The conch pearl has always been an intriguing gem. May one call these non-nacreous concretions pearls? I’ve always thought so. They are beautiful in their own right, but information and research has been sparse at best. I believe the only real account of the gem is in The Pink Pearl, by Bari and Federman.Thanks to the efforts of Drs. Héctor Acosta-Salmón and Megan Davis of Florida Atlantic University’s Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institute, we may soon learn much more about this elusive gem. Using modified conventional techniques of seeding both freshwater and saltwater mollusks, efforts to culture both beaded and non-beaded conch pearls in the Strombus gigas have proven successful.
The research Acosta-Salmón and Davis conducted was not secret. They published their relaxation techniques years ago. In order to graft the Strombus gigas, it is first necessary to relax the snail so the innards become exposed. The locations of the grafts remain proprietary, a possible insinuation that the gonad is not necessarily host to the beaded pearl.
Conch pearls are among the most expensive, widely sought natural pearls today. Mikimoto has created extensive lines for their local market utilising these natural gems found only as a byproduct of the conch fishing industry in the Caribbean.
With the advent of this culture technology, will we see a Kokichi-esque shift from the naturals to the cultured? It remains to be determined whether the non-beaded cultured specimens will differ in any ascertainable way from their natural counterparts. A report is soon to publish in Gems & Gemology detailing GIA’s independent analysis. This seems to be a waiting game.
The market for natural conch will undoubtedly remain. Natural pearls, now overshadowed but the science of perliculture, have always maintained a degree of market share. But the price dips in the 1920s pushed many natural dealers to the brink. What will become of those who’ve hoarded conch pearls over the past decade, watching their investment flourish with the consistently rising values of this non-culturable pearl?
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29 comments:
Once-in-a-century news was worth the wait!
Cultured conch pearls
Quite an achievement
In the queen
Mais vraiment
A specialty item
Never bigtime commerce
Viva Strombus gigas!
Nice verse, point taken.
Naturals are a viable hedge investment and seem to be doing better than at any time post-Mikimoto. Conch pricing has gone nuts, further fueled by the absence of a cultured counterpart.
Given the vacuum of news from the mainstream pearl industry this might be considered bigtime, by default.
Here is some pearl news, Stephen Bloom's book is finally out and as a result the skeptics shall eat their words regarding both my exotic and natural pearl collections. I hope it will be a bitter meal.
I am also going to be famous!
Zeide, did Steven get a chance to see your poe pipi collection and your Burmese golds? Did you show him some of your "Stone of Heaven" sky-blue nephrite from Khotan?!?!? Or was it your sky-blue coloured interpretation of the known rare apple greeen "fei cui" jadeite from Burma? Nobody but you has ever seen any sky-blue jade, not even the nephrite-and-jadeite-crazy Qing Dynasty Emperor, Qianlong. He never had any, nor ever mentioned any. Rare indeedy, Zeedy.
No, Steven Bloom did not have time to see my golds. Originally I asked Perlas from the Pearl-Guide forum to go and use all her ZESPA knowledge to cherrypick me some 14x20mm gargantuan golden South Sea drops for earrings with water mirror and orient and I sent her the money to properly pay for the whole transaction figuring in some tough bargaining and skillful smuggling.
She found me a wonderful pair for under US$ 300 and my bank transferred the money to her twice. So, I upped my order to include a selection of 12mm (0.5mm up or down variance) of finest grade round Philippine freshwater pearls in psychedelic colors. I have some strands that I presorted for 4 multicolor necklaces in that range but they are still a little short and can use some exotic color infusion. They are already spectacular but just need the extra edge and length. A 15-incher in 12mm is a choker indeed, so I am shooting for 16.5-18 inchers. I bought some on eBay for US$ 50 a strand, but only two or three pearls per strand were really usuable. Figuring in the fact that I can still use the solid 14k clasps, I guess that is not a bad deal. I cut out the pretties from the eBay strands replace them up with whites. Then the eBay loot goes to charity and the primadonna pearls that I salvaged from them will go into my multicolor strands. Nonetheless, I still need some extras for the special "Zeide dazzle look." Perlas has learned well. She is the first ZESPA graduate and may henceforth be dispatched for ZESPA-inspired pearl shopping and shipping in her region.
Hmmm...I think Zeidl Erskine's sky-blue jade is Idar-Oberstein blue-dyed agate from Brazil. That or she is seriously nuts.
There is no such thing as Philippine freshwater pearls.
"Zeide, did Steven get a chance to see your poe pipi collection and your Burmese golds? Did you show him some of your "Stone of Heaven" sky-blue nephrite from Khotan?!?!? Or was it your sky-blue coloured interpretation of the known rare apple greeen "fei cui" jadeite from Burma? Nobody but you has ever seen any sky-blue jade, not even the nephrite-and-jadeite-crazy Qing Dynasty Emperor, Qianlong. He never had any, nor ever mentioned any. Rare indeedy, Zeedy."
