Tahitian pearls - Vendor vs. IRL pictures

[baby monster]

Catherine Cardellini multicolor ripples. 12-16mm.
Vendor photo.

Neck shot. Indoor indirect light.

 

[baby monster]

Catherine Cardellini multicolor freshwater rounds. AA+. 9-10mm.
Vendor photo

Neck shot. Outdoors indirect light

 

[Frost Me]

Well, Frost Me, what if I told you there are two pearl markets?

I live in Metro Manila, which is the national capitol region of the Philippines. This is the base of Jewelmer, which specializes in deep golden South Sea pearls, and a loose-knit network of small pearl merchants selling out of two bazaars, Greenhills and Market Market.

Greenhills market is a huge bazaar. At the center is a section of 120 kiosks that sell pearls year round. The shop owners used to source their pearls from Davao and Palawan, when we had more independent pearl farmers. Now, the merchants get them mostly from Hong Kong, just like PP and POJ. Their price points are much lower than PP and POJ, because they have lower overhead and because they buy lower quality pearls. Every now and then, though, especially if you've nurtured a good relationship with a shopkeeper, you can find very nice pearls and gems for a steal.

Now, I have to say Greenhills can be chaotic and overwhelming, especially on the weekends; some merchants are less scrupulous than others. But if you have good contacts, it's a great place to start a pearl addiction.


The other, Market Market, is a satellite of Greenhills, about half the size of its big sister and much quieter. The pearls are not as nice, but I've snagged a few bargains there. Plus, this is where I found the best and cheapest pearl-stringing service ever--about $2.50 a strand!

cyndayco
Thank you for sharing, I love stories about markets in other cultures. Your pearls are lovely. What a great source for local shopping.

 

[cmd2014]

American Pearl silver Tahitians. I think these might be the closest I've seen between the glamour shot and real life. Might be because the pearls are lighter in body colour. Overtones in indirect light include teal, lavender, and light blue. I love these ones!!!

 

[sarahb]

Here's the one I do have:









Edit: sorry...just wanted to edit so that you all weren't forced to look up my nose (which wasn't obvious in the photo until it posted). Had a few technical difficulties.

CMD--this strand is gorgeous! Please give me more details--I'd love to find something similar

 

[cmd2014]

Sarahb, They are 10mm to 12mm, 19 inches, and described as 'grey'. There are quite a number of similar strands on the American Pearl website under the "New Tahitian Necklaces" tab on the left of the homepage. They are almost at the bottom of the page. You can also get there by selecting Tahitian pearls and clicking on the baroque link. Some are rounder like mine, some are more teardrop shaped.

Can I link to the page? (I can't recall if that is against Pricescope policy). If so, I will....but if not, it's easy to find with a Google search. The earrings are the "Eide" earrings. I just asked in the comments section to have them matched to the necklace as they ordinarily come in a black body colour. It was no problem. I figured that the necklace was unique enough that it was best to match earrings from the start rather than going back later.

They really have nice luster. They are similar to my PP ones in luster and surface clarity, but are not as strongly overtoned.

 

[cmd2014]

Oops...I think I got the light labels reversed for the pictures. I think the top picture was the indirect light one.

 

[pkinnew]

cmd2014 - Gorgeous silvers! They do look close to the vendor picture.

 

[cmd2014]

Thanks Pkinnew! I have been really enjoying them.

 

[Tucs]

I just found this thread, it's really helpful to have a better idea of how Tahitians look I real life compared to vendor photos. Thanks to everyone who posted theirs. I'm always looking at Tahitians so I like it so much. It should be a sticky!

 

[ennui]

Ideally, we would all see Tahitians on slightly raining days -- there's something about the quality of light on an overcast day that brings the T's to life, in all their glorious tones.

Direct bright light just makes them look flat.

Imho, of course.

 

[Frost Me]

Pearl Paradise (Silvery) Green Body Peacock AAA Tahitian Drops

PP Website Glamour Photo



PP Photos





Indoor with my makeshift light box

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[Tucs]

Thanks for adding yours, Frost Me! Those are GORGEOUS! Oh my. How was the body colour described by the vendor? Silver?

 

[bsomlo]

Frost Me -- those are spectacularly beautiful! Neck shots immediately, girl! (BTW, I like your photos even better than the glamour shots!)

