South Sea Pearls (Mix)

Buying this parcel

Where it came from, what its weight band is for, and what to check before any money changes hands.

The deposit

The same Pinctada maxima production, taken across a range of sizes rather than selected at the top. A parcel of South Sea pearls is bought for matching, and matching is genuinely difficult in this material: nacre is laid down by an animal, so lustre, overtone and surface all vary from pearl to pearl in ways that no amount of sorting fully removes. A parcel from a single farm and a single harvest is the closest thing available to a matched starting point, which is why they are sold this way rather than singly.

This parcel

Five to fifteen carats covers the range used for strands, graduated necklaces and earring pairs. The specific difficulty in this band is that a pair or a strand is judged on its worst pearl, not its average, so buying a parcel and selecting is the only sensible route to a finished piece. Expect to take fewer pearls than you look at. If you are building a graduated strand, tell us the count and the end sizes before we pull, because a parcel selected for a matched pair and one selected for a graduated run are two different selections from the same lot.

Treatment

Cultivated, as above, and stated for every pearl in the parcel rather than for a sample. The specific risk in a mixed lot is that dyed or heavily processed pearls are blended in among untreated ones, where they are much harder to spot than they would be alone. Colour that is unusually consistent across a whole parcel is the signal to slow down, because natural overtone varies and a farm’s output does not arrive pre-matched.

The report

No report is held for this 5 to 15 cts South Sea pearls parcel yet, and we would rather say that than name a laboratory that has not seen it. We will submit whatever you select to IGI or IIGJ before purchase on request.

Before you pay

• Roll pearls across a flat surface. Off-round pearls betray themselves immediately and matching depends on it.
• Compare overtone by laying pearls on white, not on skin or on velvet, both of which flatter them.
• Check drill holes if any are drilled. A dark line at the hole can mean dye that has settled there.

Read next

Moti, the pearl covers the material itself and what gets sold in its place. How to buy a coloured stone covers pricing, treatment and reports.

Written by Kamal Kishore Agarwal, founder and gemmologist, Gem-A qualified, buying in Johari Bazaar since 2008.