Use of the term "Pearl Plated Beads"

[jshepherd]

I would not say that Akoya are always more valuable than freshwater. I would say that nearly 99% of the Akoya on eBay are on par with beading quality freshwater. Those pieces are the ones available in China for as little as $1 per strand (yes, there are low-grade Akoya available for as little $1 per strand at the factories) and no more than $15-$18 per strand for 7+mm. There are even loose that cannot fit this grade that are peeled. But on the same hand, there are tons, and tons of freshwater produced every year that is sold uner $10 per kilo, around 25 cents per full strand.

But I will say that what is available to most, in most brick and mortar around the country (freshwater), is less valuable than their Akoya counterparts. The pearls we carry which you have dubbed "freshadama" are indeed better than and Akoya produced in Japan or China, but they are very, very limitted when viewing the consumer market.

 

[mikehrz]

Thus, saying that the akoya is always more valuable than a freshwater cultured pearl is dishonest.

What reputable dealer does so?

When i decided to buy a pearl set for a friend's graduation present, i went to pearlparadise prepared to spend the extra money for akoyas if the fw didn't measure up. fortunately for my wallet, the fw they offered had about 90% of the luster and beauty of the akoyas. indeed, held at arm's length they were darn near indistinguishable. no one there pressured me to buy the akoyas because they were somehow inherently more valuable. On the other hand, if i had been determined to settle for nothing less than the absolute best-looking pearls they had to offer, then i would have selected the akoyas. for the average consumer akoyas still represent the most beautiful pearls around, while fw present a better value for the dollar. will this situation change? maybe. those freshadamas are extremely pretty, but until they become as ubiquitous as akoyas, and as (in)expensive, akoyas will still be the most beautiful and accessible pearl on the market.

the problem isn't a lack of high-quality akoyas. the problem is a proliferation of low-quality ones.

edit: i see jshepherd beat me to the punch...

 

[Zeide Erskine]

Hi Mike,

I have seen people even on this forum say many times that akoyas will always be more valuable like-for-like than freshwater pearls. I think it is high time that the reputable dealers on this forum put up pictures for consumers to see what an akoya pearl is going to look like 5 years of daily wear down the line side by side with a freshwater pearl that was of the same luster, roundness, and quality rating (that's what like-for-like means) that has been similarly worn. The value of an item is not solely determined by its prevalent retail price but also by the fact how well it holds its quality and thus value over time. And in this respect, the freshwater pearls, like-for-like, do hold their value far better than akoyas. So, while one may safely say that the average akoya pearl costs more on the same size basis than the average freshwater pearl, this is not true on a like-for-like standard and certainly the average akoya pearl does not retain its value like a freshwater pearl will. As such, the average akoya pearl is going to be more expensive and less valuable.

Zeide

 

[Caitlin]

I humbly withdraw my request to show garbage on this site- even if it is shown under the title of frauds and how to avoid them.

While the work of the giants in the industry cannot be belittled- there needs to be a standard with weight for akoyas- because the products of the cheap akoya culturists do undermine the whole reputation of the akoya market.

Short-cultured akoyas may have more bling than average freshwater pearls, but the product is faulty if it doesn't last a lifetime of gentle wear. And meanwhile my string of potato pearls from the bead store is wearing well under hard wear. It has poorly shaped pearls, but lots of them have brilliant patches of luster and even orient.

Since China appears to be the major grower and purveyer of such cheating akoyas, why won't they do the same thing with SS or Tahitians and lie about them too? I hope they decide to develop standards and go for quality in both the akoyas and the freshwaters- you wouldn't believe the glut of freshwater dyed in seasonal colors at the gem show. I swear they aren't selling 1/1000th of their stock. Most of it stays bagged up.

 

[jshepherd]

Since China appears to be the major grower and purveyer of such cheating akoyas, why won't they do the same thing with SS or Tahitians and lie about them too?

I would not place the blame solely with the Chinese for the Akoyas. Yes, they have played their part in producing low-quality, but by attempting to compete with the lower cost of production the Japanese are just as culpable. And I do not feel the Chinese come anywhere near to competing with the Japanese on all the 'value-added' or better put 'diminished' treatments. Most of the factories use Japanese technology in China, because let's face it, the Japanese are the ones who basically started the factories in China in the first place.

I hope they decide to develop standards and go for quality in both the akoyas and the freshwaters- you wouldn't believe the glut of freshwater dyed in seasonal colors at the gem show. I swear they aren't selling 1/1000th of their stock. Most of it stays bagged up.

But it is the price for which they are selling them when compared to their cost of production that makes it all worth while. While there is a market for them, both freshwater and Akoya, they will still be produced.

 

[Caitlin]

........ 99% ...Akoya.... on eBay are on par with beading quality freshwater. Those pieces are the ones available in China for as little as $1 per strand
QUOTE]

What kind of nuclei do these beads have? I thought the MoP mussel shells were "expensive". Like how expensive?

 

[Zeide Erskine]

Nuclei

Nuclei

Hi Caitlin,

The fine white ones are relatively expensive around 5 cents for a single small round to 2 dollars for a 14mm supergraft bead. Prices drop precipitously from there. Still, at a dollar a strand these are loosing money particularly after drilling. Other nuclei are cheaper, and different materials are already in use. However, the auction picture of the destroyed akoyas shows a high-grade nucleus with only faint but distinct striations.

Zeide

 

[Caitlin]

…”it's extremely important when purchasing pearls, to be absolutely certain of the meaning of any descriptive terms used by the seller” Grading Pearls- PGF….

What does “thick nacre” mean for akoyas? Is it a term with a precise definition, i.e. .4-.5mm?
I notice nacre thickness is not a criteria for Akoyas in the A-AAA system, but one can determine this, how?
Isn’t nacre thickness really the single most important factor in durability and a factor in which cheating is too common?

It looks like the Tahitian grading standard specifies .8mm, though.
.

 

[Zeide Erskine]

Thick nacre in akoyas

Thick nacre in akoyas

The newest definition for thick nacre in akoyas is 0.25mm of the radius (0.5mm of the diameter). I find this standard ridiculous because you would get 8x as much nacre on a 5mm pearl then on a 10mm. Who in their right minds would ever buy anything but eensy-weensy akoyas under this standard. Not to mention that I grew up with the metric system. I know exactly how little a quarter of a millimeter is. Most strands contain at least one "worked" pearl. "Worked pearls" are those that had a little bump sawed off and were drilled at that point. This is different from peeling or cracking nacre. Anyhow, if you search the drill holes of your strand, you have a fair chance of finding a "worked pearl" and from there you can gauge the nacre thickness without loupe or x-ray.

Zeide

 

[jshepherd]

For the very low quality, even too low for eBay, they strip the pearls of their nacre so they are able to reuse the nucleus and sell the nacre. But if they will be able to get about $1 or more per strand, they will keep the pearl. That quality may actually be sold locally in China for a bit more ($2-$3 per strand). Do not get me wrong, those pieces are absolute garbarge - barely worth more than their nuclei. They should never leave factory. One relief is, however, they cannot last long enough to be seen. After a couple of wears the unsuspecting customer is left with beads.

 

[jshepherd]

When i decided to buy a pearl set for a friend's graduation present, i went to pearlparadise prepared to spend the extra money for akoyas if the fw didn't measure up. fortunately for my wallet, the fw they offered had about 90% of the luster and beauty of the akoyas. indeed, held at arm's length they were darn near indistinguishable. no one there pressured me to buy the akoyas because they were somehow inherently more valuable. On the other hand, if i had been determined to settle for nothing less than the absolute best-looking pearls they had to offer, then i would have selected the akoyas. for the average consumer akoyas still represent the most beautiful pearls around, while fw present a better value for the dollar. will this situation change? maybe. those freshadamas are extremely pretty, but until they become as ubiquitous as akoyas, and as (in)expensive, akoyas will still be the most beautiful and accessible pearl on the market.

the problem isn't a lack of high-quality akoyas. the problem is a proliferation of low-quality ones.

