visiting a pearl farm in China

[pmorna742]

I'm going to the HK jewellery fair, the first week in March. I'm very keen to visit a pearl farm, both from the educational point of view, and hopefully to find a farmer who will respect my need to only purchase the minimum from him, at least to begin with. I'd prefer not to have to travel any further into China than is necessary, since my time will be very limited.

Do all farms sell varying qualities of pearls? Is it true that pearls on sale at the fair are more expensive, because it's a fair? Which currency will vendors use? (HK $, or US $?) Will I be able to pick out my own strands, and ship my purchases home myself? Will I have to bargain? - I hate it!

Thanks so much for any forthcoming help; I really appreciate it.

Morna

 

[jshepherd]

Hi Morna,

You are really looking for a factory, not a farm. A farmer is not likely to help you, and you would not want to buy the pearls raw. You need them processed, I do not just mean bleached. They should be matched, drilled, graded, etc. For this you need a factory. Any factory will sell you as little as you need, but you must understand that your prices will reflect that. If you are buying less than $15k-20k, I would strongly suggest just staying at the show.

The factories worth visiting are not too close to Hong Kong. The Akoya areas are closer than the freshwater areas, but the Akoya areas are more remote and much more difficult to reach. Your best bet would be to hit the areas around Shanghai and visit freshwater factories. You will still need a few days, however, and the flight from HK is about 2 hours to Hangzhou, and then a drive of an hour and a half after that.

Yes, the prices are more expensive at the HK show. But the prices at the HK shows are always better than those at the US shows. What you lack in low pricing, however, is made up in selection. You can literally buy anything you need at the show. This is good when you are looking for a small amount of inventory.

The US dollar can be used easily in HK, RMB (local currency) is preferred on the Mainland. I would recommend enlisting the assistance of the vendor to ship your goods home. But, if you have just spent a few hundred dollars, you are better off just carrying it. They will not be too keen to do the extra work for a small sale.

You will always be 'able' to select the strands that you like. But if selecting from a hank, or selecting individual pearls from a lot, you will be required to pay 'selection' pricing. Which, depending on the quality mix of the hank or lot, can be a substantial premium.

Always, always, always negotiate. If you accept the price they initially offer, you have just made then very happy!

 

[pmorna742]

(not now) visiting a pearl farm

(not now) visiting a pearl farm

Hi Jeremy,

Thanks so much for taking time to respond to all my questions.

I've just started the GIA London's distance learning course in pearls, so maybe I'll have swallowed sufficient info from that, in time for the HK show. I so love pearls, particularly keshi. What's the largest size of keshi anyone's come across?

Morna (Scotland)

 

[lucyryalls]

Hi Morna

Im going to the Hong Kong show too in march and can't wait! Its my birthday present!

Dont worry too much about reading the GIA course before you go to the show - you learn much more detailed information from right here, and get hands on experiance at the show! I found the GIA's pearls course to be comparable to the diamond essentials and coloured stone essentials course they offer - I really wanted to learn more than they offered and certainly wouldnt feel confident going straight out and buying pearls after completing both the extension and the lab class.

Have fun in Hong Kong!
Lucy

 

[judimcc6]

Tucson Show

Tucson Show

I am heading out to the Tucson Show on Wed. to shop for all sorts of things. I have just returned from China, Beijing and Shanghai areas in November, but I am always curious to see what else is out there. Does anybody have any suggestions for some "must sees". I got some unusual "lantern" pearls in Beijing and also some "fireball" pearls. I love unusual shapes and baroques, as well as the beautiful rounds. There is so much knowledge at this forum and I am hungry to have any suggestions!

 

[Pearlgully]

Hi Morna and all,

I love and collect South Sea keshi pearls. My largest natural color
golden is L=18.2mm x W=14.2mm x thickness =14.4. Another two golden
keshis, also natural color that I consider a pair, are each approximately
L=17.3mm x W=12.7mm x thickness = 13.5mm. I've been collecting South Sea
keshi pearls for many years and it is now extremely difficult to find
very large keshis (or any keshis for that matter) because the mollusks
are now being x-rayed and anything not considered round is being
discarded.

I'd wish I could post pictures of some of my pearls but I do not have a
digital camera.

Good luck on your trip!

Gail

 

[perlas]

Hi Gail,

Interesting!

How do you manage to get South Sea keshis? I have not seen the goldens.

The biggest I've seen is about 18mmL x 14mmW x 6mmT silvery white SS keshis.

I haven't seen SS keshis lately except for some cubic 8mm pinctada radiata keshis.

 

[Pearlgully]

Hi Perlas,

I've purchased most of my SS keshis from dealers I've met at the AGTA
Gem Show in Tucson. The golden keshis mentioned in my prior post were
purchased at the 2005 show. The golden ones I saw last week at the 2007
show were much smaller and more expensive than in past years and the
largest one I bought is L = 11.7mm x W = 11.3mm x thickness = 10.5mm. By
today's standards, that is considered to be a large golden SS keshi.

I also want to say that I enjoyed meeting Jeremy and Caitlin at the
Strack lecture.

Gail
Pearl Girl, LLC
New York

 

[Caitlin]

Hi Gail
Nice to meet you too.

Please get a digital camera, I would love to see your keshi collection.