 

[Frost Me]

Thanks Tucs and bsomio, I Just had not posted IRL photos, see the original thread September 24, 2014, They were described Green Body with Peacock. To me they have so much silver and white with rose overtones. I can't get any great neck shots, too reflective, maybe on a foggy day in early spring.

[URL='https://www.pricescope.com/community/threads/my-new-silvery-green-peacock-tahitian-strand-from-pp.206402/']https://www.pricescope.com/community/threads/my-new-silvery-green-peacock-tahitian-strand-from-pp.206402/[/URL]

 

[Tucs]

Thank you, I would a strand like that in the future. Really beautiful. Maybe if there's another Tahitian sale next year...

 

[cmd2014]

One of the things I have really appreciated about this thread is the comparison between different light conditions for Tahitians. It made me realize that while colours really pop under certain light conditions (like in a light box, or in indirect light), they often don't show to the same advantage under other lighting. It's why I've loved the shots that people put of their strands under both indirect (ideal) light conditions, and direct natural light. It helped me get a more realistic view of what to expect from my own strands.

As an example of my strands:

In my makeshift light box



In more direct light (IIRC, this was through a blind in my office):



Still beautiful, but not showing all the peacock overtones that you see in the light box. I think it helps us newbies to see the direct light shots so that we don't think that something terribly wrong has happened to our strands (or strand choices) when they arrive and we don't see all the colours that other people's strands seem to have.

 

[Bailey1856]

This is my Mom's strand, it's 8-10mm that I helped her pick from the same vendor that I bought my multicoloured from. I will take IRL pictures next time she is around.

 

[Bailey1856]

Frostme, I love the silvery shine of your tahitians. It's becoming to be one of my favorites- silver bodies with cherries,rose, and blue greens and the ones that are very dark.
Cmd, yours is so nice, i like how dark and exotic it is.

 

[Tucs]

Beautiful colours, Bailey! May I ask who the vendor is?

 

[Bailey1856]

Beautiful colours, Bailey! May I ask who the vendor is?

It's from The Pearl Exchange on etsy.

 

[Tucs]

Thanks Bailey, I will check them out.

 

[cmd2014]

Baily,

That's a beautiful strand. I'm looking forward to seeing IRL pictures of it.

I love this thread. This and the PP Tahitian pearl sale thread helped me so much when it came to figuring out what I like and what to look for when buying pearls, and to have more realistic expectations about real life lighting conditions.

I have another multistrand coming, and will post pics once it arrives. (ok, I need to take a second to hang my head in shame...after vowing to stop buying things, this month alone I have bought the white metallic strand with matching earrings, I have the 9.5-10mm POJ fancy colour shift lavenders en route, and now I bought the multicoloured strand from Ashley at Pure Pearls that she posted on Facebook. Is there a Pearlaholics Anonymous meeting anywhere?)

 

[icy_jade]

PP Glamor shot:


Another glamor shot but this is really quite close to what I see IRL:


IRL:


Neck shot:

 

[bsomlo]

Super pretty!

 

[icy_jade]

Tahitian drop strand from the August PP Tahitian sale - AAA 8.4 to 12.6 mm, green with peacock overtones, 20 inches

PP glamor shots:


WIP photos for pearl selection n stuff:


IRL:

 

[icy_jade]

Thanks B!

----
Neck shot:


"Acorn" Galatea carved earrings from September PP Connoisseur sale - 10 mm
IRL shots above and this is the glamor shot:

 

[cmd2014]

My new multicolour strand from Ashley at Pure Pearls. I couldn't be happier. They have beautiful luster, and a lot of the pearls are interesting half-tones - half one colour, half another. The one two to the right of center is like that, as in the strong teal one with the dark blue ring five pearls up from the center on the left.

Vendor photo:



Natural light shot from Pure Pearls:



Direct light:



Indirect light:

 

[bsomlo]

Wow, another example of better in real life!

 

[bsomlo]

I bought these "exotic" (according to Jeremy) Tahitians one year ago almost to the day! The body is dark green and the overtones are red and lavender. I am just starting to appreciate these special pearls. Tahitians are very tricky and mysterious to me. I asked Hisano to pull two pearls from the strand (I prefer short necklaces) for dangle earrings.

Glamour shots:



Here are the charming pearls Hisano chose from the strand for the earrings:



It's almost impossible for me to catch the colors in neck shots.



Here's a shot from last winter where they appear downright lavender: