PS Sea of Cortez adventures - 2021/2022 edition!

[yssie]

I know that a few of us have Sea of Cortez pearl projects in the works and I thought it might be fun to have a thread for general chat and project ideas!!

 

[yssie]

@lovedogs started out planning to make a #TDF mabe necklace and I think she's ended up going in for a whole parure Her thread here for anyone who hasn't seen it!

Why I love and hate PS: Sea of Cortez Mabe Pearls

I both love and hate PS, since I always find more things I NEED to have haha. However, to be fair, my newest plan is only partially PS' fault. I remember absolutely drooling over this piece (link here and embedded in text: https://kojimapearl.com/blogs/news/sun-shadow-cortez-pearl-necklace)...

www.pricescope.com

 

[yssie]

And I recently posted a teaser in an older thread and I'm finally able to share more!!

A dreamscape from Sea of Cortez and Hisano Shepherd

I'm posting this piece here in SMTB for visibility. I learnt of these gemstones only recently myself!! These farmers are sorcerers and I want all my PS friends to discover their enchantments :love: I bought these pearls loose, a couple at a time, from Perlas del Mar de Cortez in Guaymas...

www.pricescope.com

So. Some of the pearls folks might have seen a thread in The Other Place about this... Every year the farm has collated their best of harvest, graded them, taken a few photos, and either kept them for special projects or released them into general inventory - or a combination of both. In 2019 the farm did something they'd never done before - they sorted out their Top Ten and kept them aside, and created special certificates for them. Five were sold immediately upon harvest, two were released to the website (I snagged one of those two), and I was lucky enough to later buy the three remaining. So I ended up with four of these 2019 beauties

I'm not sure if the farm did a Top Ten in 2020 (I've sent an email to ask).

A few weeks ago Fernando (my wonderful SA, who is also the farm's photographer) sent me an email... Rather out of the blue. He wanted to introduce me to the Top Ten pearls from the 2021 harvest.

I immediately wrote back to ask if I might be able to purchase any of them, and he told me he'd get me details, specs, and prices as soon as possible. I just assumed most if not all were already spoken for. But somehow - I really can't fathom how, but somehow - I was first in line, and all ten were available for me to choose from!! One of the perks of working with the farm photographer perhaps!?

These 2021 Top Ten are significantly larger than the 2019 Ten. I've bought two - the green arrows. I'm SO EXCITED to see them!!!!!!!! The farm is going to full drill them for me and they'll go into my bracelet - the bracelet currently has fifteen pearls and it's quite long on me (but fourteen was a touch too tight for my tastes), and there are three pearls that I don't love love love; I'm hoping that since these two are so much longer I'll be able to remove all three and restring to fourteen total

Certificates for the 2021 Top Ten - my two babies first




The certificate draft is incorrect - actual dimensions are 11.28mm x 13.10mm.


The certificate draft is incorrect - actual dimensions are 11.45mm x 12.43mm.
















My 2019 four were grafted by Douglas and Manuel, and this year I'm adding one by Enrique - gotta say I'm delighed to have a Top Ten pearl from an oyster that each of the farm's three founders implanted

 

[icy_jade]

Omg. I love the bottom one that you picked @yssie. Many pics when you get them pls.

I have a stash of mabes too.

 

[yssie]

There will be soooooo many photos

I LOVE the bottom one. That was Fernando's favourite as well. The green and red one - I really wanted a *red*, and I was debating between that one and top-row-second-from-left - ultimately I went with the droppier one for shape… I'm really hoping the red is vivid and orangey in-person!!

 

[yssie]

So some fun info about the 2020/2021 SoC harvest!!

This comment is copied from a thread in The Other Place:

The harvests of June 2020 and June 2021 were the most successful in the history of the Pearl Farm of the Sea of Cortez, both in number of pearls harvested (11,900 pearls adding the two seasons) and the size of the pearls which reached 9.5 mm (in 2020) with approximately 10% of them surpassing the 10 mm threshold, size has always been a limitation for these pearls [...].