This is the exact point we have been trying to make. May I ask, as a consumer and a budding pearl expert, would you still feel happy, or at all taken if you had purchased an Akoya strand that day instead of a freshwater? BTW, you should stop by and check out the new ones when you get a chance.

 

[Caitlin]

These are the same arguments natural pearl lovers have been saying about cultured pearls since Mikimoto hit the market, right? I think natural pearl buffs universally claim that cultured pearls do not make the grade of the real thing and use brutally honest terms such as pearl plated to differentiate them from REAL pearls. In fact, the culturists even had to develop a new grading system, because the one for natural pearls emphasized qualities not present in most cultured pearls.
How much of that is correct?

The honest pearl culturists have taken over the pearl business and created a vast NEW market no one in the natural market would have believed 100 years ago. They have created a product that is not the same as the original, but it is accessible and enjoyable for most. Unless they develop more refined tastes and have the money to indulge them, this is probably where many folks will stay - and one akoya necklace per female person would be a great sales goal! For 100 years, cultured akoya necklaces have been the gateway pearls for most. And probably 90% of them are people who could never have afforded a natural necklace at all. This is a good thing.

The bad pearl culturists have cheated on every step of the honest culturing process and flooded the market with their c**p, and can STILL call it ?pearls?, which must be a double insult to the traditional pearl people! These scoundrels have made a travesty of the integrity of the market and people have been cheated.

?PTAW! The whole bunch of them should????(insert some standard Arabic insult here)?, is what the old pearl men of Bahrain are grumbling when they hear about shenanigans like this, because integrity is their middle name. In fact, integrity of their honor of the natural pearl keeps them from embracing the cultured in the first place. ?What have they done to an honest business? They have sold out!? is their attitude.

Now, akoya lovers and pearl buyers should not take this kind of grumbling personally. These are the cries of a tiny minority that has been overlooked for 100 years- Even if they are right, and they are, there is not much that can be done to change the eliteness of natural pearls and the availability of beautiful cultured akoyas!

Buyers should just go ahead and get their cultured akoyas from an honest dealer. There is time later if they want to go further into pearls.

 

[Zeide Erskine]

Pearl standards

Pearl standards

Hi Caitlin,

You know that I am not against pearl culturing in general. Au contraire. However, I think it is only fair to both the mussels and the buyers if the finished product is actually a pearl, albeit cultured, and can be graded and appreciated to the Tavernier standard. If I want to buy a bag of chemicals and some beads, I buy a bag of chemicals and some beads. I do not go to a jeweler's store and buy a bag of chemicals and some beads in silly boxes and with inherently stupid clasps plus a good pound of Mystique thrown in for good measure. That is about as strange to me as shopping for organic potatoes at a discount fast food joint. The stuff they sell is as close to an honest home-grown garden potato as your average akoya is to a pearl.

And since we had an advocat of consumer interest here who opined that consumers must not be confused with my terminology and that akoyas are 100% nacre, I may point out that the retail world is still selling the same stuff that Antionette Matlins exposed in her little pearl buying adventure for ABC. However, now they cannot call the nacre thickness they found at that time abyssmal because now the GIA has decided that a quarter of a millimeter constitutes thick nacre. In short, they simply adjusted the standard to industry demands. I prefer to speak up for consumer interests. Hopefully, soon there will be more people that will have seen a cultured pearl that is actually a pearl and will not settle for the jewelry equivalent of "freedom fries."

Zeide

 

[jerin]

Cultured Freshwater Pearls of highest quality

Cultured Freshwater Pearls of highest quality

This is the exact point we have been trying to make. May I ask, as a consumer and a budding pearl expert, would you still feel happy, or at all taken if you had purchased an Akoya strand that day instead of a freshwater? BTW, you should stop by and check out the new ones when you get a chance.

Hi Jeremy,

I still wait for an answer to my mail regarding above mentioned CFWP.s, thank you.

