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Shiny_Rock
- Joined
- Oct 24, 2010
- Messages
- 122
So I just watched this 1998 NOVA special on Youtube (link, if anyone is interested - it's definitely for the layperson/public but does have some nice pearl-**** scenes in it: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LdCYywE9ynM).
After having watched this and having been intrigued by the scenes of the Sotheby's auction and especially of the incomplete strand Nick Paspaley was shown working on (using the choice pearls from 3+ years harvests) I have all sorts of questions about them. Would Paspaley (and other farms) be using their top pearls from each harvest automatically in a strand? And if so, why? Are strands the best way to make a profit? It seems logical that an exceptional pearl might fetch the best price sold as a single, but again, I know very little about the industry. Who buys directly from the farms? Jewelers? Individuals? I'm intrigued by how it is decided who gets what and for how much. I recently purchased a few Sea of Cortez loose pearls from PP and that also had me wondering - overall, where did the pearls I bought rank in that years harvest? What happened to the top pearls? Would someone like Jeremy from PP get a first look based on a relationship with the farm or is it 100% about the profit to be made? Would the farm itself automatically take the choice pearls to make single item of jewelry?
Does anyone with no chance of affording a strand of perfect, large SS pearls have a shot at a single perfect, large SS pearl or, again, are these reserved for uses in strands/for sale only to certain parties etc.?
Can anyone shed some light on these questions? I'm intrigued. And jonesing for a trip to Australia just so I can lay eyes on some of those beautiful babies. Loved Nick Paspaley's comment that there is something otherworldy about SS pearls - he said "like the moon" and I've thought to myself before that there did seem to be something 'lunar' about them.
Sorry for kind of rambly post.
After having watched this and having been intrigued by the scenes of the Sotheby's auction and especially of the incomplete strand Nick Paspaley was shown working on (using the choice pearls from 3+ years harvests) I have all sorts of questions about them. Would Paspaley (and other farms) be using their top pearls from each harvest automatically in a strand? And if so, why? Are strands the best way to make a profit? It seems logical that an exceptional pearl might fetch the best price sold as a single, but again, I know very little about the industry. Who buys directly from the farms? Jewelers? Individuals? I'm intrigued by how it is decided who gets what and for how much. I recently purchased a few Sea of Cortez loose pearls from PP and that also had me wondering - overall, where did the pearls I bought rank in that years harvest? What happened to the top pearls? Would someone like Jeremy from PP get a first look based on a relationship with the farm or is it 100% about the profit to be made? Would the farm itself automatically take the choice pearls to make single item of jewelry?
Does anyone with no chance of affording a strand of perfect, large SS pearls have a shot at a single perfect, large SS pearl or, again, are these reserved for uses in strands/for sale only to certain parties etc.?
Can anyone shed some light on these questions? I'm intrigued. And jonesing for a trip to Australia just so I can lay eyes on some of those beautiful babies. Loved Nick Paspaley's comment that there is something otherworldy about SS pearls - he said "like the moon" and I've thought to myself before that there did seem to be something 'lunar' about them.
Sorry for kind of rambly post.