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Fresh from the Hong Kong November 2024 Jewellery Show : my GSS pendant

C

clockworkreader

Rough_Rock
Joined
Jul 2, 2022
Messages
100
I couldn’t resist checking out the jewellery show over the weekend and left with a (small) treasure: a gold south sea pendant! I couldn’t resist starting my own thread so I could spam you all with a million photos.

PSL 茶金 certified (English name: Moon Rainbow — a terrible translation and name), set in a 24K gold bail and 2 tiny diamonds totalling 0.04ct:
IMG_3756.jpgIMG_3771.jpg

With the certificate:
IMG_3813.jpg

Next to my luster calibration akoya studs:
IMG_3760.jpgIMG_3765.jpg


Next to 14K, 18K, 24K rings and the 24K bail (the ring is Au9999, the bail is probably Au99 or 999 as diamonds cannot be set in 9999):
IMG_3773.jpgIMG_3775.jpgIMG_3778.jpgIMG_3790.jpgIMG_3793.jpg

Some neck shots in my oldest, rattiest T-shirt :D
IMG_3795.jpg

Layered with my akoya necklace: too much? ;)
IMG_3801.jpgIMG_3806.jpg

Thanks everyone for letting me share again!
 
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I had SO much fun at the jewellery show — there were so many goodies to ogle at. You all seriously need to get to one ASAP. And this wasn’t even one of the big ones! The November show is much smaller than the September and March shows. Big companies such as Paspaley, Jewelmer and Takahashi (which is big to us PSers anyway :lol: ) come during September/March, but not November.

I had the chance to see several Granpearl strands and singletons, which were selling for extremely reasonable prices. One 6.5-7mm Granpearl akoya strand was selling for around $4200 and a 7-7.5mm strand from a different seller was just under $10k. To be honest, I expected the Granpearls to blow me away, and they just… didn’t? Don’t get me wrong, the strands were impeccably clean and so well matched that each pearl was identical, but in terms of luster — which is where it counts for many of us — the strands were lustrous but not mind blowingly so.

What I didn’t see was any Supearls. I inquired after them, was told what we all already knew — there are very very few Supearls coming out of PEPCA these days and it’s extremely difficult to get your hands on one. Though, maybe not impossible if you show up to enough of these jewellery shows and make some contacts ;) just saying.
 
clockworkreader said:
I had SO much fun at the jewellery show — there were so many goodies to ogle at. You all seriously need to get to one ASAP. And this wasn’t even one of the big ones! The November show is much smaller than the September and March shows. Big companies such as Paspaley, Jewelmer and Takahashi (which is big to us PSers anyway :lol: ) come during September/March, but not November.

I had the chance to see several Granpearl strands and singletons, which were selling for extremely reasonable prices. One 6.5-7mm Granpearl akoya strand was selling for around $4200 and a 7-7.5mm strand from a different seller was just under $10k. To be honest, I expected the Granpearls to blow me away, and they just… didn’t? Don’t get me wrong, the strands were impeccably clean and so well matched that each pearl was identical, but in terms of luster — which is where it counts for many of us — the strands were lustrous but not mind blowingly so.

What I didn’t see was any Supearls. I inquired after them, was told what we all already knew — there are very very few Supearls coming out of PEPCA these days and it’s extremely difficult to get your hands on one. Though, maybe not impossible if you show up to enough of these jewellery shows and make some contacts ;) just saying.
Click to expand...

4200 for a granpearl strand??? Where??? That's an amazinf price. But as you said, if luster didn't blow you away, then likely not worth it
 
Stunning!!!
 
lovedogs said:
4200 for a granpearl strand??? Where??? That's an amazinf price. But as you said, if luster didn't blow you away, then likely not worth it
Click to expand...

It really is!!

I mean, the luster was objectively amazing. I think I just expected it to be otherworldly, never-seen-before, once-in-a-lifetime level. And the problem with that is, I’ve already seen some really, really nice pearls! Some very recently too, earlier on in the show.

I didn’t get the name of the seller, unfortunately :( I remember it was an HK based company and the owner was from Shanghai, which is unfortunately not a lot to go off on. I feel like I’ve let down the PS community with this one because I should have known someone on here would want to snatch that strand up! :(
 
Flipping switches for a minute, my GSS pearl was actually grown in Japan! In a region whose name I cannot remember for the life of me. (I started feeling really sick halfway through the show, but I refused to leave :lol-2: which goes some way to explaining how I’ve managed to forget so much.) I think it started with an A? If anyone knows, please do chime in! According to the SA, Japan only produces around 20,000 gold south sea pearls a year.

This seller had four GSS 茶金 certified pendants in the same 9mm size and I spent ages agonising over which one to pick. I was stuck between my one and another one which was smaller but had a stronger green overtone. Just for fun, here are both of them held up to my neck (first one is the one I chose):
f06aa920-1257-4ef9-83ed-d61bde07ce6f.jpeg6aa4dd93-c2bd-47aa-9f24-dd7fbad93010.jpeg

I preferred the overtone and colour of the smaller one, but I felt like the slight difference in tone wasn’t too noticeable on the neck, whereas the other pearl was visibly bigger. They were both in the 9mm size bracket, but I guess mine must have been closer to 10mm :) And excuse the hoodie — like I said, sick!

