Best time to contact vendors, harvest time?

[Sprinkles&Stones]

Hi!

On my list this year is a light gold champagne color set of GSS pearl studs. I'm hoping to go through Andrew Moline, Takahashi, or PP. (Probably Moline or Takahashi), but I don't know anything about supply and demand.

Should I wait until the 2022 harvest is in (and how do I know when that is?!) or should I just contact the vendors whenever I'm ready to buy, disregarding any market fluctuations and inventory?

For this project I'm not super picky about best matches, if they're round or button, etc. But I also don't want to get the "bottom of the barrel" pickings either and have no choice in what is left.

Thoughts?

Thanks friends!

 

[yssie]

IMO harvest season really only matters if you’re looking for something super esoteric (and you HAVE to wait because there’s nothing left this year) or you’re looking for an actual harvest strand from a single harvest. You’re not wanting either of those, so I’d say just go ahead and contact your preferred vendors and see what’s available.

Buying SS is pretty different from buying akoya IMO. With SS - white or gold - I want iridescence because that’s what gives them that metallic sheen that glows. Otherwise they look like glossy plastic balls. Stronger iridescence at the expense of almost everything else (within whatever body colour range you’ve decided on). Including “at the expense of” sharp reflections! But vendors price and sell GSS by size and body colour, iridescence strength doesn’t factor in, so there’s a direct mismatch between how vendors market these pearls and what our eyes actually appreciate!
I posted some stuff in a GSS thread… I can’t remember who started it, I think it was called something like “decide between some GSS pairs”? I don’t believe there are many GSS threads so it’ll show up if you want to search. I’m on a phone with a small screen, no searching happening here lol.

My favourite GSS ever is a round owned by @Crystal_Dreams, from Pearl Paradise. PP isn’t high on my list for akoya but they’re at the top for SS, both white and gold. They have some incredible stuff and some meh stuff… What they do have is LOTS of inventory and for US-based buyers free returns - so there’s zero risk to seeing a few pairs and choosing what your eyes like best!! I wouldn’t recommend buying SS from Takahashi unless you’re very confident *and* you’re willing to take a loss on guessing wrong. I got my light golds from Takahashi and I love them, but I was prepared to take the loss if I guessed wrong. SS are just hard to buy. Andrew is much safer than Takahashi but he likely won’t have anywhere close to PP’s inventory on hand.

That said - def reach out and ask both if you want to! No harm asking the question!

 

[Sprinkles&Stones]

IMO harvest season really only matters if you’re looking for something super esoteric (and you HAVE to wait because there’s nothing left this year) or you’re looking for an actual harvest strand from a single harvest. You’re not wanting either of those, so I’d say just go ahead and contact your preferred vendors and see what’s available.

Buying SS is pretty different from buying akoya IMO. With SS - white or gold - I want iridescence because that’s what gives them that metallic sheen that glows. Otherwise they look like glossy plastic balls. Stronger iridescence at the expense of almost everything else (within whatever body colour range you’ve decided on). Including “at the expense of” sharp reflections! But vendors price and sell GSS by size and body colour, iridescence strength doesn’t factor in, so there’s a direct mismatch between how vendors market these pearls and what our eyes actually appreciate!
I posted some stuff in a GSS thread… I can’t remember who started it, I think it was called something like “decide between some GSS pairs”? I don’t believe there are many GSS threads so it’ll show up if you want to search. I’m on a phone with a small screen, no searching happening here lol.

My favourite GSS ever is a round owned by @Crystal_Dreams, from Pearl Paradise. PP isn’t high on my list for akoya but they’re at the top for SS, both white and gold. They have some incredible stuff and some meh stuff… What they do have is LOTS of inventory and for US-based buyers free returns - so there’s zero risk to seeing a few pairs and choosing what your eyes like best!! I wouldn’t recommend buying SS from Takahashi unless you’re very confident *and* you’re willing to take a loss on guessing wrong. I got my light golds from Takahashi and I love them, but I was prepared to take the loss if I guessed wrong. SS are just hard to buy. Andrew is much safer than Takahashi but he likely won’t have anywhere close to PP’s inventory on hand.

That said - def reach out and ask both if you want to! No harm asking the question!

Thank you so much Yssie!

I am so new to pearls that I don't know the right questions to ask. You're right, since I am in CA I should reach out to PP since returns will be easy and I am not willing to take a risk with returns with Takahashi. For other projects, sure! But for my GSS dreams I am a little more picky.

Thank you! <3

 

[yssie]

Takahashi doesn't actually have a return policy at all! I'm pretty comfy buying anything from them because I think I have a good idea of my own personal preferences, and now Yy knows what I like! But I still mentally prepare to write off if needed, and I'm sure that one day I'll buy the wrong thing and have to do just that. I believe Andrew normally asks clients to pay shipping on purchases they decline - a low price to pay to not be stuck with something you don't love but still not $0...

 

[pearlsngems]

The thing about GSS is that for any given person, some tones will be more flattering than other tones. (The first time I tried on a strand of GSS, at Betteridge in Greenwich, the SA took one look and declared that was not my color. A glance in the mirror convinced me that she was right. The GSS I eventually bought look much better against my skin.)

So if you live in the USA, there is a clear advantage to buying GSS from a US vendor with a great return policy.

 

[Cinders]

I think Andrew Moline had a pair of champagne-colored GSS on his website. They were very pretty! I was considering them before Christmas.

 

[michellechan2211]

IMO harvest season really only matters if you’re looking for something super esoteric (and you HAVE to wait because there’s nothing left this year) or you’re looking for an actual harvest strand from a single harvest. You’re not wanting either of those, so I’d say just go ahead and contact your preferred vendors and see what’s available.

Buying SS is pretty different from buying akoya IMO. With SS - white or gold - I want iridescence because that’s what gives them that metallic sheen that glows. Otherwise they look like glossy plastic balls. Stronger iridescence at the expense of almost everything else (within whatever body colour range you’ve decided on). Including “at the expense of” sharp reflections! But vendors price and sell GSS by size and body colour, iridescence strength doesn’t factor in, so there’s a direct mismatch between how vendors market these pearls and what our eyes actually appreciate!
I posted some stuff in a GSS thread… I can’t remember who started it, I think it was called something like “decide between some GSS pairs”? I don’t believe there are many GSS threads so it’ll show up if you want to search. I’m on a phone with a small screen, no searching happening here lol.

My favourite GSS ever is a round owned by @Crystal_Dreams, from Pearl Paradise. PP isn’t high on my list for akoya but they’re at the top for SS, both white and gold. They have some incredible stuff and some meh stuff… What they do have is LOTS of inventory and for US-based buyers free returns - so there’s zero risk to seeing a few pairs and choosing what your eyes like best!! I wouldn’t recommend buying SS from Takahashi unless you’re very confident *and* you’re willing to take a loss on guessing wrong. I got my light golds from Takahashi and I love them, but I was prepared to take the loss if I guessed wrong. SS are just hard to buy. Andrew is much safer than Takahashi but he likely won’t have anywhere close to PP’s inventory on hand.

That said - def reach out and ask both if you want to! No harm asking the question!

I guess that would be my thread! A very informative read re: Yssie's post, although i must confess that my priorities for that particular project was different than the average GSS buyer. That said, i was pleased with the results.