Show me your round white South Sea pearl strands!

[Pinkmartini87]

Hi all,

Thinking of purchasing a 17-18 inch strand of 10-12 mm white south sea pearls later this year: What would be a realistic budget for such a strand? I would like all rounds with minimal blemish and good luster, and have seen similar strands go for $7k-8k on Pearl Paradise. (I’m hoping to visit Mikimoto’s also, but curious regarding what non-Mikimoto prices to expect.)

For those that own round white south sea strands, I would love to see some lovely photos (esp neck shots since they would be helpful in choosing size of pearls for me!), and if you wouldn’t mind sharing also strand length and size of pearls!

 

[yssie]

@luckyhonu is the first person I think of when it comes to WSS!

 

[Lisa Loves Shiny]

I am so looking forward to seeing "real life" photos of round SS pearl strands. I also can't wait to see what you pick out @Pinkmartini87.

 

[icy_jade]

@icy_jade Gorgeous! Can you tell me more about that other big luscious white strand in the same photo as the GSS? Is it a WSS strand? Size?

Hey @Pinkmartini87
My WSS isn’t exactly round but here are some pics anyway






WSSP strand from Eiko - 10.2-14.4 mm oval with slight pink n green tones (?) - 35 pearls/24.3mom

Just to share some personal experience:
- You would have seen that there was another strand that I was considering like 16 mm but it felt too big when I was trying it on. Both my SSP strands were around 14 mm so maybe that was my sweet spot size wise at that time. I do think that the older one gets, the bigger you can go so maybe if I’m looking now I may go for 15 mm... I’m 1.7m tall if it helps (think that’s around 5ft 7?)
- This strand that I got also has relatively higher luster than over 90% of the strands I saw at that time at the fair (that would be hundreds of strands), which always helps to make it more glowy against the skin
- For my skin tone, I needed really white strands. Like white white if you know what I mean, not off white or with any yellow/grey tone etc. In a comparison pic with the larger strand, you can sort of see how the other strand had a darker tone? So I recall when I tried it on that it didn’t complement my skin as well as the one I eventually got. I think it’s got to do with my “winter” coloration. When I tried Akoyas, I found that natural whites (not pinked, no yellow tones) were the best for me. So if you tend to do well in pastels that would be less of a consideration I’m guessing. But personally I’ve always found white pearls trickier to buy.
- Overtones... personally I’ve found that ssps with overtone really adds depth to the strands. They look less flat and more interesting. There are some articles that describes the overtones and which skin type they complement and I would suggest to get a strand with nice overtone if you can. In fact for the strands I got my slight regret is that the overtone isn’t so strong on my wssp. For both ssp strands I did get one with 2 overtones which I believe is very rare (the stronger overtone on my gssp is really rare and large part of why I fell for it)

This is an old thread but there are more pics here:
https://www.pricescope.com/community/threads/so-i-bought-some-new-stuff.208129/page-9

Good luck with your purchase!

Edit to add a link that describes the various overtones and skin complexion they are more suitable for: https://www.purepearls.com/pages/pearl-jewelry-overtones

 

[Pinkmartini87]

Hey @Pinkmartini87
My WSS isn’t exactly round but here are some pics anyway






WSSP strand from Eiko - 10.2-14.4 mm oval with slight pink n green tones (?) - 35 pearls/24.3mom

Just to share some personal experience:
- You would have seen that there was another strand that I was considering like 16 mm but it felt too big when I was trying it on. Both my SSP strands were around 14 mm so maybe that was my sweet spot size wise at that time. I do think that the older one gets, the bigger you can go so maybe if I’m looking now I may go for 15 mm... I’m 1.7m tall if it helps (think that’s around 5ft 7?)
- This strand that I got also has relatively higher luster than over 90% of the strands I saw at that time at the fair (that would be hundreds of strands), which always helps to make it more glowy against the skin
- For my skin tone, I needed really white strands. Like white white if you know what I mean, not off white or with any yellow/grey tone etc. In a comparison pic with the larger strand, you can sort of see how the other strand had a darker tone? So I recall when I tried it on that it didn’t complement my skin as well as the one I eventually got. I think it’s got to do with my “winter” coloration. When I tried Akoyas, I found that natural whites (not pinked, no yellow tones) were the best for me. So if you tend to do well in pastels that would be less of a consideration I’m guessing. But personally I’ve always found white pearls trickier to buy.
- Overtones... personally I’ve found that ssps with overtone really adds depth to the strands. They look less flat and more interesting. There are some articles that describes the overtones and which skin type they complement and I would suggest to get a strand with nice overtone if you can. In fact for the strands I got my slight regret is that the overtone isn’t so strong on my wssp. For both ssp strands I did get one with 2 overtones which I believe is very rare (the stronger overtone on my gssp is really rare and large part of why I fell for it)

This is an old thread but there are more pics here:
https://www.pricescope.com/community/threads/so-i-bought-some-new-stuff.208129/page-9

Good luck with your purchase!

Edit to add a link that describes the various overtones and skin complexion they are more suitable for: https://www.purepearls.com/pages/pearl-jewelry-overtones

@icy_jade Thank you so much for taking so much time to explain the thought process behind how you chose your gorgeous strand, it’s incredibly helpful!

Looking at your photos, I think I’m of a similar skin tone and I also think I look better with cooler aka white/silver (icy?!?!) toned pearls instead of cream or rose.

The 14 mm looks great on you—very rich and majestic. I wish I could be a willowy 5’7! I’m a small drink at 5’2, so I think that unfortunately I may have to go for smaller pearls even though I love big Wilma Flintstone pearls!

I just tried to hop on the Eiko website to browse out of curiosity but most of it is in Japanese. Do they sell to individuals? Or wholesale only?

 

[icy_jade]

I just tried to hop on the Eiko website to browse out of curiosity but most of it is in Japanese. Do they sell to individuals? Or wholesale only?

Yes mostly wholesale. I bought from them at trade shows. Prices are very reasonable compared to US sellers but you take the risk re: returns etc (I don’t think they have a return policy since they are mostly b2b).