Just for fun, here’s a pair of GSS earrings I tried on and didn’t end up getting. Looking back at the pictures, I really wish I’d gotten them! Oh well, I have too many earrings anyway.
ceaa5c39-0cc7-4d24-8e6f-6766f182a08a.jpeg
 
clockworkreader said:
Flipping switches for a minute, my GSS pearl was actually grown in Japan! In a region whose name I cannot remember for the life of me. (I started feeling really sick halfway through the show, but I refused to leave :lol-2: which goes some way to explaining how I’ve managed to forget so much.) I think it started with an A? If anyone knows, please do chime in! According to the SA, Japan only produces around 20,000 gold south sea pearls a year.

This seller had four GSS 茶金 certified pendants in the same 9mm size and I spent ages agonising over which one to pick. I was stuck between my one and another one which was smaller but had a stronger green overtone. Just for fun, here are both of them held up to my neck (first one is the one I chose):
f06aa920-1257-4ef9-83ed-d61bde07ce6f.jpeg6aa4dd93-c2bd-47aa-9f24-dd7fbad93010.jpeg

I preferred the overtone and colour of the smaller one, but I felt like the slight difference in tone wasn’t too noticeable on the neck, whereas the other pearl was visibly bigger. They were both in the 9mm size bracket, but I guess mine must have been closer to 10mm :) And excuse the hoodie — like I said, sick!

Just for fun, here’s a pair of GSS earrings I tried on and didn’t end up getting. Looking back at the pictures, I really wish I’d gotten them! Oh well, I have too many earrings anyway.
ceaa5c39-0cc7-4d24-8e6f-6766f182a08a.jpeg
Click to expand...

They both look great on you, but I think you picked the best one bc i agree it's noticeably bigger
 
clockworkreader said:
I had SO much fun at the jewellery show — there were so many goodies to ogle at. You all seriously need to get to one ASAP. And this wasn’t even one of the big ones! The November show is much smaller than the September and March shows. Big companies such as Paspaley, Jewelmer and Takahashi (which is big to us PSers anyway :lol: ) come during September/March, but not November.

I had the chance to see several Granpearl strands and singletons, which were selling for extremely reasonable prices. One 6.5-7mm Granpearl akoya strand was selling for around $4200 and a 7-7.5mm strand from a different seller was just under $10k. To be honest, I expected the Granpearls to blow me away, and they just… didn’t? Don’t get me wrong, the strands were impeccably clean and so well matched that each pearl was identical, but in terms of luster — which is where it counts for many of us — the strands were lustrous but not mind blowingly so.

What I didn’t see was any Supearls. I inquired after them, was told what we all already knew — there are very very few Supearls coming out of PEPCA these days and it’s extremely difficult to get your hands on one. Though, maybe not impossible if you show up to enough of these jewellery shows and make some contacts ;) just saying.
Click to expand...

I think the Granpearl standard sets a very high "floor" on quality, higher I believe than the AA Mikimoto quality floor. Is Granpearl a higher floor than AAA Mikimoto --- That I do not know.

I know i've seen AAA Mikimoto that did not wow me (and some that did).

I passed on buying a Granpearl at Takahashi's office because I preferred my gem Natural White strand for example --- Although the Granpearl had a slight luster edge when comparing on the table it just felt too "warm" for my taste.

We need to remember that the step from a good solid "Gem" piece from a reputable seller like Takahashi to a Granpearl or AAA Mikimoto is small. It's all a spectrum and going from a 95% quality item to 99% quality item will cost a fortune and 1 in 10 people will be able to tell the difference visually if holding it in their HANDS --- 1 in 50 probably on the neck.
 
Beautiful! You wear it well!
 
So buttery and glowing!
It's fabulous :kiss2:
 
clockworkreader said:
I couldn’t resist checking out the jewellery show over the weekend and left with a (small) treasure: a gold south sea pendant! I couldn’t resist starting my own thread so I could spam you all with a million photos.

PSL 茶金 certified (English name: Moon Rainbow — a terrible translation and name), set in a 24K gold bail and 2 tiny diamonds totalling 0.04ct:
IMG_3756.jpgIMG_3771.jpg

With the certificate:
IMG_3813.jpg

Next to my luster calibration akoya studs:
IMG_3760.jpgIMG_3765.jpg


Next to 14K, 18K, 24K rings and the 24K bail (the ring is Au9999, the bail is probably Au99 or 999 as diamonds cannot be set in 9999):
IMG_3773.jpgIMG_3775.jpgIMG_3778.jpgIMG_3790.jpgIMG_3793.jpg

Some neck shots in my oldest, rattiest T-shirt :D
IMG_3795.jpg

Layered with my akoya necklace: too much? ;)
IMG_3801.jpgIMG_3806.jpg

Thanks everyone for letting me share again!
Click to expand...

It’s lovely and looks really good on you! Congrats!
 
uwodahikamama said:
These are actually 7-8mm! I was happy to find this size because that’s my sweet spot for sizing.
Click to expand...

That’s my sweet spot for studs too, and goodness knows it’s hard to find nice GSS at that size. I came across a few stunning pairs at extremely reasonable prices at the jewellery and gem show (from the same seller as my pendant), and now I regret not getting them!

I hope you’ll post lots and lots of photos and ear shots when they arrive :D
 
clockworkreader said:
That’s my sweet spot for studs too, and goodness knows it’s hard to find nice GSS at that size. I came across a few stunning pairs at extremely reasonable prices at the jewellery and gem show (from the same seller as my pendant), and now I regret not getting them!

I hope you’ll post lots and lots of photos and ear shots when they arrive :D
Click to expand...

Absolutely!! Check with moline and see if he has any you could grab! The pricing was really reasonable too imo.
 
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