Help me, please - are they good enough?

[Arkteia]

I am collecting South Sea pearls for a necklace with a dark red spinel clasp. I just got the idea, wanted white South Sea but apparently I am buying more golden ones.

Unfortunately, even the best online source seems to be more expensive than ebay, but people said ebay was not the best source... So I am trying to understand what I am doing here.

Baroque white pearls that I saw online were either not plump enough or seemed to have visible pits. I found out I am really partial to pits, although 5% is acceptable.

So here are the ones I have bought, tell me please if I should proceed the same way, or look for a ready-made affordable necklace. Because 15 K, the cost of a good South Sea necklace online, is way above my budget.

 

[NacreLover]

What size are the pearls you have shown us here? You do have enough pearls already to make a tin cup type of necklace. I have a white and a golden strand of South Sea pearls and I spent less than $5,000 for the both.

 

[Arkteia]

Yours are gorgeous! I tried around 10-11 mm but then ran around a 12+ mm one. I do not want a tin cup, I want a full necklace, I have a 3.6 ct red Tanzanian spinel precision cut in an unusual way, it is elongated and I sold the second one from the pair (mistake!). But yesterday I thought that it would look great with white, or golden, South Sea pearls, as a frontal clasp - it has this shape, you know, modern one.

 

[NacreLover]

The goldens are 22K color. They are 9-12mm The white are 11-14mm. I got both strands from Pearl Paradise.

 

[Arkteia]

Pearl Paradise has perfect good prices/quality it seems. Unfortunately, I did not see any South Sea necklace there at such a price. Yours are round, everything that I see around at affordable prices is baroque. Your pearls have a perfect "ethereal" glow, Nacre Lover. I bought pearls at random places, to get the feeling, and by all means the South Seas ones are unbeatable. I also have one Sea of Cortez that I like, very iridescent.

 

[NacreLover]

Pearl Paradise has a vault filled with all types of pearls. The items listed are just a small amount of what they actually carry. If you are looking for something give them a call the tell them exactly what you want. They will look though their stock and take photos to show you. I am sure they have just what you're looking for.

They had trays like this when I bought mine. Mine is the second from the bottom.

 

[katbran]

Did you want a round pearl necklace or baroque? Do you want a mix of colours or all gold. A mix of gold and white can be very pretty.

Like Nacrelover - I'd like to know the sizes.

PP has quite reasonable prices , you could use your existing pearls in a bracelet and find a strand that matches. They will have bought some in HK I'm sure , the show just ended a couple of days ago so they will have new stock shortly. Plus I'm sure they have lots that are not on line. Talk to them, show them a close up of the existing pearls on a white paper towel. See what they can do.

 

[NacreLover]

You didn't say how much you are paying per pearl, but buying them this way may end up costing you much more than just buying a strand. If you're creating a graduated strand you'll have to find like sized pearls to balance the strand which is already been done with a ready made one. You could run into trouble if you're buying predrilled pearls from multiple sources. Especially if they use different size drill bits. If they are undrilled this will be an additional charge before your item can be created.

 

[Arkteia]

Thank you all very much! I was operating from the presumption that I wanted to strand them myself, it seems to be calming, and looking at each pearl is calming, too, good therapy, but of course the clasp changes everything, now I have to work with a jeweler. I bought different pearls, Tahitians and South Seas (and ended up with gorgeous pieces intermixed with balls fit only for a maze game). But I needed to know about the vendors, too. But I had to discover it for myself, to understand what was around.

So this is about why I went the more expensive way. I had no concept at that time but needed the knowledge.

I think I am going to see the jeweler and ask him to measure my stone and give me an idea, and then call PP.

 

[Arkteia]

Pearl Paradise has a vault filled with all types of pearls. The items listed are just a small amount of what they actually carry. If you are looking for something give them a call the tell them exactly what you want. They will look though their stock and take photos to show you. I am sure they have just what you're looking for.

They had trays like this when I bought mine. Mine is the second from the bottom.

Alladin's cave! This photo, I mean.

 

[NacreLover]

Pearl Paradise has a great mothers day sale..... If you're in no hurry.

 

[Arkteia]

I am not in a hurry at all. I am still working at the concept, but once I took a shot of a red spinel with blue akoyas, just for fun, no specific light or any editing. It is not the stone I intend to use, but in general, pearls and spinel are such winsome combination! The color is much better IRL, I had to resize it several times on my old phone. I think white pearls with red-pink spinel would be the look.

 

[Arkteia]

So here is the Tanzanian losenge spinel that I planned to use as a frontal clasp, maybe hang another spinel from it - (the latter is a jeweler's idea). It looks small but is 3.6 ct. 10 mm size of the pearls would be quite enough, 11 probably would look better but we'll need to halo the stone. I have not seen anything on PP yet, saw a sale on another site. (Kevin? Pearls of joy?).

