TRADE ALERT re Non-Beaded Saltwater ('new keshi') Pearls

[Caitlin]

Ana
I caught that in my email... excellent, as always!

 

[Bodecia]

It would be great to get some photos of all, or as many as possible, Mussel River Pearls. I do realise that we cannot always identify from photos but it would be a very helpful start and I think very interesting for all that are interested.

Mikey do you have any photos of pearls you have collected. Caitlin, I am sure you would have some photos or know which sites to get them on.

Love this discussion, hope it continues.

Thanks, Dawn
eBay Seller ID dawncee333

 

[Valeria101]

Ana
I caught that in my email... excellent, as always!

Thank you for the kind words, Caitlin, but... which email are you talking about?

 

[Caitlin]

I get emails with all the new posts in them-even if they are cancelled by the time I go to the site. I love your posts. It's always good when you post. In this case, the article you linked to ....

 

[Valeria101]

I see... [& thanks again!]

I was trying to find a good way to say that pearls obtained from restocked beds correspond to the criteria for 'natural' advanced by the SSEF letter, although the fit with the lab's intent of defending the reputation of historic pearls is at best an interesting point remaining to be discussed.

I sort of remember that restocking is more of a reality for Australian P. maxima, and a subject in environmental studies pretty much everywhere. However, I could not find a reasonable overview of the practice - that Aussie report you kept, Caitlin, only mentions this marginally. On account, I gave up on the draft of the post yesterday.

'Guess it is only fair to assume that SSEF's letter to their clients was not intended for such debate! I can only imagine that they have considered the subject: if the distinction between 'keshi' and 'natural pearls' can only be recognized as a distinction of intent or age [SSEF dabs in dating pearls], there may be little choice for them but to take a good look on the other side of the barricade, after all...

It was written here many times that producing larger non-nucleated SS - let alone acceptably rounded ones [Hanni finds that those come from first time gonadal (tissue) nucleation, tough luck!] - is an economic nightmare. I am quite curios for a back of the envelope estimate of said nightmare. At least for the silly restocking story there are estimates in the academic literature, too many of them - not a good start for a reality check, I am afraid. No question that subsistence (pearl) farming has potential to come up with all sorts of ideas too crazy for anyone to cost out under more civilized circumstances - things happen, and may still not have a price. Interesting? Promis' I am not making all this up entirely.

However, if there is a story of pearls between all above-mentioned hints and scraps of news, I cannot see a good way to get to the bottom of it. It is all terribly out of reach from where I am standing, except as an afterthought - which is what I have just put in writing here.


So... this is it, what the abandoned post tried to make a point for. Roughly.


The fact remains that taken very, very literally, the standard for 'natural pearls' implied in the SSEF letter does not rule out pearls occurring 'naturally' - i.e. without any handling of the mollusks, in a managed habitat. Since that wasn't exactly an official communication intended specifically on this issue, I find no reason to find fault with it. After all, SSEF cannot have the luxury of jumping to conclusions, as I do writing here. I am not sure whether the communication was intended to be public, or relied on the particular expectations of their clients - an all too real nightmare!

As far as I can tell, pearls are truly complicated taken out of context - no one appears to know what kind of blind testing [i.e. unaware of provenance] is fit for them. There might not be any technically feasible now. Who knows... Nacre is largely a mystery itself - the kind fringe nanotech is just getting some sense of, not to be taken for granted lower on the food chain of experimental sciences. Not sure where pearls stand in that line just yet. Until someone wiser makes sense of this, disclosure is not a kind of Holly Grail to take for granted out there on the barricades, is it... Don't mind if it remains a pearl-maker's privilege as it is. Kudos to the brave!

Just a thought...

 

[SteveM]

TRADE ALERT FROM GEMLAB

Another top lab, perhaps the most technically advanced, has come out with an alert. Pearl veterans might say that this is an old game, but clearly there is something visceral, sinister and increasingly organized going on. The tone of GemLab ratchets that of SSEF to another level, and provides far more specific and scary details hinting at fraud of impressive sophistication.

Dr. Kryzemnicki of SSEF has meanwhile confirmed to me that keshi beads, per my conjecture, have indeed been detected in the normal way, via X-Ray. This may in fact have driven the perpetrators to the natural pinna with their marked concentric growth patterns. On another thread about culturing Pen pearls in the SE USA, Douglas of Cortez Pearls remarked how they invariably dried and cracked?a detail somehow overlooked by the crooks. How fortunate Hainschwang and his team connected those dots.

This is a big deal. And it has certainly convinced me of the service?fallible as it inevitably may be?provided by the leading labs.

 

[Valeria101]

Dr. Kryzemnicki of SSEF has meanwhile confirmed to me that keshi beads, per my conjecture, have indeed been detected in the normal way, via X-Ray. This may in fact have driven the perpetrators to the natural pinna with their marked concentric growth patterns.

Is there SSEF report somewhere about pinna pearls?


Changing subject: I remember there was quite a bit of talk about pearl-nucleated-pearls around here - some documented fact [Kasumiga, in an old AIGS report - remained a curiosity], some rumors [LINK]. And GIA (?) took up the task to quench the rumor of pearl-in-pearl; some publication resulted documenting structural discontinuities in some pearls (freshwater, perhaps?) likely to have been mistaken for 'pearl nucleation'. I can't find the reference for the life of me! [if it was in the G&G, I do not have access to the archive anymore]. Regardless of what kind of pearls are at stake, it would seem that all these references have allot in common and would be worth looking at together. Not sure what's to expect from all of this - the exercise might make slicing those new keshi even more interesting.

 

[SteveM]

Haven't looked for SSEF on pinna.

