“Pearls are different from other luxury jewellery,” says Khun Amorn. “There are no agreed standards for pricing them. It all depends on the buyer and seller.” Factors that may influence the price include current trends in colour and shape, or simply personal preferences.
Consumer behaviour varies also with age, he says. Most young women start out buying jewellery that is not too expensive, such as silver. As they get older they graduate to white gold, gold, diamonds and then other gems. “Pearls are usually the last category they go for. People who like pearls are different and are sure of their own identity,” says Khun Amorn.
“To get a perfect match of pearls to make a necklace or other type of jewellery takes a lot of effort. We usually trade among the pearl farms here to get a good match, or a good set for something like a necklace. We also buy South Sea pearls from other places for the same propose,” Khun Amorn explains.
In his show room visitors can see a bewildering choice of shape, colours and prices. Some items sell for less than 5,000 baht, but prices of 100,000 baht and more are not extraordinary. Buyers can purchase pearls alone, or pearls made into jewellery such as earrings, necklaces, bracelets and rings.
The most expensive item in Khun Amorn’s showroom on the day we visited was a set of pearl necklaces priced at 1.8 million baht.
Thursday, February 26, 2009
How To Tell A Fake Pearl
He says there is a popular misunderstanding about cultured pearls – that they are somehow not real. He explains that the difference between a natural pearl and a cultured one is simply the nucleus. In the case of a natural pearl, currents in the sea deliver the nucleus of the pearl – a grain of sand, for example. In the case of cultured pearls, the nucleus is inserted by hand. After that, the process is no different; the oyster does the work.
What is true is that there are fake pearls, mostly made from plastic. Khun Amorn offers this guide to telling the difference between real and fake.
• Check the weight of the pearl. A real pearl has some heft to it and is, of course, heavier than a plastic imitation.
• Feel the surface of the pearl. If you gently rub two pearls together and feel a slight grittiness, the pearls are real. If the sensation is smooth, it’s likely the “pearls” are made of plastic.
• Check for natural flaws. All real pearls have flaws because this is a natural process; the likelihood of a real pearl having a perfect shape, for example, is next to nothing. On the other hand, a good pearl should not have too many flaws.
• Sea pearls take time to produce. Some pearl shops may try to fool buyers into paying over the odds by selling them river pearls, which take a much shorter time to produce. Also, a river pearl oyster can produce 50 pearls or more, whereas its marine cousin can produce only one at a time.
• The most difficult scam to detect is pearls made from the dust left over after real pearls are made into jewellery. Using modern technology, this dust can be moulded into a “pearl” that is so like the real thing, with the right weight, luster and even colour, that it takes a professional to tell the difference.
from www.phuket.com
What is true is that there are fake pearls, mostly made from plastic. Khun Amorn offers this guide to telling the difference between real and fake.
• Check the weight of the pearl. A real pearl has some heft to it and is, of course, heavier than a plastic imitation.
• Feel the surface of the pearl. If you gently rub two pearls together and feel a slight grittiness, the pearls are real. If the sensation is smooth, it’s likely the “pearls” are made of plastic.
• Check for natural flaws. All real pearls have flaws because this is a natural process; the likelihood of a real pearl having a perfect shape, for example, is next to nothing. On the other hand, a good pearl should not have too many flaws.
• Sea pearls take time to produce. Some pearl shops may try to fool buyers into paying over the odds by selling them river pearls, which take a much shorter time to produce. Also, a river pearl oyster can produce 50 pearls or more, whereas its marine cousin can produce only one at a time.
• The most difficult scam to detect is pearls made from the dust left over after real pearls are made into jewellery. Using modern technology, this dust can be moulded into a “pearl” that is so like the real thing, with the right weight, luster and even colour, that it takes a professional to tell the difference.
from www.phuket.com
Pearls from the Orient
Ot is handing out complementary chicken sandwiches and soft drinks and he's got quite a few takers as the brisk sea air results in quite an appetite. At midday we board the speedboat and roar back to Rang Yai where we file into a cool room displaying pearls in various stages of growth.As our shipmates and fellow day trippers are from Russia, a blonde girl with a decidedly laconic outlook on life gets up and explains the life and times of Komrad Pearl. Basically, there are three different types of pearls: Akoya, Mabe and South Sea and all are cultivated on Rang Yai.
Akoya, as the name suggests, is originally a Japanese pearl and is small and dainty – used for earrings and bracelets. Akoya only produce one pearl and that takes two years to grow.
Pearls available at the gift shop
South Sea pearls are the biggest pearls and produce three pearls over a lifetime of 15 years whereas Mabe come in a half global shape and are used for earrings and pendants. There are both fresh and seawater pearls cultivated on Rang Yai Island and the seawater pearls are rounder than their freshwater equivalents.
It's easy to tell whether pearls are fake or not: simply rub them together. If you feel resistance and if the pearls feel like they are scratching each other they're real. Fake pearls offer no resistance.
After the demonstration some people went directly to purchase pearl artefacts at the neighbouring gift shop and I went looking for an English-Russian dictionary.
from www.phuket.com
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