Remember when she tried to convince Richard Wise of that quote above. "The Heavenly Blue" jade?
She's backkkkkk.........
Me sure tinks Steven Blooms bin smokin de same ting Zeide Erskine bin smokin, mon. She also sho him her burnin ganja collection.
Yeah, the non-existent "Heavenly Blue" jade. If she meant nephrite, the true Chinese "Stone of Heaven", it's never been found in a sky-blue color. Ancient Chinese nephrite objects, like the "bi" were used in rituals where the discs were thought to be an intermediary between heaven and earth, thus the denotation of "Stone of Heaven". It has nothing to do with color.
I would say Zeide G. Erskine knows even less about jade than she knows about pearls. To her credit, she does seem to know a heck of a lot about nothing.
I forgot to mention this tidbit to Steven Bloom. For those who can't afford golden pearls here's an interesting ancient Indonesian pearl dying secret, soak yellowish beige Chinese freshwater eBay pearls in orange peel oil, they'll turn out golden and incredibly lustrous not to mention fragrant. The resulting pearls are best used in rings to make your hands more fragrant.
More precisely, deturpening the orange oil is not necessary. The more intensely colored the oil, the better the color result. You should prime the pearls, though. Pearl priming can be done in any pot or dishwasher. First, you boil water adding salt until the solution is so saturated that the salt precipitates. Wash pearls in soap, rinse and put in the salt soultion for a day or two. The pearls will look really dry and dehydrated thereafter. Then drop them in the colored oil for a 3 weeks or so. If you have a large amount of pearls to prime, string them on temporary strands, hang them from the top rack of your dishwasher, add 3 cups of table salt, turn on potscrubber mode and they can go directly into the oil from there.
Zeide, why don't you crawl back under your eBay pearl collection.
It's not enough that she crawl back under her eBay pearl collection. Once there, some solid wood bookcases full of heavy volumes from her vast esotheric library should come crashing down to bury her.
Fair thee not-so-well, oh Arch Scheister!!
You can't kill her by normal means, she's a self-proclaimed vampire (with dentures). Garlic and a silver stake are in order here. Did Steven Bloom include her being a vampire and does he name her family castle that is somewhere in France near where effisk lives? I haven't read the book yet.
The truly weird aspect of Bloom's story chapter is that anybody even cares what that fat ass liar has to say. About anything. Ever.
I think that there *is* such a thing as blue jade:
http://masonkay.com/catalog/catalog02.php
"Stone of heaven" blue??? Blue like the heavens, you wrote on Pearl-Guide? Mason Kay sells jadeite. Jadeite is not the Chinese "stone of heaven". Show me some nephrite in sky blue colour. You're an idiot Zeide Erskine. You don't know your nephrite from your jadeite from your pearls.
Maybe your buddy Bahlu from AlphaImports has some. You know, the guy from whom you got the incredible deal on pink diamonds.
Hey Z. Erskine...i read about a pink nephrite fairly recently found in Wyoming(can't verify if it's true though). Didn't you write that pink was only for the emperor's family? Yeah, they got their nephrite from Wyoming. Which emperor's family was that? What dynasty was that again?
Trish and Tony Wilson of Australia might be able to dig something up equivalent to sky blue nephrite as they are the Zeide Erskine's of the jade world. Most will get what I mean.
there may not be any sky blue nephrite but there is lots that is sauerkraut colored if that makes you feel any better ZE.
Hello-
I am a landscape architecture student at Auburn University and I am currently researching Queen Conchs. I need to find a reasonable amount of information about the species (harvesting, extent of cultured pearls, opportunity for educational and research fisheries)
I would greatly appreciate any information you could share.
philj11111@yahoo.com
Thanks!
Phil
haha,Kieselkupfer
the pink stuff from wyoming is not nephrite, its thulite.
Zeide, regarding the old thread on Pearl-Guide where you hilariously mention that pink jade was for the emperor's family --the pink stuff that was sought by some Chinese rulers was not pink jadeite, nor was it pink nephrite. I hope you are still reading these comments, Zeide, because I will do you a big favour out of the immense goodness of my heart and finally tell you what it was so that it will not be too late for you to stop making a complete ass of yourself again on that subject in the future on some other forum. It was pink tourmaline from Pala(no, not faceted but carved and polished like jade). Maybe you can take a momentary break from your "know-it-all" attitude and actually learn something for once. It's not just pearls you are ignorant about. Your pearl ignorance is just the tip of the iceberg.
Your friend forever,
D.
Oops, made a slight mistake in the signature. I meant....
Your troglotroll forever,
:-D.
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