For reference - in 2019, from a personal email exchange with Douglas, the farm expected to produce between 2000-3600 pearls and 3000-6000 mabe pearls each year, with between 20-60 gem grade pearls (and mabe) each year. In 2019 the farm harvested less than 4000 pearls.

I asked Fernando for more details about this comment in that thread:

That these two harvests (2020 and 2021) were going to be good was clear since 2017. You realize that when you see the size of juveniles, they were bigger and spikier than other groups at the same age. I would like to think that pearl oyster care that we give has improved and that we will have good harvests from now on, but there is no certainty there.

- - - - - - - - - -

Yssie:
[...] the travel restrictions would only be good for water quality [...] apparently it was clear since 2017 that these two Cortez harvests would be fantastic, does it look like future harvests will be the same?

Enrique:
No, out of the three groups that we have in the water, none is close to those two groups that gave the 20 and 21 harvests. But the next harvest will be very interesting. We have a group that made the most surprising comeback. At the very end of 2018 there was almost no pearl oyster spat coming out and in January 2019 we took a group of adult pearl oysters to some state facilities where they induced them to spawn by changing the water temperature. They were able to produce a group of juveniles that started very small and very late. With good care they kept a very good pace and looked very very healthy and grew to a very decent size, above average, this may mean, I hope, a very good harvest for next year even if the average size is smaller.

- - - - - - - - - -

Yssie:
And water quality is “nice to have” but not the primary reason for great 2021 harvest?

Enrique:
Correct, that group, labeled the 2018 batch, had both nature and nurture in its favor. And by nature, I mean that both its genetics and the climate. Because water quality is always good in this bay, it does not have runoffs from the city or the agriculture, nor oil from boats. Very good water quality.

[...] It is interesting that in this occasion none of the 10 best baroques came from the group of the largest pearl-oysters of batch 2017. They all come from the medium-large group, that was unexpected.

- - - - - - - - - -

Yssie:
How large were the nuclei my two pearls were implanted with?

Enrique:
Pearl #1 (bottom row) which is 11.93 x 13.00 comes from a nucleus of 8.5 mm.
Pearl #4 (top row) which is 11.28 x 13.10 comes from a nucleus of 8.0 mm.

I knew nacre thickness of SoCs was something else, but a >3mm minimum is... Something else

 

[yssie]

Can I tempt anyone?






Left red round is 2021 Top Ten top-row-second-from-left, right red with green rind is 2021 Top Ten top-row-rightmost:


Leftmost red round is 2021 Top Ten top-row-second-from-left, rightmost pink and teal round is 2021 Top Ten top-row-leftmost:

 

[lovedogs]

Omg I adore this thread and your project!!!! I love the weird kind of bumpy one! Can you share approx pricing for them? Ugh soooo tempting

 

[icy_jade]

My mabes…

 

[yssie]

Omg I adore this thread and your project!!!! I love the weird kind of bumpy one! Can you share approx pricing for them? Ugh soooo tempting

Of course! There was a pretty big range - from about 1k to about 2.5k. Priced according to grade (the farm does their own grading) and size - size is what really amps price up I think!! They’ve posted a few on insta that are smaller. Just as gorgeous in colour but significantly less pricey. I was tempted, but it’s the large end of my bracelet that needs filling out

I don’t plan to buy more SoC for a while, after these two. I have enough!
But I know the 2020 travel restrictions improved water and oyster quality across the board, all types of pearls in all geographies - gotta take advantage of harvests from oysters that benefitted from this blip in the timeline that will never happen again right!?

 

[yssie]

My mabes…

Holy mackerel

What are you going to do with them!? Any plans yet?

When did you get them?

How big are they? They look sizable!!

 

[Ann]

I can't look - if I do, then it's all over with

 

[Cinders]

These pearls are stunning!!

 

[MollyMalone]

@yssie - Is there a guide that explains their grading criteria, e.g., what differentiates an A from an AA (it's not always obvious to my untrained eye)? Also, the website doesn't seem to yet include any mabe/blister pearls from this year's harvest; do you know if/when they will be adding those?

