Since the subject of pearls was brought up (by me :)), I thought I'd take this opportunity to quiz the membership on their skills.

See, as part of the DVD, I've scanned books that are gemologist references for various gems, such as pearls, diamonds, gold, etc., so that a crim can tell what's worth taking, and what's not. No sense pulling a job if you end up heisting inferior swag, eh? :p

So, how well do you think you'd do, when it comes to judging swag? Test yourselves by downloading the picture (488kb), and telling me which two pearl strands (conveniently lettered) are worth the most, and why you think that.

Just so you know, all of the pearls are real (no imitations), cultured (no naturals), and not dyed, irradiated, or treated in any way.

This is also an opportunity for you to preview the quality of the scan work that I'm doing with my books. Mind you, the attached picture had to be reduced in quality by 4x in order to be small enough to be uploaded. :eek: The full size is a true masterpiece of the scanning art, if I do say myself. ;) :D

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I'd say E and I. Reasons later.

All of them! :p theyre not that heavy to carry.. but then again if I would choose like you originally said, i'd take G. My reason is not that complicated, therefore I'll tell it right away, simply because they're black and most round (I heard somewhere that black pearls are most expencive..)

I think s or o , it's very hard to tell with a photo tho and I don't know a lot about pearls (I DO know about sappires :D )
It is a good scan even cut down 4x.

If you use an image viewer, you can magnify it 2x to get a better view of the imperfections, which DO count a lot towards the value (or lack thereof).

Naturally all of the strands are valuable, and I'd take them all, but that's why I also limited it to the top two, so you'd have to choose. :p

Do you know which ones are the most valuble NBK?

I would say rows I and E.
I know that black pearls are expensive, but I have no idea about yellow pearls.
Both rows have very few inperfections in them.

Though if I was raiding a vault full of pearls I would grab as many pearls as I could, then I would worry about the value of them later. Considering that some pearls can be worth several thousand dollars each, even if only a few were worth selling, you'd still make a small fortune.

I would go with A B C and R those are what im going with.

On closer investigation, F&L. They are roundest and have less defects..

I saw E,I,L,O because they don't have those protuberances one the sides like some of the others and a uniform roundnessness. (is that even a word:rolleyes: )

E and L, they are smooth round and uniformly colored. But I'm no expert.

taking them all has been done to death but I would anyway, IF I had to choose and had the luxury of time, the black ones would come with me, esp the ones with the "imperfections" the white ones with the imperfections would go also. the only real intrisic value of the "perfect" ones are based on aesthetics alone, whereas the "imperfect" ones are valuable in their own right due to their individuality, however they would be more difficult to fence (insurance photographs etc...), and a Foreign buyer would perhaps be your best option (pref and inland buyer, as Pearls are cheaper the closer you get to the coast), unless you could find a way to sell them back to the original owner (adding a little ontop of intrinsic value for sentimental value) :)

sorry for the glut/block of txt, trying to type as fast as speak and foods nearly ready :)

Yes, I know which ones are the most valuable. :)

Here's some help for you guys.

If a pearl costing $1000 decreases 1 mm in size, its price may drop 50%, to $500. If it then changes from a dark greenish grey color to a muddy gray with no overtones, it's price could drop another 50%, to $250. Going from a very high to very low luster could bring its price to $125. And then adding lots of flaws to it could bring it down to $50.

The prime valuators are:

Symmetry

Flaws (or lack thereof)

Luster (AKA "orient", iridescence)

Size

Color

Make

There's no real order of importance between these, since an imbalance of one of the values can complete offset the perfection of all the rest. Pearls are judged as a whole of these values, unlike gemstones that can be mathmatically graded.

There's a balance that needs to be made between all these factors. For instance, large pearls can be worth less than smaller pearls, if the large pearls are lower in luster than the smaller pearls. Pearls of equal size can have different worth depending on the type of color. Pearls of equal size and color have different worths based on their luster The "make" of a strand refers the the quality of the entire strand, when taken as a whole, as compared to the quality of the individual pearls on the strand.

Not positive to which are worth the most, but Im making the assumption about E, I, K, and O. Their size, color, and shape seems to make them look the most valuable.

I'd say D, E , L, I, O because they are the biggest most perfect ones.

R - Nice luster, Tahitian black pearls, barquoe pearls (symetrical).

F - Very nice luster, black pearls, all round.

