Golden South Sea Pearl help

[sd_flp]

I recently decided to get into pearls again after wearing my freshwater pearl necklace this past weekend. I’ve always liked the gold south sea pearls and black tahitians. I can’t afford a full necklace and I’m not really into large earrings so I think a pendant would suffice for now.

I contacted Takahashi for some GSS and I asked for some that weren’t super high quality but nice enough and had deep color. Kan gave me these to look at; they’re in pairs because he thought I wanted earrings. They’re AA quality according to him (highest is AAA+)…but now I’m having second thoughts and am wondering if I should go up to AAA? I’m just afraid to ask because I feel like I’m asking him too many questions.

Anyway, I have photos of what he sent. Can you please let me know which of these look good to you? You can be brutally honest too, I don’t mind.

Also before that I contacted Pearl Paradise and they sent me a photo of a loose pearl they have. I didn’t get the grade but I am assuming it was AAA and it’s actually roughly the same price as what Takahashi quoted me.





Also here is the one Pearl Paradise sent me:


Thanks in advance.

 

[empliau]

@katbran (pearlzaustralia on Instagram) has lovely pearls - I haven't bought from her personally, but many forum members have. I believe she even supplied GSS to @yssie, whose exquisite taste is equalled only by her exacting eye.

 

[pearlsngems]

Of the 3 pairs I like the middle pair best. I like the rose overtone.

 

[Daisys and Diamonds]

Of the 3 pairs I like the middle pair best. I like the rose overtone.

i thought this too, they also looked the sharpest to me

 

[sd_flp]

Thanks, all! I also preferred the middle pair, but I wanted to make sure I wasn’t missing anything. The top didn’t have as good of a luster and the bottom wasn’t as saturated as I’d like it to be.

I’ll check out pearlzaustralia, too!

 

[sd_flp]

Oh also I forgot to mention they’re all in pairs because Kan initially thought I wanted earrings, haha

 

[yssie]

Why pay for two when you only want one? And sometimes you can get one singleton that's an absolute stunner, but that has no match so it can't be paired up... Definitely ask about singles! And yeah, I'd bump to AAA - find out what the best quality they've got within your price band is, and compromise according to your priorities from there, IMO.

Just to add - the absolute nicest GSS I've ever seen in my life belongs to @Crystal_Dreams and is from Pearl Paradise. A singleton. And I've seen a loooot of golds now LOL!!

 

[lovedogs]

I would definitely try to ask T for singles and see how high quality you can get. I like the PP one too

 

[sd_flp]

Why pay for two when you only want one? And sometimes you can get one singleton that's an absolute stunner, but that has no match so it can't be paired up... Definitely ask about singles! And yeah, I'd bump to AAA - find out what the best quality they've got within your price band is, and compromise according to your priorities from there, IMO.

Just to add - the absolute nicest GSS I've ever seen in my life belongs to @Crystal_Dreams and is from Pearl Paradise. A singleton. And I've seen a loooot of golds now LOL!!

Oh sorry! I should clarify, Kan put them in pairs but I told him after he sent me the photos that I wanted a pendant and he said the price would be half of what he originally quoted me.

Pearl Paradise did send me a GSS but I wasn’t particularly wowed by the size or color…I guess I wanted it to look more yellow? Here’s the photo:

 

[yssie]

Oh sorry! I should clarify, Kan put them in pairs but I told him after he sent me the photos that I wanted a pendant and he said the price would be half of what he originally quoted me.

Pearl Paradise did send me a GSS but I wasn’t particularly wowed by the size or color…I guess I wanted it to look more yellow? Here’s the photo:

You could def ask for some more photos of the PP - I agree, it’s not blowing me away in this pic, but pearls are camera shy sometimes - get some more photos in sunlight and on the hand, see what you think

Also worth asking Takahashi and pearlzaustralia about singles!

 

[Pearlescence]

Oh also I forgot to mention they’re all in pairs because Kan initially thought I wanted earrings, haha

I doubt that as one of the card photo includes an enhancer and a pendant finding.

 

[sd_flp]

I doubt that as one of the card photo includes an enhancer and a pendant finding.

He sent this photo after I told him I wanted a pendant. In his first email he sent earring findings. He just didn’t bother removing the pearls from their pairs and told me that if I wanted singles he was charging half price of what he originally quoted me.

I’m a little worried about emailing him again because there is somewhat of a language barrier. When I initially inquired I asked for pricing on a single GSS and he sent me pairs because I guess everyone’s first preference for GSS are earrings if one can’t afford a full necklace. I tried asking him if I could see these pearls against higher quality ones (I figured if I see a direct comparison with AAA graded pearls I could probably get away with the AA ones if I could barely tell the difference) and he said the ones that I see are considered good quality (??).