(I purchased a sweet little opal from Jordy and am thinking of marrying it with a Sea of Cortez mabe pearl in a pendant or ring.)

 

[yssie]

I can't look - if I do, then it's all over with

You’re the reason I have a champagne south sea bracelet. I’m not at all opposed to returning the favour
They’re perlas_del_mar_de_cortez on IG, if you happen to find yourself with free time and idle fingers…

 

[yssie]

@yssie - Is there a guide that explains their grading criteria, e.g., what differentiates an A from an AA (it's not always obvious to my untrained eye)? Also, the website doesn't seem to yet include any mabe/blister pearls from this year's harvest; do you know if/when they will be adding those?

(I purchased a sweet little opal from Jordy and am thinking of marrying it with a Sea of Cortez mabe pearl in a pendant or ring.)

I'm not sure about the mabe TBH - I think they're harvested after the regular pearls so I believe they might still be in the pickings. But if you email in or contact them on IG - they always have a lot more than what's listed on the website. I recommend doing this anyway, actually, if what you want isn't immediately available, because sometimes the pre-publish pricing is lower, too!

The grading... I actually asked Fernando about this a couple years ago and I wrote a bit about it here - near the end of this post:
https://www.pricescope.com/communit...rtez-and-hisano-shepherd.255990/#post-4715224
My favourite pearls are often not the highest graded pearls. Or even close! From what I can tell... The grading is by no means objective - it seems to be always comparative. Actually - it seems to be always chronologically-proximally and proportionally-proximally comparative - a Gem+ pearl from 2019 may be much nicer (or less nice) than a Gem+ pearl from 2020; a Gem+ pearl that's 9mm may be much nicer than a Gem+ pearl that's 12mm. And they seem to weight a smooth, non-bumpy surface quite highly in their grading, whereas I'm very forgiving of lumps and bumps in baroques!

All in all, for me personally... The grading a fun curio but holds no weight when I'm choosing my own pearls. But, y'know, sample size of one an' all

Let's see the opal!?

 

[MollyMalone]

Oh, THANK YOU for such informative reply (no surprise, you're always so helpful)! I don't "do" Instagram, so will wing off an email to ask if the 2021 mabes are still "incubating"

 

[yssie]

Shoot me a note on LT if you don’t hear back via the site contact and you’d like a direct email! My SA is very responsive

 

[icy_jade]

Holy mackerel

What are you going to do with them!? Any plans yet?

When did you get them?

How big are they? They look sizable!!

The initial idea was a ring, earrings and pendant and then I ended up with a few extra mabes as they are so “rainbow”.

From Douglas in 2016:


So… these are the U grades that Douglas sent, of which I picked the 8 I eventually got (yeah I wiped out a good number of the U grades that year):


Beautiful right

 

[yssie]

They’re so beautiful. The colours. I love Douglas’ term - erotochromatic. Totally.

What is their U grade? I’ve not heard of it, is it specific to mabes?

Ring, earrings, pendant, bracelet?
Ring, earrings, and a few different pendants?

 

[yssie]

Oh! Here’s a listing that describes the “U grade” - their highest for mabes!
https://cortezpearl.mx/products/14k-rose-gold-cortez-mabe-pearl-pendant-by-kathe-mai

And an old article (on the 2011 harvest) with a numbers detail:
https://www.google.com/amp/s/cortez...1/08/02/cortez-pearl-harvest-report-2011/amp/

How many Mabe pearls did we harvest this year? According to harvest data we obtained 6,158 “raw” (or “in the shell”) pearls… from which we will further inspect and will end up with only 3,000 pieces of varying qualities: from "B" to "AAA" grades, and possibly some 6 “U” grade Mabe pearls.

Wow. So I think the really short version is that @icy_jade has a ridiculously rare and special set of mabes!!