L and I, because they are large, pretty round, decent consistency. But E is very sexy and I believe comes in very close behind.

a_bab, you get theGolden Gun, for being the first to get it right, as well as being very quick about it. :) You can watch my back on a job. :D BTW, what was your reasons for choosing those?

Flake2m, A-BOMB, chemwarrior, blindreeper, and firebreether had it mostly right. You guys get to sit in the car and keep the motor running. :)

yt2095, Spudkilla, FireBomb, irish, and frogfot...you guys need to go back behind the walls for a few more (years) to get some more schoolin'. :p

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A, B, C, P, Q, and R are low value (comparitively speaking, of course) because they are not symmetrically shaped.

Symmetry is HIGHLY important in valuation of pearls. Round is the ideal. Any deviation from the shape devalues the pearl. The more distorted the shape, the lower the value. Thus C and R would be the lowest valued for their size and type because of their highly asymmetric shapes (known as baroque).


D, J, M, N, and S are more symmetrical, being what's called "Off Round", thus more valuable than the previously mentioned ones. However, these suffer from surface imperfections (referred to as "blemishes"). These flaws are especially noticable in strands G and S, where not a single pearl on the strand is without flaw.

G, H, and O suffer from poor "make". That is, the pearls on the strand are poorly matched, not being of same color. This is particulary noticable in strand H which has all shades of the rainbow present. O has low lustor pearls.

Now, for the good pearls...

F is highly symmetrical, very few flaws, good make, and highly lusturous.

L is highly symmetrical, has very few flaws, has good make, and is quite lusturous.

The top three pearls are E, I, and K

If you compare K with L, you'll notice that while K is slightly less round, it is both larger (remember, a difference of 1mm can double price) and more lustorous. You'll notice how the reflections of the lights in strand K are much more sharply defined than that in L, as well as being more iridescent (play of colors).

E has excellent uniformity of color for the strand, meaning excellent make, as well as being composed of highly valued Tahiatian pearls. Since these are round, have excellent lustor, and are nearly flawless, these are the second most valuable strand in the picture.

The big winner of the pearls is I.

Given that the larger the pearl, the more rare it is for it to be round, the fact that there's so many round pearls of this size on a single strand makes it noticable. When you combine it with very few flaws, excellent make, and highly lustorous pearls, you've got a winner.

And, what really makes this the top dog, is the color.

I is worth more than twice K because golden pearls are very rare. When you combine a strand of them together, the whole is worth much more than the parts.

Strand I is valued at over $250,000. :D

E and K are between 120-$150,000.

For comparison, C, P, Q, R and S are less than $10,000.

Lol, dang, I picked the 3 most valuable... as well as one of the lowest value! lol. Oh well, first time trying to determine the value something like that, I think I did pretty good.... hehe. Not that it would make a whole lot of difference if I grabbed all 4, only to find out that the one was shit:) the others more than make up for the difference:D

I opened this topic thinking that it couldn't be too hard, and I opened google, and looked up grading methods fro pearls. By the time I had made my descicion, I had read most of this page. Then of course, I got a bit further down, and the answer had already been given. :(

Here's a good resource: http://www.johnrist.com/pearl_grading_guide.htm

It explains everything NBK said in a very easy to understand way, with illustrations. Just go down to the grading of pearls thing.

I wish I had got in earlier now.

Yay looks like I have the skills to be a pearl theif!

It means you've got enough promise to bring on a job, but not enough skills to go inside.

To quote Han Solo (:D):

"Don't cocky kid!"

:p

"Cast not your Pearls before swine"...

no fuckin wonder I came last! :)

the only "pearl necklaces" I like to give, have nothing to do with mollusk secretions :D

Well, I've been thinking that size matters. Also the less defects there are the better the pearl is. Then I knew that black pearls are rare and much more expensive than the white ones (didn't even knew that there are yellow ones, so these must to be even rare).

What makes a diamond expensive ? It's rarity. Same with the gold, etc.
Dividing the gold into small parts will divide the value; turning a diamond into dust will render it to nothing more than a very good abrasive powder. So for diamonds, gems, and especially pearls etc. the most important quality is the perfection of the shape. Then size and finally the rarity of the colour.

In other words, the first white big unregular shaped rows worth nearly nothing compared to the big perfect exotic yellow and black ones.


Thanks for the theGolden Gun NBK2000, I'll be a very good member in your team ;)