Help me pick a Pearl!

[Ondine27]

Hello! I’m getting a custom pearl pendant made and I have the choice of the following pearls. I can’t decide! I figured this community would be great at giving me some advice of which pearl I should choose. They are all Tahitian pearls ranging from silver-white to golden. The silver-white is 11.1mm, the champagne one is 12mm and the gold one is 11.6. Let me know what you think!

 

[NacreLover]

Ondine, You need to go back to your seller. The pearls above are NOT Tahitian pearls.( Pinctada margaritifera) If they said they were you need a new vendor. The pearls above are from another mollusk. Pinctada maxima One from Silver lipped the other Golden lipped from the looks of them.

The champagne is worth less than the others. You need more shots with the same pearls in the same photo. If your seller doesn't know what they are selling, how can the give you a accurate price for the pearls? A person can price compare if they know what they are buying.

 

[katbran]

I agree with nacre lover ... they don't look like Tahitians. Some people don't actually know what they are selling, sometimes there is a language interpretation problem. Either way I would look for someone else. The gold pearl isn't very dark at all and I would almost consider that in the champagne range judging from the photo.. but photos are deceptive.

 

[MollyMalone]

@NacreLover and @katbran
Upon seeing the pics 3 weeks ago in the OP's similar thread in Hangout, I too was raising my eyebrows at the Tahitian description. But here's her response in the other thread to @babs23r 's tactful suggestion that Tahitian was an inadvertent typo:

Hi. The pearls are beautiful. I’m assuming you mean south sea pearls as opposed to Tahitian pearls.
You can’t go wrong with silver/ white. Again, it depends on what color compliments your complexion.
What type of pendant are you thinking of? Send pics!
Love pearls!!!!

Actually no, these are in fact Tahitians. They are from Kamoka pearl. They are just rare colors.

I trust Kamoka & there surely wouldn't be a language interpretation problem in communicating with either Josh or Celeste.

So I was intrigued to discover via my subsequent Google search that there is actually a wider range of colors in Tahitians -- including whites and creams
https://www.pearlparadise.com/colle...a-white-tahitian-freeform-drop-pearl-necklace
https://www.pricescope.com/community/threads/the-colours-of-freshwater-pearls.232456/#post-4196437
-- than I had realized. I now can't quickly put my hands on the GIA page I found in the course of my search, but here's @dk168 's post with a really useful photo from Miriam Reed of Pearl Distributors:
https://www.pricescope.com/community/threads/tahitian-pearl-question.202751/#post-3687584

 

[NacreLover]

I guess I am wrong. Josh does grow white Tahitians as I have seen a strand he brought to the ruckus. I still would ask for a photo of them in the same shot. The paper in both photos are not the same color, If it was the same piece, it may not be giving her the true representation of what the yellow toned pearls really look like.

This strand was created over many harvests, Josh talks about how white Tahitian's occur in the video he did at the 2017 ruckus.

 

[cmd2014]

I was initially on the same page as you Nacrelover, but I recall the same question (and answer) being asked in the other thread. They really do look like WSS pearls. I would ask for more pictures of them all together though, as it's a little tough to compare between pearls with them all separate.

 

[NacreLover]

Ondine, Kamoka is having a trunk show in Marin, CA on 9/14 if you live near that area. I got a notice from Facebook a few days ago. They brought their pearls to the Ruckus in July and have a great selection of finished goods. Lots of pretty pearls with fantastic overtones.

 

[lambskin]

I was just in Tahiti and saw a lot of silver pearls. Not so much golden. If you want golden color then buy a South Seas pearl.