to a new heavy metal song: Smashing Pearls at Midnight

 

[pattye]

Hi Sheri,

Can you post a photo? That is a surprising find for sure!

 

[jshepherd]

I've never seen or heard of one before ... can you take a shot of the nucleus?

 

[Mikeyy]

Maybe it's a faux pearl?

 

[GemGeek]

Hmmmm... can't wait to see a photo. It hardly seems worth the effort to bead nucleate with a tiny bead.

 

[la_corsetiere]

Definitely not a faux pearl. Now I'm wondering if perhaps it could be a low-grade akoya? But I'm sure I got it from a Chinese dealer. Now that I look at the pearls, they look more grey than lavendar, though I'm seeing them in artificial light. The size is 6mm. Anyway, I'll try to post photos here...

 

[la_corsetiere]

Woo hoo, figured out how to post photos! No stopping me now!!! ;o)

Anyway, the photo on the left is with flash, the one on the right without, the color kind of a light taupey grey.

 

[Amrita]

Shell pearls...?

 

[la_corsetiere]

Shell pearls...?

No, definitely a cultured pearl, the question is what type? Note that the photos are greatly enlarged - the actual pearls are only 6mm in diameter.

Sheri

 

[Marianne]

Hi Sheri,
It's my understanding that the Chinese are culturing a lot of Akoya pearls. I have some baroques and have seen some lovely 6mm round ones.

 

[jshepherd]

They look like low-grade akoya pearls from the photo. A bead would almost certainly indicate that they aren't freshwater.

Beaded freshwater are large for a reason. When the shells are first grafted, they are very small and there isn't room between the valves to place a bead. This is why you see so many coin pearls. It is possible to insert a flat disc. The beaded pearls are always second or third operation, and the inserted bead should fill the pearl sac - larger pearls, beaded or not, equal larger profit.

 

[jshepherd]

Hi Sheri,
It's my understanding that the Chinese are culturing a lot of Akoya pearls. I have some baroques and have seen some lovely 6mm round ones.

Nearly all the Chinese akoya farms are gone now. All of my friends have gotten out of the culturing business and now import for the local market. There is one company that still claims to be growing high-grade akoya there (Dragon Pearl). I saw them at the last Hong Kong show, but their prices were higher than Japan.

 

[la_corsetiere]

Thank you for clearing that up, Jeremy (and as always, for the education!).

Sheri

 

[KarinK]

Nearly all the Chinese akoya farms are gone now. All of my friends have gotten out of the culturing business and now import for the local market.

Who has taken over the production, Jeremy? Not the Japanese?

- Karin

 

[jshepherd]

Yes, the Japanese. Our company in Xuwen (Xuwen Pearl Paradise) is still a going concern, but now primarily imports akoya from Japan, Tahitians and white South Sea for the local market. The factory still does process some of the limited local production, but it is very small and limited.

 

[KarinK]

I thought I had read that the Japanese only provided a small percentage of the akoya production. I guess I got that wrong

- Karin

 

[jshepherd]

They have always been a major producer, but until recently focused the vast majority of their efforts on larger-size akoyas - specifically in the 8-9 mm range. I have an auction report from last year's hamage nyuusatsu (production auctions) and this size was the lion's share. It wasn't possible for Japanese producers to compete with China on the smaller sizes, especially as Chinese product improved to the point of being direct competition. But with the Chinese industry getting hammered two years in a row by mother nature, nearly all the producers (they were mostly family farms) went out of business.

 

[Marianne]

Thanks for the newest news Jeremy!

 

[Cees]

Vietnam produces also Akoya pearls and I have already seen small 7.20-8.80 mm South Sea Pearl strands from same pearl farm owner.
Veteran Kobe pearl trader Devchand Chodhry of Orient Pearl (Bangkok) Limited is the owner and can be reached at dev@chodhari.net
Most akoya pearls are 2,3,4,5 mm and some also bigger. Seen also Akoya pearls with very good luster from them.