The "Secret" Story of Tahitian Black Pearls

Why is the big price gap between the same perfect round and flawless Tahiti black pearls?

If put white South sea pearls, Golden south sea pearls, Tahitian pearls together, you will find Tahitian pearls are the most colorful one.

In the industry, specific names have been given to these overtone colors:

peacock — greenish black

cherry/aubergine — purplish black

champagne — yellowish gray

pistachio — greenish gray

lavender — bluish black

Tahitian gold — golden black

pigeon gray — purplish gray

silver — gray

moon gray — pale gray

orient gray — surface iridescence

Here's a little bit of pearl trivia share to yours.

There is also a discrepancy between the market price positioning and the grading standard of black pearls by jewelry professionals.  For example, the professional rating will assess the luster of the pearl, depending on the clarity of the epidermal image.

Even use professional instruments to detect the roundness, size, and degree of flaws on the pearl. So as long as these factors are up to the standard, they don't care what overtones of the pearls surface. But in terms of market demand, consumers prefer black pearls with different overtones, such as purplish black, yellowish greenish gray, bluish black, etc., among which peacock green is particularly popular in the market.

Many merchants say that they have black pearls with perfectly round shape and very high luster, but why is the price gap so big? Another important factor that affects the price of Tahitian black pearls is the pearl overtones.

1. Gray Tahitian Black Pearl

It refers to the body color of the pearl is off-white rather than dark. Because the cheap price, it is the the most popular color on Amazon, etsy, eBay and other online stores.

But the gray Tahitian pearls have an obvious shortcoming. Most gray Grey pearls do not have a good luster. This is the commonality, and this is exactly what many customers do not know. Because the perfect round and flawless can be seen straightforwardly, and the difference between strong and weak luster usually needs to be contrasted, or can easily recognized facial features may be observed in pearl surfaces.

Many customers don't care the pearl luster, but pursue the perfect roundness and flawlessness of pearls. In fact, the most important thing is pearl luster. It is easy to be exploited by some merchants because customers blindly pursue. As long as the perfectly round and flawless gray pearl, it is easy to be called "strong luster", coupled with the advantages of low cost, so this type of pearl is the favorite of many online stores.

2. Dark Tahitian Black Pearl

It refers to a darker color (Tahitian black pearls are basically not in black). Among pearls of the same size and quality, the dark black pearls price are 3-5 times that of gray black pearls. And most of black pearls with such color have their own strong luster (this is a characteristic, no need much explanation). 

These pearls are often appear in the physical stores or self-employed vendors, because there are no competitive edge on Amazon, Etsy, eBay ect. They have good quality and relatively high prices. Amazon, eBay, Etsy's photos are not quite the same as the actual picture, customers can not recognize the real quality. Moreover, as a price comparison platform, eBay's customers also prefer low prices products. However, physical stores or self-employed vendors are more favored by high-quality consumers. 

These customers buy pearls often, they have enormous consuming power and understand what high-quality pearls are.

3. Tahitian black pearls with dark black body color, slightly bluish, green, purple and other overtones.

If you look closely, you can see there is a layer of heterochromatic fluorescent protection around the pearl, which is very beautiful. This type black pearls price are slightly higher than the second type, and it is mainly found in physical stores and high-end online stores.

This kind of pearl is quite beautiful, but it is also easier for many merchants to sell these as "peacock blue, peacock purple". In fact, the price of these type of pearl is still quite different from real peacock green, so we need to learn to distinguish them.

4: Tahitian Peacock Pearl

It refers to Tahitian black pearl with obvious light green or dark green, and turquoise ovetones. Like the "imperial green" in the jadeite, which is a well-known but prohibitive treasure.

Peacock green Tahitian pearls are extremely rare and very expensive. It's price is 3-15 times that of dark black pearls in the same quality. Compared with the same quality of black pearls, the larger the diameter, the greater the price difference. Such pearls are mainly provided by few physical stores and few vendors, they have high consumption capacity customers.

Even though there are the same Tahitian black pearls with perfect round and flawless, Prices can vary several times or even tens of times.

And all completely depends on its color and luster. Each of their quality and price have own market basis. It can be explained in one sentence: What is rational is actual and what is actual is rational.

When you guys buy black pearls, you should not only care about the price of pearls, but also the quality of pearls, just remember, you get what you pay for.