Hi All,
So a new custom design just left my office perhaps 30 minutes ago, and I’m so excited about them that I had to dash off this post to share!
It all started 3 weeks ago when I received a call from MB, who had gotten the idea to recreate the
pearl earrings from the Vermeer painting, “The Girl with the Pearl Earring”. Tall order, was all I could think, but I had no idea how tall at the time!
I set about locating the right pair of pearls for him. We scoured the Jewelry Show at Hong Kong and amazingly came up with zilch!
In my rush, I figured I’d turn up something via my usual contacts here in Los Angeles, so I started making the first of a gazillion phone calls.
The first batch came in within a week:
Mixed Lot of White South Sea Drops, 12.0-13.0mm, AAA Quality
These gorgeous pearls came in, but weren’t quite what my customer was looking for unfortunately. Personally, I would be very happy to wear the 3rd pair down, but he wanted smoother, more classically defined tear-drop shapes. He wanted Gem Quality. Rose Overtone. 13.0mm plus sizes. You know: Rare Pearls.
How hard is it to find a nice pair of large, clean, smooth tear-drop shaped White South Sea pearls? It’s pretty hard. Finding a single loose, clean, gem-quality White South Sea drop is pretty easy, but a matched pair for shape, diameter, length, luster, color, orient and overtone? That’s where things get tricky.
A call like this can go completely around the world in a few weeks and come right back to you (it’s happened a few times before). You’ve given up on finding your perfect gem, only to get a call from another dealer looking for your exact pearls (or gemstone) 3 or 4 weeks later to sell to you, having no idea that the call started with you! It’s actually pretty funny when it happens. It’s like everyone decides to start looking for the golden needle in a hay stack. Because we deal in natural objects, our supply can be extremely limited – especially when you’re looking for something that’s one in a million.
Anyways, I kept calling around, and found these which came in the next week:
Gem Quality White South Sea Drops, Matched Pair measuring 12.0-13.0mm in size
WOW. My jaw dropped. I fell in love. I tried my best to convince him that these pearls were IT!!! I still love these pearls. Love them. The luster and Orient shimmering over the surface are just cream of the crop. But. They weren’t the shape he was looking for. He really, really wanted a tear-drop. So back to the phones again!
The next week (week 3, this week!) I received these:
Drop Shaped White South Sea Pearls 11.5×15.0mm
And these:
White South Sea Drop Pair measuring 14x16mm
What a sweet problem to have! Which to choose? If it was up to me, I’d be hopelessly lost. The 14x16mm pearls had outstanding luster, HUGE sizes like we were looking for, gorgeous Orient. BUT they were nearly twice what we started out to spend (surprise!), and maybe the shape of the 11.5x15mm pearls was closer to what he had originally decided upon.
MB decided he really liked the elongated drop-shape of the 11.5x15mm pair. We started getting excited – this could be it! But then I turned them over and found this:
The back of the 11.5x15mm pair of drops. Burned!!
We were both bitterly disappointed. Especially since I was told these pearls were the “best available” quality. I guess that meant that our pickings were starting to run slim, and I was running out of contacts for the “perfect pair” of drops. We were also running out of time with our deadline of 3/28/15 looming large.
Comparing the two pairs of White South Sea Drops. Which would you choose?
We carried on and began focusing on the large 14x16mm drop-shaped pair. I wasn’t sure about the shape, thinking that they might have been too oval-ish and not drop-shaped enough but MB thought they fit the bill.
I went ahead and had them set on a pair of our large 14K White Gold Diamond Pavé Hoop Earrings, and once these gorgeous gems were mounted, all doubt fell away in one, single swoosh.
The finished pair of White South Sea drop pearls, mounted on our 14K White Diamond Pavé Hoop Earrings.
I mean, this pair of earrings turned out more beautifully than I could ever have imagined! Absolutely breathtaking.
I sent them Overnight for Saturday delivery, but he is going to wait to even open the box until he gives them to his wife on Monday night for her Birthday. The suspense is killing me! I’m usually pretty good with waiting to open presents around the Holidays, but this present doesn’t even belong to me, and I’m bouncing in my seat in anticipation of her unwrapping! Promise to keep you posted next week.
I love my job! :)
See you all next week!
~A.
