Pearl Perspectives

Welcome! We are passionate about pearls and committed to helping you increase your share of this market.

I am pleased and excited to file this report from the September Hong Kong Jewelry Show. To have a passion for pearls has never been more exciting or interesting.

There is a large variety of cultured pearls in the market that will meet every budget and style your customers have. Pearls were dominant in all aspects of the show and have been getting better and better with increasing importance. The quality of South Sea and Tahitian cultured pearls is wonderful. Chinese Akoya cultured pearls continue to improve but freshwater cultured pearls truly impressed me. Japanese Akoya cultured pearls seem to be the only category with a shrinking market, but they are still one of the most lustrous objects on earth.

Peach, pink, mauve, lilac, and lavender are the range of freshwater cultured pearl natural colors. Occasionally, some have brilliant metallic highlights which immediately attract the eye with their unique flash. more

Japanese Akoya cultured pearl dealers are now also Tahitian cultured pearl and South Sea cultured pearl dealers. The Japanese have always been involved with pearl culturing in some fashion, but the most curious was a Japanese pearl dealer set up in a single booth. Much to my surprise, he was selling only freshwater cultured pearls. A stunning collection of 12-15 mm freshwater cultured pearls were displayed with price tags that made South Sea cultured pearls seem cheap. more

It is our belief, an enhanced knowledge of cultured pearl product results in greater sales and an increased passion for pearls.

When the oyster yields a smooth, blemish-free pearl, it's a triumph of nature and one mark of high quality.

Think of good-quality pearls and you'll likely think of smooth surfaces. In fact, surface is the second most important aspect in evaluating a cultured pearl after luster.

Surface quality refers specifically to the abundance or absence of physical blemishes or flaws. When evaluating the surface of any pearl (the trade uses such terms as blemish, spotting and cleanliness), remember that cultured pearls are grown by live oysters in nature. As such, there are many uncontrollable forces that affect the surface. more

This section looks at trends both in the market and in the world of pearls.

In this issue, we are going to look at some of the more unique pearling operations in the world.

The importance of these fledgling pearling operations is the proliferation of pearl farming to new and exotic locations. The supply of pearls to the world markets is always in flux . That is quickly fading with the opportunity to resource product from new farms wherever they may be.

Nucleated freshwater cultured pearls that once existed in rumors were out in quantities for the world to see. They were not the round perfect spheres the pearl world expected but baroque pearls with tails. Unusual creatures but some were quite exceptional. more

The point is if you commit to creating a pearl department…. you will sell pearls. It is disheartening to hear jewelers claim they just don’t sell pearls when what they really mean is they just don’t carry pearls. With constant pressure placed on diamond margins it is inconceivable to me not to promote “The Pearl”. In this month’s issue of Modern Jeweler, the article entitled “Pearl Power” is an excellent example. We applaud Modern Jeweler for their coverage and commitment to the world of pearls. If you do not receive the magazine please feel free to request a subscription through this link. http://www.modernjeweler.com/

The following are excerpts from Modern Jeweler’s October 2005 article Pearl Power by David Federman. Take the time to read the entire article, it is well worth it.

Four blocks away from GIA’s old Santa Monica campus, Joe Boiadjian, the new owner of Yale Jewelers, is hatching a revitalization plan to keep old patrons and make new ones. Believing the queen of gems is just as essential to his customers at all stages and ages of life as the king of gems, he intends to make his store as much a pearl as a diamond center.

Toward that end, he’s stocking everything from stud earrings for teens to stately necklaces for their mothers and grandmothers. “I can’t think of a gem that provides more excuses to be in a jewelry store than the pearl:’ Boiadjian says. That’s why he now aims to make Yale’s a pearl purchaser’s paradise. more

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