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So folks who’ve followed the Takahashi pearl box thread know that both @MakingTheGrade and I just bought PEPCA certified pearls. And not just the two of us - other PSers got yet more PEPCA pearls from this box 
@MakingTheGrade and I had our pearls shipped out together, and she very kindly offered to let me receive them (I really really really wanted to see her Supearl in-person!!) 
I'm sharing my thoughts and pictures here with her blessing.
New thread beceause I wanted to focus on the PEPCA paper and not-ignore-exactly-but-mostly-ignore the fact that we happened to buy them from Takahashi.
- - - - - - - - - -
So... Well - first - collating some info about PEPCA that's scattered through other threads:
https://www.pricescope.com/communit...-terminology-and-quality.261590/#post-4858966
Posts #26, #27
https://www.pricescope.com/community/threads/takahashi-south-sea-pearl-board.271942/#post-5092146
Posts #9, #14, #21, #25, #28-30, #32
- - - - - - - - - -
@MakingTheGrade's SUPEARL WSS.
With my admittedly small sample set of three Paspaley pearls (the three that @Crystal_Dreams picked out for me!) and one Supearl… I’m convinced. Ain’t nothin’ better out there.
The Supearl holds its own 100% with the Paspaley Pearl Board gems.
The Paspaley Pearl Board gems hold their own 100% with the Supearl.
They’ve got different overtones - all three Paspaley pearls have more teal, the Supearl errs pink and violet. But in terms of smoothness of skin, sharpness of reflections, contrastiness, and “metallic-ness” - to my eyes there’s zero quality differential here.
Pricing and buying... Well, it's probably no surprise to anyone here that Paspaley's stuff costs more than Takahashi's. Even with PEPCA certification. Supearl pearls are rare. But Pearl Board quality gems from Paspaley also aren't exactly growing on trees. For someone looking for the best of the best WSS, availability is (still, always) going to be the biggest bottleneck. On the rare occasion that both a Supearl and a Paspaley gem that check all the boxes turn up at the same time, I should think one could purchase on price alone and rest assured she or he is buying a world-class specimen! But realistically the odds of having that choice are slim... And as Yy explained (more details are in the posts listed above) - Supearl pairs aren't currently a #Thing, so if the ask is for a pair, well, Paspaley's the only practical option. But - despite the fact that Paspaley offers no independent evaluation - my experience thus far suggests that one can buy those gems from Paspaley and have confidence that the pearls would indeed be Supearl-worthy.
And given the Supearl rarity, and given Paspaley’s standing in the WSS world, I really don’t believe it’s possible to go any higher in quality. I don’t believe WSS oysters are capable of better than this. I really believe that in my photos I’m holding some of the most beautiful WSS in the world
This is kind of in contrast to Ten-nyo from PSL for akoya: I would guess that all Supearl akoya would merit the Ten-nyo designation if submitted to PSL, but I can state for fact that not all PSL Ten-nyo akya would earn the PEPCA Supearl title.
- - - - - - - - - -
My GRANPEARL GSS.
Granpearl is lesser than Supearl. We saw that in Takahashi’s pearl box - the Supearl clearly outshone the Granpearl WSSs. Pic in @Sprinkles&Stones' opening post:
https://www.pricescope.com/community/threads/takahashi-south-sea-pearl-board.271942/
Yy explained that there's never been a loose Supearl GSS. So if you want a PEPCA certificate, and you want gold, and you don't want a whole strand, it's Granpearl or nopearl.
But the fact of the matter is still that Granpearl is lesser than Supearl.
My Granpearl is beautiful. And it's huge!! And it's one of the smoothest-skinned golds I've got. But it's not world-class: Some of my Pearl Paradise deep golds have equally strong and colourful overtones, and are a bit more contrasty and metallic. Proof that unlike the Supearl situation, a Granpearl title clearly doesn't - and shouldn't! - convey the sentiment that these pearls are the epitome of their type.
This fact changes the conversation. It's no longer a binary answer to "are these the amazingest or not" - now it's a discussion about value for money. Which is a lot more difficult to evaluate!! For me, I wanted a PEPCA pearl. I knew I already had top tier WSS, so it made more sense to try a gold. Had I had a chance to see this particular pearl before buying it, and compare it to my other GSSs, I probably wouldn't have bought it. But the only way I could see it was to buy it! And I was chatting with another PSer recently - when it comes to pearls I personally am hypersensitive to FOMO!! I would much rather buy a specimen and realize I could have done without it than always regret that I'd missed out on something.
I'm totally ignoring body colour (hue, tone, and saturation) here by the way, because colour is super subjective... So subjective that it's actually apparently one of the reasons there's never been a loose Supearl GSS - can't get everyone on the panel to agree on an #Ideal
So my purchasing thoughts... I don't have any golds from Jewelmer, which would probably be the quality benchmark. So I don't actually know what the highest quality in GSS looks like. I might have some specimens that meet that bar? But I also might not!! The fact that some of my Pearl Paradise deep golds are objectively better may mean a lot, or it may mean not much of anything, because my biggest Pearl Paradise gold is 11.8mm, and the Granpearl is 13.1mm. And we all know that extraordinary becomes exponentially more rare with increasing size. Would Pearl Paradise have a Granpearl-quality 13mm+ pearl? I've got no idea. But in my humble opinion, given Pearl Paradise's huge inventory and generous return policy, for a US buyer it would definitely be worth finding out before buying a Granpearl GSS blind.