Inge Jernberg

 

[Caitlin]

Hi Caitlin,
You know that I am not against pearl culturing in general. Au contraire. However, I think it is only fair to both the mussels and the buyers if the finished product is actually a pearl, albeit cultured, and can be graded and appreciated to the Tavernier standard. Zeide

I do wish that the marine perliculturist business would experiment with tissue nucleation and thus create a whole new tier of solid nacre pearls. High price would be no object for some people- who would then own a solid nacre Tahitian or Akoya or SS, a really real pearl. These pearls would certainly be able to be judged by the Tavernier standard- got a link for it?

I think most of my friends over the years have understood completely that there are MoP beads inside the cultured pearls. It is not a trade secret! They accept it as the trade-off for price accessibility. When a critic calls such beads pearl plated, this term isn’t giving the customer any information they didn’t already have, it just presents it in a way that has punch.

If such language drives customers from the marine pearls, and I don’t think it will, then redirect them to a great alternative, and better buy, in a quality FW pearl solid nacre piece.

 

[mikehrz]

May I ask, as a consumer and a budding pearl expert, would you still feel happy, or at all taken if you had purchased an Akoya strand that day instead of a freshwater?

Well, I wouldn't call myself a budding expert, but the short answer is:

I would have been happy with akoyas.

The long answer is:

When i decided to buy pearls, I started learning about them, and found useful information on sites such as this one. When i started looking around at various retail stores in my area, I knew that all commercially available pearls are cultured, but some are solid nacre fw and some are nucleated akoyas. Frankly, it got to the point where i was tired of knowing more than the salespersons. (Q: "Are these freshwater pearls?" A: "All our pearls are cultured pearls." Well, duh!) I also knew that pearls of all sorts must be taken care of, or they will lose their luster. This was one reason I wanted fw, since the fact that they are solid nacre makes them a bit more durable, if that's the right word, and probably a wiser choice for a gift intended for a teenager.

Unfortunately, the fw i found locally were very poor quality. I doubt if the strands i saw would pass muster for any of the merchants that post in this forum. And of course the akoyas that could be found locally were astronomically priced. When i visited the pearlparadise office, the fw surpassed by far all the fw and most of the akoyas i'd seen previously. their akoyas were beyond anything i'd seen except for one mikimoto (probably a sea magic) strand which may have equaled them in luster.

Had the fw not been up to par, the akoyas that pearlparadise carries would have been been extremely satisfactory. and the price, though steep for a part-time drug store employee, was about as low as i could reasonably have hoped to find. lower, actually, based on the prices i'd seen elsewhere. but thankfully, their fw were up to par. heck, they came in several strokes under par and i was proud, thrilled, to give them to my friend. she was quite impressed and very happy.

Getting back to the question, though, i guess the full answer is that i would have been happy with the akoyas i saw there at the price they were asking. lower quality or higher prices (for instance, at the other stores i went to) would have made me content, but not happy.

I think most of my friends over the years have understood completely that there are MoP beads inside the cultured pearls. It is not a trade secret! They accept it as the trade-off for price accessibility.

Exactly right. That is precisely what i would have done. We can't all afford to be pearl snobs. If i could have easily afforded the akoyas, I wouldn't have hesitated to purchase them. If I could buy some for her right now, I would. Then she'd have one set for casual wear and one set for formal occasions. A girl's gotta look good, after all.

 

[Caitlin]

Here is a link to an article by Richard Wise on the subject of thin-skinned akoyas.
http://www.secretsofthegemtrade.com/articles_6.htm

 

[Richard W. Wise]

Quite the thread!

I first time I read Zeide's term "pearl plated bead" I had to laugh because it really does more accurately describe the cultured pearl. The term "plated" is, however, not a very good word to use in a sales presentation because it conjures up thoughts of the plating used in costume jewelry.

I wear two hats: One the one hand I am a retailer and sell pearls on the other a writer, one of the few to be publicly critical of the akoya pearl industry. Those who have my book know that I made a point of not including akoya pearls in my list of precious gemstones. I did include CFWP and Southsea black and white.