You'll see in GemLab's alert that partly what is going on is a mass concerted effort at prescreening keshi via X-Ray to submit en masse lots of pearls that create ID havoc in the labs. The odds are that a certain percentage will pass. That is the sinister and organized part, and the reason GemLab has placed a moratorium on certifying Pinctada pearls altogether.

 

[CortezPearls]

Here I have some information to "fill in the void" (no void...just some natural Pen-Shell protein pearls used as nuclei actually). Haven't read the article to its fullest (sorry, have little time available) but this link here will get you to download/open a PDF file with the GemLab Report by Thomas Hainshwang. Seems very thorough.

So, someone had the idea of using a natural pearl -albeit an unusable one- as a nuclei to produce a cultured pearl that is basically a "natural cultured pearl". Seems this is being done using Pinctada maxima. Read on...and share your toughts.

 

[Caitlin]

Diamond World picked up the story. What I liked was their 2nd headline:



cultured pearls make way into natural pearl trade

Swiss Gemological Institute SSEF works at saving the natural pearl trade

 

[SteveM]

ALL pinctadas? Maximas, margeritifera's, radiatas?

Yes. In Dr. Hainschwang's own words (for those who have not yet reviewed the GemLab pdf document):

Important Note Concerning Pearl Reports

The current situation in the pearl market (see page 5 ? 11) has led us to decide that for the time being, at least until mid-June, we at the GEMLAB laboratory will stop issuing reports for Pinctada pearls, except for evident cases such as pearls in ancient jewelry pieces of known provenance.

Will forward any updates as they are received.

 

[DrTKStern]

Labs

Labs

Hello,

I heard a rumor that major pearl testing labs will meet in Bahrain June 2-4 to debate and try to reach agreement on testing reports.

Many of us have the experience of a pearl being called keshi, then cutting it in half only to find the lab was entirely wrong because open examination proved it unequivocally natural.

Anyone else hear of this possible meeting in Bahrain?

I have some very nice large pearls still attached to their shells which I propose to submit as objects the labs can evaluate to test their opinion bases. In addition, we can dive from one of my boats plying waters 200 miles from any farm, gather some pearls, and have a chain of custody, some kind of double-blinding of testers, etc.

Anyone have thoughts about how to put these laboratories on solid scientific footing? I believe they do their best but technological limits hamper accuracy. It reminds me of weekly meetings of "Tumor Board" at our hospital. Twenty doctors sit around, look at the same studies, and simply cannot agree whether the patient in fact has lung cancer or brain cancer because the resolving power of the machinery simply cannot do the job.

As for vendors pushing known-cultured pearls into the market posing as naturals, this is arrant fraud of large sums, a crime in most countries, and punishable. We need to start tracking back to find them. Could it be some of the big cultured farms? Give me specific facts and I will begin to file reports with INTERPOL.

Regards to all,
Tom

 

[GemGeek]

This whole debacle has ruined everything for legitimate natural pearl dealers. I hope the labs come up with a solid front on this.

Tom, I hope you have some luck learning more about who is responsible.

 

[Caitlin]

Yes. The first time you got those reports- I couldn't believe them.
Where were they from? Who is doing this? Of course, some of those honkers you found are huge and round. Keshi never crossed my mind.

 

[Caitlin]

Now another trade rag has picked up the news "Jeweller Magazine" Link There is a lot to uncover here and Tom, thanks for your activism. I hope the labs can give info to someone about who is doing this.

 

[Valeria101]

You'll see in GemLab's alert ...

Now I have. The moratorium seems is quite the heroic move on their part!

 

[Valeria101]

...natural Pen-Shell protein pearls used as nuclei actually.

Two reports also mention non-nacreous structures in pearls' centers: SSEF's presentation to the IGC conference last year [page 8] and their latest newsletter [LINK].

Any idea whether protein pearls are a fact of life pretty much accross the board, or are simply a special talent of some types, such as the Pen shell?

Btw. 'protein pearls', make me think of some brown, crackly concretions - and also some thick layers in the worst imaginable cultured pearls.

 

[CortezPearls]

Well, down here in the Sea of Cortez we have a very big Pen Shell fishery and there are many Natural Pen Shell Pearls available...but most I have seen are the "brown protein-calcitic" pearls (BTW: I have a 5 mm baroque Nacreous Pen Shell... if someone is interested I can post a photo). So, they are plentiful enough down here to produce a small lot of these "fake natural pearls" (mind you all: we only use mussel beads for our pearls AND we don't grow Pinctada pearls). It could be the same in other areas of the Indo-Pacific...

Now, let me post a picture from the article so you can see the problem better and what the author -Thomas Hainschwang- has to say about this issue...but I believe the word "FRAUD" is very appropiate.

 

[SteveM]

I hope the labs can give info to someone about who is doing this.

They clearly know who has been submitting the samples and are openly calling the use of Pen pearls fraud. Wouldn't be surprised if the information has already been given to Interpol or the like. We could also play detectives and create a list of those with motives (including, it seems to me, rogue elements of the cultured pearl industry pushed to extremes by the economic crisis).

The mermaids could cry some real tears over this one. What's-his-name could have written something relevant.

 

[DrTKStern]

Interpol

Interpol

They clearly know who has been submitting the samples and are openly calling the use of Pen pearls fraud. Wouldn't be surprised if the information has already been given to Interpol or the like.

Hi, Steve,

I'll ask around if any law enforcement agency has been alerted. Jewelers Vigilance Committee, of which we are members, may be able to push this through the US Department of Commerce enforcement divisions.

Anyone who buys a pearl that on testing has such fraudulent findings should contact me with details. I'm not talking about Keshi, which I doubt any lab reliably tests, but bead cultured foisted as naturals.

Thanks for comment,
Tom