I saw some SSkeshi over at the JGX. they looked like broken marbles, but they tended to be klonk sized, for $10 each. I wanted to go back and get a few, but i got lost and couldn't find them again.

 

[Bodecia]

Hi Pearlgully,

If you have a scanner on your printer or seperate you may be able to use that for photos. Some of them work every bit as a digital camera and others not so good but it would be worth a try if you have one.

I would love to see your keshis, sure everyone would.

Bodecia

 

[Valeria101]

Hi Gail

I saw some SSkeshi over at the JGX. they looked like broken marbles, but they tended to be klonk sized, for $10 each.

Does that mean flat on one side from former attachment to the shell, flat, or ....? (curious to know what exactly makes any large pearls that cheap!)

 

[Caitlin]

These keshi pearls were like spheres with large chunks missing. They had circle' that went very deep, givng an almost spiral look to the pearl. but would be partly missing on one side. It had dark crevices. Hard to explain, but they were still very interesting- more like a natural rock in shape than a pearl. I am so sorry I didn't just buy a couple!

 

[Bodecia]

Hi Caitlin,

Did you happen to buy any Kasumi Chinese look-a-likes at the fair. I am always interested in buying some of those. If you have any let me know. Wish I could go to China and the USA fairs but if I had the money to travel would probably go to Africa first

Perlas, bless his heart, said I could visit Broome but that is 2 or 3 thousand of miles away from me across very harsh inland deserts. Could not leave my animals anyway to take the 2 week journey, plus 2 weeks back. Even the lizards in my area would miss my handouts during this drought.

What I do have from the area is some beautiful Shells that my dad picked up when he was there 40 odd years ago. I am not entirely sure what they are now. If anyone would like to see the HUGE beauties I could post some photos. I think he was working near the Virgin Islands or something like that because as silly teenagers it made us giggle stupidly. I am lucky enough to have two of the best shells he brought back with him. I feel blessed because I have them.

Bodecia
PS - is there any easy way to start a new thread because I find it very difficult. Don't think I am senile yet so it must be that you need a direct line to it.

 

[Bodecia]

Valeria101


I saw some SSkeshi over at the JGX. they looked like broken marbles, but they tended to be klonk sized, for $10 each.

Does that mean flat on one side from former attachment to the shell, flat, or ....? (curious to know what exactly makes any large pearls that cheap!)

Hi Valeria101,

In my limited experience what makes the really big keshi or keish (what is the right way to spell it?) cheap is that the cheap ones have a really ****ty lustre or no lustre at all unless one gets lucky on eBay. The one I made a big mistake on was huge but it has a lousy lustre. Might as well be a brick and that was on eBay. Stupid me. But I did bid on 2 and it was only the postage that made it a ridiculous price. Probably will make a cheap pendant out of it. But I really don't like to sell "ugly", I guess that is why some sellers say "unsual" hiccup. Maybe it is only ugly to me because I have so much better. It is the biggest I have but it was a B dissapointment not that the seller lied. He didn't, I just had my head in the clouds and took a chance.

Bodecia

 

[Valeria101]

It is the biggest I have but it was a B dissapointment ...

How big? and how ugly... Pictures? If you ever find time to make a portrait to the shells mentioned earlier, perhaps some of your good and bad keshi might sneak on the table

 

[Valeria101]

These keshi pearls were like spheres with large chunks missing. [...]I am so sorry I didn't just buy a couple!

The description sound so exotic... sorry you missed them.

'Got my regrets too: a white & black pearl (I HATE myself for that one!) - it looked like two pearls fused together over a single nucleus (that doesn't make physiological sense, does it?) to end as a thick-ish egg shape - one very white, one very dark. It wasn't quite wearable, and at the time thought would rather keep looking for a better example - yeah, right!

 

[msmartini80]

Hi every one:

Does any one know how to buy excellent quality pearls directly from a farm?

Moe

 

[pattye]

Hello Moe,

Welcome, how about telling us about yourself, a bit about what you know about pearls and what you want to do with them, so we can make some useful suggestions. A very few of the members here actually shop directly from the farm. Most of us who make jewelry and string pearls purchase wholesale from various vendors.

 

[msmartini80]

Hi Pattye:

Thank you for your response.

I inhereted a couple of natural pearl necklaces last year. These were non-cultured, collected-from-the-bottom-of the sea pearls. All of sudden I became interested in pearls. I started thinking about making pearl necklaces myself. However, I found out that finding natural pearls is very difficult. So I turned my attention to cultured pearls. I want to take the pearl GIA course online to learn more about how to recognize the good pearls. I want to visit pearl farms in the future and buy directly from them. Any advice? Thanks,

Moe

 

[pattye]

Have you checked out the threads under the topic Pearl Farming?

A great pearl farm that I personally want to visit is Sea of Cortez Pearls, in Guaymas, Mexico. You would be able to have a tour and purchase lovely pearls there. It is just a day's trip from Tucson. A number of our forum members have been, and there is info and photos posted elsewhere.

Yes, the GIA course is helpful. So is looking around in stores to see pearls in person, and attending gem shows in your area to examine the pearls offered. There will be alot to learn about pearls, negotiating, etc. Learning Chinese will be helpful also. Pearl Buying Guide, 5th edition, by Renee Newman GG is excellent!

Your necklaces sound beautiful! We would love to see some pictures.