 

[NacreLover]

Mothers day sale at PP is a big deal. Are you signed up for their sale alerts. I believe it's 20% off.

 

[NacreLover]

The spinel you purchased are beautiful. I don't have any fancy clasps except the equestrian clasp I bought at PP. I am curious though, why did you choose to make a clasp instead of a enhancer you could move from strand to strand?

 

[Rajhox]

these are to beautyfull. no need to worry about it.

 

[Arkteia]

Mothers day sale at PP is a big deal. Are you signed up for their sale alerts. I believe it's 20% off.

I assumed I did. I bought several pearls from them and have an account. I think they have a question at the end, or a popout when you are buying first time. I even sent an email, with my crazy work schedule I can not call. Maybe I should find some time today.

 

[Arkteia]

The spinel you purchased are beautiful. I don't have any fancy clasps except the equestrian clasp I bought at PP. I am curious though, why did you choose to make a clasp instead of a enhancer you could move from strand to strand?

Because knowing myself, I won't be moving it. On the contrary, I want to make several "theme" necklaces, one with spinel, one with amethysts. Maybe something like amethysts and green tourmalines and purple and green Tahitians. I could end up with an enhancer if the jeweler says that it will be technically more feasible, or look.better. But brooches and clasps, for example, are problematic. My dad is very ill, so I travel to Russia as often as I can - I am the only child. Full flight takes a day each way. I lost a brooch in flight already, and could have lost several, just caught it on time. Enhancers might be like brooches, easy to lose. (I might be wrong here, I just never had one).

 

[NacreLover]

That must be upsetting. I have only lost a few earrings over the years which had no memories involved. I have a collection of slides and enhancers. The enhancers have a double locking system so if one comes unhooked the other is still locked. I am sorry your dad is ill and lives far from you, it must be hard to leave to go home.

 

[Arkteia]

That must be upsetting. I have only lost a few earrings over the years which had no memories involved. I have a collection of slides and enhancers. The enhancers have a double locking system so if one comes unhooked the other is still locked. I am sorry your dad is ill and lives far from you, it must be hard to leave to go home.

Thank you for your kind words, Nacrelover! Luckily, my younger son loves to visit his grandpa (anything but school!) so we often fly together. Last time I actually caught the fact that I lost the brooch, but the idea of returning back and looking for it and potentially missing the flight or ending on standby was too upsetting. It was inexpensive. Nice to know about the enhancers. In old time in Japan they would make clips for neckerchiefs, very tight and versatile, I wonder if the same principle is used in enhancers.

I called Pearl Paradise, they said they'd have a sale next week. I am afraid I still could not put my main question ("how does one buy something as good as another PS-er has, and affordable at this?") into any semblance of coherence , but they promised to send me links...

 

[NacreLover]

 

[NacreLover]

The top enhancer comes in many sizes and colors and is very well built. You hear it snap shut then the second safety also holds secure. It has a closed ring so your jeweler has to install the pendant and then solder it closed.
The bottom comes in two colors and is fairly small in size. I use this one the most because it can take items off of it and change them with others.

 

[Arkteia]

Oh, this kind of an enhancer. I have such, and it is very tight, my demantoid is suspended from it. I like Japanese scarf clips for longer pearls. (The one posted here is too gaudy, but to give the idea). http://global.rakuten.com/en/store/instylejapan/item/1302-03/

Nacrelover, is your necklace made of round pearls? It looks pretty round to me, but in the picture among others, it has some circled ones, too. Maybe circles are the reflection from the neighboring ones?
What do people think of off-round whites? I am trying to get the best on a budget...

 

[NacreLover]

The gold strand is pretty round for off round.

 

[NacreLover]

The Baroque white south sea appears fairly round on the neck. Here is a close up.

 

[Arkteia]

The gold strand is pretty round for off round.

They are simply to die for

 

[Arkteia]

The Baroque white south sea appears fairly round on the neck. Here is a close up.

Indeed they appear round and clean.

 

[NacreLover]

My goldens are the 22k color. By the way, someone is selling half of a strand of the 24k on Loupe troop for $500.00 if you're interested. https://loupetroop.com/listings/loo...dot-6-mm-deep-golden-south-sea-aa-plus-pearls

 

[Arkteia]

I am, and I was considering buying it. If I mix them with mine, it would be a strand. I don't know what is the size of the holes in PP strands, though. And most of my single pearls are not drilled yet, but two are, so again. What is the usual principle? I ask for 0.8 mm holes, some vendors sell 1 mm, is the difference still OK to make a strand?

 

[NacreLover]

Arketia, I wrote to PP and this is the response. we use a .8 mm drill bit.