Ah, glorious Hong Kong. As I sit here in my hotel room overlooking the harbor, I see lights, lights and more lights. It reminds me of pearls. This is the city of pearls, several times each year.So where should I start as the Hong Kong Jewellery and Gem Fair winds to a close?
Tahitian prices seemed poised to rise with floor prices at both Wan and Poe Rava Nui higher than previously offered. Wan decided to take a different approach, posting reserves on all offered lots. His proclamation was clear - he is not giving his pearls away. The high reserves did have an effect, with less than half the lots selling.
The news is mixed at Asia World Expo, the new home for all pearl purveyors at the fair. As usual, the expo was crowded, buyer numbers were high, and there was excitement in the air - until the Exhibition Centre in the city stole most with promises of more and more, opening for business on Wednesday.
While some exhibitors felt the sting of the humdrum economy, others were happily moving product to eager buyers looking for those downturn deals. Japanese dealers were particularly busy pushing discounted akoya. A promising note for the akoya: The price slide seems to have stopped, and prices are starting to inch north for the first time in years. The movement is small, but any movement in that direction must elate struggling producers.
Tahitian pearls were everywhere. The yearlong tax elimination was clearly evident with strands lining nearly every booth. Quality goods, however, were sparse. Thousands of strands of rubbish, like the clearly coated and treated strands from Shanghai Pearl, were more prolific than ever before. FP certainly rid itself of the shit house grade this year.
Freshwater pearls were still as popular as ever. Monday, buyers crowded the booths, grabbing the best as quickly as they could. News from China is that the price slide of freshwater is also coming to a halt, with slight movement in the opposite direction for the first time in more than two years.
Could this be a sign of changing times?
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26 comments:
Prof, any news on the paspaley auction and south sea prices in general?
Professor,
What did you mean about Shanghai Pearl being coated and treated? Coated with what?
Was there a lot of quality freshwater in large sizes (10mm +)?
I didn't review freshwater pearls while there, but I did chat with a few buyers about their finds. The larger sizes did not come up.
There were a multitude of dealers hawking Tahitian strands of abysmal quality. I realise that singling out Shanghai Pearl might be a wee bit unfair, but much of the rubbish they were peddling was egregiously shit house. The lustre indicated certain coating, and many of the strands were certainly dyed. These are the sorts export control is designed to stop. With any luck, a more centralised approach lead by Mr Wan will halt these goods from reaching the market in the future.
South Sea prices? How low can we go?
Paspaley are wise to hold back their best product. Commercial goods were still strong.
At the show, the Chinese were the dominating buyers. At the auctions, the Japanese were.
I was at the show on Monday and Tuesday buying a few freshwater to fill holes in our holiday inventory. There were a large number of 10mm+ strands available, and even quite a number of 12mm+.
An experienced observer can detect coating without knowing what the coating material is. Unless the good professor carried his portable gem lab through the show, he wouldn't have been able to identify whatever coated the Tahitian strands. Silicone polymers are probably the most commonly used coatings. They improve a pearl's surface quality by obscuring or minimizing blemishes, and they substitute their own good or excellent artificial luster for a pearl's poor or fair natural luster.
Thanks, Buck Nacre. It's so sad to hear that. An inexperienced person wouldn't know that, thinking the pearls are lustrous. Is it common for Tahitian pearls sold in HK or China to be processed like that, having coatings on top?
"Buck Nacre" talks like an expert about "silicone polymer" coated Tahitian pearls... as if it were common... wonder from which old fiction movie he gets this from... stop talking down this product, pleeeease!
OK, let's review:
First, the good professor posted that he saw coated Tahitian strands at the Hong Kong show.
Second, an anonymous poster asked, "Coated with what?"
Third, I posted that coating can be detected without being able to identify the coating material. I also said that silicone polymers are probably the most commonly used coatings.
Fourth, Observer leaped to connect dots that shouldn't necessarily be connected.
Last, a question: Is Observer suggesting that coated pearls should be sold without revealing that they're coated?
No, no dear Buck Nacre, don't get me wrong, I am totally in favor of proper identification! But the problem is: that are you guys talking about? Years ago, when these "rumors" about polymer coated Tahitian pearls came up, Tom Moses from the GIA made a thorough investigation during the IJK Fair and he found not one single piece... among tens of thousands.. all bad, sensational talk and rumors... or have I meanwhile missed something? Let me know where they can be found!
I trust that the good professor correctly identified some Tahitian pearls as coated at the Hong Kong show in September 2009. I fail to see how Tom Moses not finding coated pearls at a show years ago is relevant. Elizabeth Strack, who has a gem lab in Hamburg, discusses polymer coatings on Page 661 of her book "Pearls." I don't think she makes stuff up.