Edit: And a necklace right here on PS!
https://www.pricescope.com/community/threads/soc-mabe-necklace.207712/page-2

 

[icy_jade]

They’re so beautiful. The colours. I love Douglas’ term - erotochromatic. Totally.

What year was this? And what is their U grade? I’ve not heard of it, is it specific to mabes?

Ring, earrings, pendant, bracelet?
Ring, earrings, and a few different pendants?

2016.

I heard that the SoCs mabes are gloriously colored (more so than most of their pearls?) and indeed they are. I had my gorgeous Tahitian drops by then and figured whatever new pearls I got had to beat those drops in terms of color.

Re: U grade, it’s above AAA. I don’t know if it’s just mabes or not but Douglas described it as the top grade.

Definitely earrings and ring… and the rest… maybe an interesting necklace or bangle design? I don’t know, probably need to find a designer.

 

[icy_jade]

Oh! Here’s a listing that describes the “U grade” - their highest for mabes!

14K Rose Gold & Cortez Mabe Pearl Pendant by Kathe Mai

Dije de Oro Rosa de 14K con Perla Mexicana A classical fine jewelry piece designed by Kathe Mai and lovingly crafted in high-quality 14K rose gold matte finish. The pendant features a stunning colorful Cortez Mabe Pearl, one of our highest quality ("U" grade). You'll see an amazing metallic...

cortezpearl.mx

So just for mabes? Regardless, just stunning. I mean I’m quite happy to just admire them as they are on my desk lol. So pretty

 

[yssie]

Looks like specific to mabes but I’m going to email and ask! @MollyMalone maybe something you’d be interested in too!

I think so. That the mabes are more colourful than the regular pearls. That’s what I’ve always… Understood, though I’m not entirely sure where that understanding comes from! They definitely look to be more colourful in photos. I want to see one of these amazing mabes in person

We have the same desk bling habits - and yeah I recognize the Golay tahitians! Always happy to get a peek of those

I just… Love these pearls so much. They beat all my other pearls on colour. They don’t even look real - still hard to believe they come out of the oyster this way. Magical fairy pearls

Oh, yeah, I edited my post, I just missed that the screenshot had the year

 

[yssie]

Hah @icy_jade doesn’t having unset pretties bug you!? It drives me bonkers!!!
For real though. They’d make a KILLER bangle...

 

[icy_jade]

That the mabes are more colourful than the regular pearls. That’s what I’ve always… Understood, though I’m not entirely sure where that understanding comes from! They definitely look to be more colourful in photos. I want to see one of these amazing mabes in person

We have the same desk bling habits - and yeah I recognize the Golay tahitians! Always happy to get a peek of those

You can tell from pics where the pearl and mabe necklaces are side by side that the mabes are more colorful. I’ve also heard that from people who saw both irl.

Hah @icy_jade doesn’t having unset pretties bug you!? It drives me bonkers!!!
For real though. They’d make a KILLER bangle...

No, you have to see my pile of loose gems to understand why. Need to stay zen else will really feel bonkers.

 

[icy_jade]

I want to see one of these amazing mabes in person

So are you gonna get some? Hehe

 

[yssie]

I saw this one -

Square Shape Cortez Mabe Pearl "U" Grade

Perla Mabe "Cuadrada" del Mar de Cortez calidad "U" Cortez Mabe Pearls are the most colorful in the world but they are produced in limited quantities (2-3 thousand per year) and have an average size of 12-16 mm in diameter. Large Blister Mabes are very unusual (less than 100 per year) and the...

cortezpearl.mx

But I want some clarity on the “Gem” vs “U” thing - and I have no idea what I’d do with one single mabe. Would make a nifty brooch…

 

[seaurchin]

Here's my little pair of Sea of Cortez mabe studs, from Kojima Pearls.

 

[yssie]

Here's my little pair of Sea of Cortez studs from Kojima Pearls.

Those are super bright! Dyou have any ear pics?

Edit - and what do the backs look like - are they solid metal? Is there a “right” way to set a mabe? I know they’re a bit more delicate due to being composites.