I am also a big fan of Ziede's posts and follow them closely and when and if Secretsis revised into a 2nd edition you can bet some of her posts will appear in the footnotes. As Caitlin points out we need the sort of debate that these posts have stimulated. The gem business in general is badly in need of gadflies such as Ziede. If I were the publisher of Pearl World I would offer her a column.

In my retail shop I do not sell akoya pearls. I was one of the first advocats of the CFWP and stopped selling akoyas after setting one in a custom made ring and having it come back three months later with half the nacre scraped off.

I find myself constantly in awe of this forum. On most of the shill-sites (how about that term) that pass themselves off as forums this thread would have brought down the wrath of the industry down on the heads of those daring to speak so honestly. No, I take that back, Zeide would simply be banned and this thread deleted.

Unfortunately there will always be industry professionals who fail to recognize that the truth is a best sales tool. For thousands of years keeping the customer in ignorance has been an article of faith in the gem trade. It won't work anymore.

 

[Slraep]

Hello Richard,

Somehow I never ever pictured you selling akoyas. Not after having read your book and your posts in different forums. That would have disappointed me.

As with consumers, there can also be a lumping of retailers into
three groups. Let's just say that you do not belong in the common majority, and obviously not to that bamboozling minority which sells on e-bay.

Bravo bambino. What? Do I hear the scales tipping a bit? So soon?


Slraep

 

[jshepherd]

I believe a forum is a place to have discussions and express opinions. This forum was developed for that purpose, and more importantly, with the intent to protect and educate consumers from online sellers who sell with impunity and make claims with no basis in fact. Granted, this is mainly a problem with eBay as management there cannot be expected to understand the depth of the problem, and with profits rolling in, why would they care. But, when this forum was launched the Internet itself was under attack, with sellers trying to take the eBay cartel public. With this forum, this is no longer easy to do (with success). And those that hold dishonest claims such as “Japanese Akoya Pearls”, and natural black freshwater and Akoya pearls, nearly all have a response somewhere on this board.

I would not remove a post stating “pearl plated beads” as I know this is an opinion. As I have stated before it is also a respected position – it is simply a lonely one. For a seller such as myself, it would be business suicide not to include Akoya pearls into the mix. I am a business man and a pearl lover. Akoya pearls fill a need in the market that, until we launched freshadama, freshwater pearls could not hope to fill. I do know of the nacre problems and durability problems, and I do play my part in only sourcing the best and working to lengthen the culturing process in farms with which I hold interest and/or support.

But I do have a great respect for Mikimoto, Robert Wan, Paspaley, Jewelmer, etc. Their products are the only reason fine pearls are still not relegated to kings, queens, and the super rich, and they are all bead-nucleated. Yes, they use beads, but, and by definition used here, they would all be “pearl plated beads”, and account for more than 99% of pearls sold in fine jewelry stores. Mantle-tissue nucleation is not an option for these companies as it is so pointedly noted in this forum. This already occurs and it fills a small need in the consumer market– we call these keshi pearls. I cannot bring myself to accept a term like “pearl plated beads”, or anything derogatory for that matter, as this simply seems to discredit the tremendous investment of time, money, passion, and expertise the latter pioneers have brought to the industry. If collectors, or true purists, do not like the “bead” methods they are welcome to continue to collect the specimens that fit their personal pearl utopia. But there are those of us who truly do love pearls, and can honestly appreciate the beauty of a fine Akoya strand and the rainbow effect of a rare Tahitian pearl.

I know I went a little off target with this, but if we were to simply remove posts and threads that did not match public and industry opinions the forum would lose all credibility, and become nothing more than an industry advertising tool – like the “pearl information center” recently discussed. Am I the industry? Online, yes I am – a large shareholder. Does the expression of opposing opinions help my business? The educated customer is always the best customer.

This does not mean threads and posts are never deleted. There is a lot of spam that makes it to the forum, and there are those that come and post something derogatory (usually anonymously) and then leave – those posts and threads are deleted.