Wow, very interesting. So what are they doing if not coating???
Buck Nacre, don't put me in a hot spot, it's not fair! Makes me a little bit upset. First, I am totally in favor of disclosure, and second, I also carry the highest respect and esteem for Ms. Elisabeth Strack, whom I know personally, and who runs a most reputed gem lab in Germany. Okay?
We don't talk about the academic and the theoretical side of the business, we talk about the practical side, where nowadays about 10 to 15 tons of Tahitian pearls are farmed and sold annually for a value exceeding one hundred million dollars on the wholesale level. When these pearls move down the global distribution channels, they are NOT (polymer?) coated! If indeed the Professor found some (polymer?) coated pearls in HK, then this would be a scandal for our industry and the Professor must then stand up in earnest, be the real Pearl Professor (a friend in need is a friend indeed), and for the good of the industry, he must then disclose details where he found them, because he is the ONLY person I know to have discovered them!
For the sake of our industry, the matter would then have to be brought to the Minister in Tahiti, and to the organizers of the HK Fair, as well as to leading wholesalers. A follow-up would then be inevitable, with the culprit who makes and sells (polymer?) coated pearls nailed against the wall in public! This matter is too important for us (and for Tahiti's second largest industry!) to simply be ignored. I have discussed this today with some (mainly Japanese and Tahitian) wholesalers who move large quantities and we all are upset about such a disturbing statement. Are you really in the business, or are you just pretending to be, barking up the tree and unnecessarily stirring up manure? Buck Nacre, please lean back, take my advice and let's herewith close this chapter in peace, unless you have firm and solid evidence and facts which you are willing and able to come forward with. Hot air is not good enough. But I give you the credit that if you just wanted to excite some minds and souls out there, you surely succeeded. Amen.
Observer, rather than repeating myself, I suggest you closely re-read the posts in this string. You are still connecting dots that shouldn't necessarily be connected.
oh sure. trust the tahitian minister. yes, Trust the big head honcho people behind the tahitian pearl industry.They are so trustable, models of the up and up! take your blinders off Observer. yes, we woudn't want a scandal. I truly believe you are an industry insider, Observer. keep on dispelling those coating "myths".
So. Is the Prof a liar? Or is his eyesight going the way of his hair?
Has anyone thought to contact Shanghai Pearl in Hong Kong to ask if the company sells treated and/or coated Tahitian cultured pearls?
Here's the contact information:
Lai Lin Lee
Shanghai Pearl Company Ltd
Unit B, 12/F., China Insurance Building, 48 Cameron Road, Tsim Sha Tsui, Kowloon, Hong Kong
www.hktdc.com/em/shanghaipearl
I think it is very unfair to single out a race of people and accuse them of tampering with the natural Lustre and colouring of Pearls.OK I hear you say they added Melamine to their food products and pet food products and a few mutts and kids died and got Kidney damage.But why would they alter Pearls.
To the not-so-bright previous anonymous,
Why would the Chinese alter pearls? Isn't it obvious?-To make an initially shit quality product appear better, or, in the case of melamine, lead...etc., cut production costs of a decent product using the cheapest known means(even if it kills someone!), so that they get more money for the resulting shit product passed off as quality goods.
D.
" Anonymous said...
I think it is very unfair to single out a race of people and accuse them of tampering with the natural Lustre and colouring of Pearls.OK I hear you say they added Melamine to their food products and pet food products and a few mutts and kids died and got Kidney damage.But why would they alter Pearls."
And I think it is very unfair for the Chinese to single out other races of peoples, besides themselves, to kill with their often deadly products!
From the Anonymous October 20 post above:
"I think it is very unfair to single out a race of people and accuse them of tampering with the natural Lustre and colouring of Pearls."
This is a put-on, right? You don't really think the good professor was condemning the Chinese people, nor that I was doing the same by asking if anyone had thought to contact Shanghai Pearl in Hong Kong and ask if some of the Tahitian cultured pearls they offered at the recent show were coated and/or treated, do you?
Irony is sometimes lost on the cousins
That's only if the irony is clear. Otherwise it's a "fail".
I can instantly spot a coating on a pearl, but not everybody seems to be able to at first glance. I recently went to a department store here in California (Gottschalks) and all their pearls looked coated. I asked to see a strand of 8-8.5mm well rounded pink freshwater pearls and they were so heavily coated that they failed the tooth test and actually felt warm and smooth like polished plastic. In contrast, heat-treated akoya nacre feels very dry and brittle.
What are you going on about woman????? Gottchalks closed its doors in July 2009.
"sheglymo said...
That's only if the irony is clear. Otherwise it's a "fail"."
not just "fail" but "UNAMBIGUOUS FAIL".
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