All that said, no regrets on this one for me, I got a mind-clean experience. I'm always happy to send more business Takahashi's way, Yy is a darling to work with, and now I feel like I've tried the whole PEPCA thing and I know what they're about and what I can expect
- - - - -
Our pearls are the Supearl and the 13.1mm Granpearl:
@MakingTheGrade and I had our pearls shipped out together, and she very kindly offered to let me receive them (I really really really wanted to see her Supearl in-person!!) I'm sharing my thoughts and pictures here with her blessing.New thread beceause I wanted to focus on the PEPCA paper and not-ignore-exactly-but-mostly-ignore the fact that we happened to buy them from Takahashi.
- - - - - - - - - -
So... Well - first - collating some info about PEPCA that's scattered through other threads:
https://www.pricescope.com/communit...-terminology-and-quality.261590/#post-4858966
Posts #26, #27
https://www.pricescope.com/community/threads/takahashi-south-sea-pearl-board.271942/#post-5092146
Posts #9, #14, #21, #25, #28-30, #32
- - - - - - - - - -
@MakingTheGrade's SUPEARL WSS.
With my admittedly small sample set of three Paspaley pearls (the three that @Crystal_Dreams picked out for me!) and one Supearl… I’m convinced. Ain’t nothin’ better out there.
The Supearl holds its own 100% with the Paspaley Pearl Board gems.
The Paspaley Pearl Board gems hold their own 100% with the Supearl.
They’ve got different overtones - all three Paspaley pearls have more teal, the Supearl errs pink and violet. But in terms of smoothness of skin, sharpness of reflections, contrastiness, and “metallic-ness” - to my eyes there’s zero quality differential here.
Pricing and buying... Well, it's probably no surprise to anyone here that Paspaley's stuff costs more than Takahashi's. Even with PEPCA certification.
Supearl pearls are rare. But Pearl Board quality gems from Paspaley also aren't exactly growing on trees. For someone looking for the best of the best WSS, availability is (still, always) going to be the biggest bottleneck. On the rare occasion that both a Supearl and a Paspaley gem that check all the boxes turn up at the same time, I should think one could purchase on price alone and rest assured she or he is buying a world-class specimen! But realistically the odds of having that choice are slim... And as Yy explained (more details are in the posts listed above) - Supearl pairs aren't currently a #Thing, so if the ask is for a pair, well, Paspaley's the only practical option. But - despite the fact that Paspaley offers no independent evaluation - my experience thus far suggests that one can buy those gems from Paspaley and have confidence that the pearls would indeed be Supearl-worthy. And given the Supearl rarity, and given Paspaley’s standing in the WSS world, I really don’t believe it’s possible to go any higher in quality. I don’t believe WSS oysters are capable of better than this. I really believe that in my photos I’m holding some of the most beautiful WSS in the world
This is kind of in contrast to Ten-nyo from PSL for akoya: I would guess that all Supearl akoya would merit the Ten-nyo designation if submitted to PSL, but I can state for fact that not all PSL Ten-nyo akya would earn the PEPCA Supearl title.
- - - - - - - - - -
My GRANPEARL GSS.
Granpearl is lesser than Supearl. We saw that in Takahashi’s pearl box - the Supearl clearly outshone the Granpearl WSSs. Pic in @Sprinkles&Stones' opening post:
https://www.pricescope.com/community/threads/takahashi-south-sea-pearl-board.271942/
Yy explained that there's never been a loose Supearl GSS. So if you want a PEPCA certificate, and you want gold, and you don't want a whole strand, it's Granpearl or nopearl.
But the fact of the matter is still that Granpearl is lesser than Supearl.
My Granpearl is beautiful. And it's huge!! And it's one of the smoothest-skinned golds I've got. But it's not world-class: Some of my Pearl Paradise deep golds have equally strong and colourful overtones, and are a bit more contrasty and metallic. Proof that unlike the Supearl situation, a Granpearl title clearly doesn't - and shouldn't! - convey the sentiment that these pearls are the epitome of their type.
This fact changes the conversation. It's no longer a binary answer to "are these the amazingest or not" - now it's a discussion about value for money. Which is a lot more difficult to evaluate!! For me, I wanted a PEPCA pearl. I knew I already had top tier WSS, so it made more sense to try a gold. Had I had a chance to see this particular pearl before buying it, and compare it to my other GSSs, I probably wouldn't have bought it. But the only way I could see it was to buy it! And I was chatting with another PSer recently - when it comes to pearls I personally am hypersensitive to FOMO!! I would much rather buy a specimen and realize I could have done without it than always regret that I'd missed out on something.
I'm totally ignoring body colour (hue, tone, and saturation) here by the way, because colour is super subjective... So subjective that it's actually apparently one of the reasons there's never been a loose Supearl GSS - can't get everyone on the panel to agree on an #Ideal
So my purchasing thoughts... I don't have any golds from Jewelmer, which would probably be the quality benchmark. So I don't actually know what the highest quality in GSS looks like. I might have some specimens that meet that bar? But I also might not!! The fact that some of my Pearl Paradise deep golds are objectively better may mean a lot, or it may mean not much of anything, because my biggest Pearl Paradise gold is 11.8mm, and the Granpearl is 13.1mm. And we all know that extraordinary becomes exponentially more rare with increasing size. Would Pearl Paradise have a Granpearl-quality 13mm+ pearl? I've got no idea. But in my humble opinion, given Pearl Paradise's huge inventory and generous return policy, for a US buyer it would definitely be worth finding out before buying a Granpearl GSS blind.
All that said, no regrets on this one for me, I got a mind-clean experience. I'm always happy to send more business Takahashi's way, Yy is a darling to work with, and now I feel like I've tried the whole PEPCA thing and I know what they're about and what I can expect
- - - - -
Our pearls are the Supearl and the 13.1mm Granpearl:
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