I wasn’t going to post on here as I wanted to do the research myself but due to this back and forth I felt motivated to ask here because I dont know how these compare with AAA GSS.

 

[sd_flp]

Ok, I finally made some headway!

I told Kan I liked the middle AA ones but asked him if I could see them against AAA GSS pearls. He sent me more photos with the AA pearls next to the AAAs. Thanks to this I can definitely see a color and texture difference between the AA and AAA GSS.





In my non-expert opinion, I think the largest one is the best out of the three but it’s also huge which I’m not too crazy about. I know everyone likes larger stones here, but I hesitate wearing anything bigger than 10.5mm.

 

[sd_flp]

I also got more photos of the PP pearl and they confirmed that it is AAA and the color is 18K gold (medium?). It actually looks really pretty in different lighting!





I don't think the color of this one is as nice as the largest AAA from Takahashi but I think its color is slightly better than the Takahashi AAs, imo. But let me know if I’m missing anything.

 

[NY_Resonant]

I would not get the AA ones.

As a matter of personal taste, my favorite is actually the middle Takahashi Pearl sized at 10.14. Lovely deep gold, best luster, with a good amount of green overtone which I like — not too much pink.

It seems you like the rose/pink overtone in your GSS? The big takahashi has a very strong pink overtone.

PP can’t be compared across pictures… but it looks beautiful with both green and pink overtones quite noticeable in the lighting they used. Not a “deep gold“ GSS at 18K.

 

[sd_flp]

I would not get the AA ones.

As a matter of personal taste, my favorite is actually the middle Takahashi Pearl sized at 10.14. Lovely deep gold, best luster, with a good amount of green overtone which I like — not too much pink.

It seems you like the rose/pink overtone in your GSS? The big takahashi has a very strong pink overtone.

PP can’t be compared across pictures… but it looks beautiful with both green and pink overtones quite noticeable in the lighting they used. Not a “deep gold“ GSS at 18K.

After seeing the AA pearls against the AAA ones, I really don’t think they’re as nice. I’m glad I got a direct comparison!

I think I do prefer the pink. The middle AAA one is pretty and I see what you are saying about the luster being better on that one, but my eye was drawn the larger one.

For the PP pearl I was surprised with how much I liked it! The first photo wasn’t great so admittedly I wasn’t expecting much; it’s not brassy like I originally viewed it as.

 

[lovedogs]

I prefer the 10.14 from T (middle size, I think). That's my favorite of all the options.

 

[sd_flp]

I prefer the 10.14 from T (middle size, I think). That's my favorite of all the options.

Thanks! Since receiving the pics yesterday I am considering this one for sure since it’s closer to the size I like…

I did end up impulsively buying the PP one due to the Valentine’s Day sale. It is less than half the price of Takahashi but I also figure if it doesn’t work out I can just return it.

 

[lovedogs]

Thanks! Since receiving the pics yesterday I am considering this one for sure since it’s closer to the size I like…

I did end up impulsively buying the PP one due to the Valentine’s Day sale. It is less than half the price of Takahashi but I also figure if it doesn’t work out I can just return it.

It doesn't hurt to try! Their return policy is great, and I totally understand wanting to see it IRL. That's my second favorite one I think

 

[katbran]

It's best that you try one that you can return. It looks very nice and sounds like a good buy. My favourite was the same as Lovedogs and NYR - the 10.4 middle one. But again...if you can see it in real life and return then that's a bonus. Just be sure that you can return it if they drill it .

 

[sd_flp]

The Pearl Paradise GSS came in yesterday. It’s definitely not deep in color but I actually really like it! I didn’t ask for it to be drilled because I wanted an option to return but I’m contemplating on keeping it. We’ll see; I’m not overly picky but my main criteria was not getting a GSS that was too pale:



I tried it against my ear in case I ever wanted to get South Sea or Tahitian studs in the future and I didn’t like the size at all (it’s almost 9mm), but I think it would be a nice size for drop earrings. Pendant wise, this size is great and what I was looking for.

 

[lovedogs]

The Pearl Paradise GSS came in yesterday. It’s definitely not deep in color but I actually really like it! I didn’t ask for it to be drilled because I wanted an option to return but I’m contemplating on keeping it. We’ll see; I’m not overly picky but my main criteria was not getting a GSS that was too pale:



I tried it against my ear in case I ever wanted to get South Sea or Tahitian studs in the future and I didn’t like the size at all (it’s almost 9mm), but I think it would be a nice size for drop earrings. Pendant wise, this size is great and what I was looking for.

Oooo that's really lovely!

 

[Snowdrop13]

It’s really pretty, I’m loving it against your skin tone too

 

[Daisys and Diamonds]

Oooo that's really lovely!

it is such a lovely colour, that middle photo makes it look perfect on you