Pearl Perspectives

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We inquired as to the current state of their operations and received this response:

..... good to make contact. I worked for about 7 years in the Sudan, firstly for FAO of United Nations and later for the Sudanese Government, principally continuing the excellent research work on pearl oysters done by a remarkable English scientist, Dr Cyril Crossland, from 1905 to 1922. This involved the collection of spat and rearing of the local pearl oyster species, a black-lip pearl oyster, Pinctada margaritifera var. erythraensis. Although the same species as the Tahitian oyster, the Red Sea variety is mostly whitish in colour and is capable of producing white pearls from 8 to about 12 mm diameter - a very good niche in the South Sea pearl market. The area where I worked - Dongonab Bay - is an excellent place to collect the spat and rear the species. Unfortunately there too many problems in doing business in the Sudan, mostly political, but also lack of education, sharia law, rampant corruption, dishonesty and just the lack of ambition of most of the inhabitants. About ten years ago, I attempted to establish a commercial pearl farm there, but this unfortunately cost me and a number of other investors quite a lot of money before we abandoned the project and counted our losses. Autore Australia was not involved although Nino Autore, brother of Rosario, was one of the investors. To the best of my knowledge nobody has continued the scheme and I doubt that anybody will succeed there in the forseeable future. Also the technology of rearing pearl oysters has improved a great deal and hatchery technology is now fairly well understood which makes the ability to collect spat not such an advantage. I regret, Terry, that I am not able to be more helpful nor optimistic. .......... best wishes ..... Bill

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Old gem comes out of its shell, learns new tricks

The pearl dates back to the earliest civilizations and was the first gem to be valued. It is still used for elegant, classic jewelry but it has gotten a makeover by some designers that's brought the pearl right out of its shell.

Britney Spears, Sandra Bullock, Jennifer Aniston and Courteney Cox are just a few among the crop of celebrities who've been seen wearing their pearls.

"They've come back huge in the past 18 months to two years," says Virginia Halevi, editor-in-chief of the web site jewelry.com that provides information on jewelry. "Everyone thinks of pearls as their grandmother's or mother's strand of pure white pearls. But with cultured pearls, they became a lot more affordable."

Until recently, the jewelry industry was finding the traditional treatment of pearls boring, she said.

"But now pearls are gold, they're purple, they're brown, they're in all different shapes. Black pearls are huge. One of the biggest things is high-end pearls with diamonds, with sapphires, with all different types of gemstones," she adds.

"I've seen pearls with sterling silver, gold and rubber; and some are used with found materials like recycled tin cans or enamel steel signs riveted together. There are all kinds of things done with pearls. They can be as quiet or as big as you want them to be. A big trend is in the cocktail rings or big rings; the pearl rings are fantastic."

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

The Chinese have always done things a little differently. Whether it's reading from the right or governing from the left, the world's oldest continuous nation plods on inexorably, often making up its model as it goes along.

Myanmar to hold pearl auction in February

Myanmar will hold a pearl auction in February with the aim of boosting foreign exchange earning, a local weekly reported Friday.

During the three-day Myanmar Pearl Auction-2007, sponsored by the state-run Myanmar Pearl Enterprise (MPE) and scheduled on Feb. 16-18 at the Inya Lake Hotel, more than 100,000 pearls in lots will be sold, the local weekly Kumudra said, adding that about 100 foreign companies from 15 countries and regions are expected to joint the event.

Meanwhile, Myanmar has introduced some measures to boost pearl sale outlining them as increasing the size of pearls cultured by the enterprise, boosting pearl output in Myanmar waters and fixing reasonable prices for the pearls to attract foreign merchants.

According to the report, under an oyster breeding program, Myanmar produced nearly 400,000 units (about 200,000 mommis) of cultured pearls in 2006, 30 percent up from 2005.

Myanmar possesses a total pearl production area of 25,600 square-kilometers. The country started yielding pearls in 1956.

Cultured pearl production has been up sharply since 1992 when the government launched a campaign to encourage more domestic and foreign investment in the sector.

Of the six pearl producers in the country, there are Myanmar- foreign joint ventures involving companies from Japan, Australia and Thailand. Of them, the Myanmar-Japan partnership represents the biggest producer with an investment of about 8.47 million U.S. dollars, according to the MPE.

Pearl lots, along with locally-produced quality gems, jade and jewelry, are sold at the country's regular gems emporiums held up to three times a year in recent years through a sale system ranging from sealed tender to competitive bidding.

Pearls, once considered a boring accessory, becoming a `must-have'

Old gem comes out of its shell, learns new tricks

Myanmar to hold pearl auction in February