Pearls Shine Bright in Tucson

Published April 2009

By Stuart Robertson, GG

The Tucson gem show held each February is more than a colored gemstone event. One of the absolute highlights of the show each year is to examine the latest developments in the always-fascinating world of pearls. This year was no exception. The author came prepared to see little change from last year’s inventory given the recession’s impact in key markets. However, I was pleasantly surprised to find several interesting products and trends.

One talk of the show was the large bead nucleated Chinese freshwater baroque cultured pearls with excellent luster. These pearl strands offer a bold, almost South Seas sized look at very attractive price points of $1,200 to $2,500 depending on size and quality. The colors ranged from light silver through white with a host of overtones. The luster and quality of nacre were impressive. Betty Sue King, King’s Ransom, also had several strands of these large bead nucleated pearls that she was calling “fireball” in reference to the comet like appearance of the round body with long tail. Betty Sue had both individual specimens appropriate for a pendant as well as strands with pearls ranging from 10 to 14mm and larger.
The rather plain looking 9mm white medium luster Chinese freshwater baroque pearls that we have seen during the past few years have come down in price considerably. Many strands examined were $70 to $100.

CIBJO reportedly defined the term keshi to pertain only to seawater pearl products. However, the term was still widely applied to Chinese freshwater pearl products at the major shows. As this term has been descriptive of these products for several years now, CIBJO may find it quite difficult to un-ring the bell so to speak. Large freshwater multicolor, “keshi” pearls of 14-16mm were reportedly selling well to designers. These pearls were quite similar to the products seen last year. Prices were however, about 10% lower than at last year’s show.

Petal pearls, which have been the darling of the Chinese freshwater pearl industry for the past few years, offered nothing new this year. The material is very attractive but much of what we observed this year was consistent with last year’s offerings in this category. The petals are still featured as a highlight of the Chinese freshwater production and as such, no appreciable change in price was observed.

The akoya market offered few surprises this year. Production in this category has met several challenges in recent years and the industry has been described as in a crisis. Profits have fallen to a point where a significant number of farms are actually operating at a loss. A recent commentary posted to Pearl-Professor.com suggests that Japanese akoya prices are quickly approaching those of lower priced Chinese production. I observed a significant change in akoya prices in Tucson. However, having said that, it is also interesting to note that even many of the old akoya stalwarts who once offered this product exclusively were showing Chinese akoya as well as Chinese freshwater products this year. There are certainly some interesting changes occurring in the akoya market, not all of which are good.

In the Tahitian Pearl industry, nothing new appeared in this pearl product category. The quality of product was better than expected but regarding style there was nothing new or innovative coming from this product line. Rounds and circles were it. The attractive drops as well as the impressive high end over 15mm product that had been emerging during the past few years were not present. Most of the dealers were exhibiting last year’s products. Prices were stable in the fine quality, while commercial and good grades appeared priced lower than last year by about 20%. I expected that prices would be even lower than they were. Dealers had reported very low results in the 2008 auctions. However, the softening has not led to a significant reduction at the mid level of the distribution channel—yet.

In the high end, the large round South Seas and collection grade pearls lacked market strength this year. Unfortunately, it appears that buyers assume a softening of price in this area and are reluctant to buy at current price points. That is most likely flawed logic. Even in cultured products, the truly high-end goods range from difficult to extremely difficult to produce. The market has never had an abundance of these goods and even in recessionary times, it is unlikely that a significant price decrease will materialize for products in this category.

The author examined several strands of high end Tahitian and South Sea pearls at Tara & Sons at the AGTA show. The quality here continues to be impressive. Prices for pearls in the fine category, but just short of the extra fine grade, were slightly lower than last year. Clean, bright multicolor black Tahitian cultured pearls are still going to require a $10,000 to $15,000 investment or more. The gray and dark grays with high luster and cleanish surfaces are obtainable at price points starting about $5,000 for 12mm to 14.5mm sizes. One of the more interesting strands was a 15mm to 17.5mm strand of cultured South Seas with round, high luster and clean surfaces. The strand was $225,000.

Our visit with a broad selection of pearl dealers during Tucson demonstrated that the cultured and natural pearl industries offer a wide variety of exciting products in a complete range of prices. Although this industry is experiencing some of the same challenges that other sectors of the gem trade are currently facing, it offers an attractive array of products.

For more in-depth articles on the gem industry and reliable wholesale pricing, order a GemGuide subscription. For the fastest appraisal software in the industry, guaranteed to save you time and money, fully integrated with pricing and all weight formulas, go to GemGuide Appraisal Software..

Back to Previous Page