Víctimas de los Huracanes

Acabamos de sobrevivir el huracán “Odile”, que agraciadamente apenas nos tocó con un poco de lluvia (a diferencia de “Jimena” del 2009) pero si con vientos bastantes fuertes, lo que nos trajo olas de buena altura (se reportaron de hasta 6 metros en nuestra localidad). Los daños sufridos a la granja fueron menores, aunque se nos colapsó el acceso principal al área de la “palapa” y no vamos a poder ofrecer los recorridos guiados a la granja hasta su reparación (cosa que habrá que esperar, ya que se avecina otro huracán –“Polo”- la semana entrante.

En La Paz, Cabo San Lucas y otras comunidades de Baja California Sur se tuvieron daños significativos en casas, hoteles y comercios, así como en la infraestructura carretera, eléctrica y de suministro de agua potable (lo que nuevamente nos recuerda a “Julio” y “Jimena”, que causaron estragos en Guaymas). Les enviamos nuestros sinceros deseos de pronta recuperación a nuestros hermanos Sud Californianos.

Y aquí es donde todo termina para la mayoría de las personas: en los daños materiales y humanos (que según los reportes aún no hay que lamentar). Pero creo que la mayoría de las personas olvidan a una víctima adicional: nuestro medio ambiente.

Este pasado 16 de Octubre me fui a recorrer la playa frente a el “Club de Playa del Hotel Marinaterra”, una bella área antes conocida como “El Shangri-La”. Tiene una pequeña bahía con arrecifes rocosos, una playa semi arenosa y pedregosa y una hermosa isla cubierta de cactáceas al frente. Esta área me gusta desde la primer vez que la visité en 1988, y siempre ha tenido una fauna interesante y es buen sitio para practicar el “snorkeling”. Lo que me tocó ver en esta ocasión fue totalmente triste…

Los Daños

Lo primero que uno puede apreciar son los montones de basura variada, pero principalmente de contenedores de plástico de refrescos (PET) y de productos de limpieza, bolsas de plástico de todo tipo, calzado (entre tenis, zapatos y chanclas), llantas, pedazos de tubo de PVC, trozos de aparatos electrodomésticos (TVs, radios, VCRs, etc.)…incluso me tocó ver un par de ¡audio casets! (tenía años sin ver uno), ropa variada y accesorios (gafas de sol, gorras, moños). Y esto sin contar los elementos contaminantes que NO PODEMOS VER como serían todo tipo de químicos como derivados del petróleo y de productos de limpieza.

Realmente es triste ver este espectáculo y saber que esto sucede en parte porque las olas tienen la capacidad de destrozar lo que encuentren frente a sí, pero también porque el agua de las lluvias arrastra toda esta basura al mar. Nuestro mar y nuestras playas se han convertido en un “vertedero no oficial” de nuestra basura.

Después de ver las descomunales cantidades de basura pasamos a las inocentes víctimas de este fenómeno natural: nuestros organismos vivos. Tristemente descubrí decenas de peces de diferentes grupos, todos ellos muertos: morenas, caballitos de mar, mantarrayas, mojarras, cardenales, pargos y cochitos. Triste, pero a continuación siguieron cantidades aún mayores de invertebrados.

Los Corales de Abanicos

Estos corales típicos del Mar de Cortez son pescados para satisfacer a los turistas. Son escasos normalmente y tardan muchos años en crecer. Estos animales primitivos parecen “abanicos” de mano y por ello el nombre común que reciben. En esta ocasión encontré centenas de estos corales en la playa, y de al menos 4 especies diferentes, pero principalmente con dos especies: el “coral morado” y el “coral fuego”, siendo estos últimos de los más bellos del Golfo. Y junto con los corales encontramos otra “víctima”: la ostra perlífera “concha nácar”, que es la especie que nosotros cultivamos aquí en Guaymas.

Y es que esta especie de ostra es muy común encontrarla arriba de los corales, es de allí que viene uno de los nombres comunes de esta especie en al área: “Callo de Árbol”, ya que los pescadores saben bien que lo pueden obtener de los corales (“árboles”) y de allí obtienen el musculo aductor que se conoce como “callo”.

De entre los corales que recolecté en la playa, pude encontrar unas 15 pequeñas ostras.

Los Moluscos

Miles de moluscos murieron en esta playa. Desde caracoles – como los de cono (Conus), de turbante (Turbo), de uña o burros (Strombus)- hasta mejillones, almejas, arcas, callos de hacha y madreperlas. Sus duras conchas destrozadas por las rocas contra las que se estrellaron o con las que fueron golpeadas una y otra vez en las fuertes olas. Muchos de estos animales fueron recolectados -débiles pero vivos- por quienes pasaron más temprano por esta playa, pero para la hora en la que yo visité esa playa ya la gran mayoría de los moluscos que quedaban tenían sus conchas destrozadas. Los animales que tuvieron mejor supervivencia fueron las madreperlas, que solo tenían su concha externa totalmente pulida. Sin embargo los animales se encontraban muy dañados y no parecían tener salvación alguna. No encontré pulpos, asumo son más hábiles para escapar de las olas.

Los Echinodermos

Otro grupo que sufrió grandes pérdidas…principalmente entre las estrellas y pepinos de mar. No encontré un solo erizo o galleta de mar, pero esto puede significar que las frágiles conchas de estos organismos fueron “pulverizadas” por olas y rocas. Recolecté varias docenas de estrellas de mar de al menos 3 especies diferentes, pero la playa estaba cubierta por centenas de estas. Los pepinos de mar eran de una variedad no muy común, que se entierra en la arena.

Los Gusanos

La mayoría de las personas no sienten gusto alguno por los gusanos marinos: no son ni muy “bonitos” y algunos son francamente agresivos y causan dolor. De este grupo encontré al menos 3 especies…varios especímenes de “gusano de fuego” (una especie de poliqueto que tiene miles de cirrios (espinillas) que inyectan un dolorosísimo veneno a quien las toca. Sin embargo el grupo más numeroso fue el de los sipuncúlidos y priapúlidos (bonitos nombres)…gusanos que se entierran en la arena. Algunos de los gusanos llegaban a medir hasta 40-50 cm de largo.

Tal vez muchos de estos animales no causen más que asco a algunas personas, a otras tal vez les cause “preocupación” al meterse al mar (realmente son inofensivos) y para otras personas simplemente les sean indiferentes…pero para mi todos estos animales son valiosos y “hermosos”; estos organismos cumplen un papel muy importante en nuestro ecosistema y hacen posible el funcionamiento perfecto del Golfo de California. Si tenemos Amor por nuestro mar significa que también tenemos Amor propio y por estos animales…hagamos lo posible por NO CONTAMINAR para que nuestros mares y playas no se conviertan en vertederos o basureros, pero también hagamos lo que esté en nuestras manos para proteger a estos animales de manera directa.

Recientemente estuve en un seminario y tuvimos a una pareja de oradores espectaculares. Casi al finalizar el evento nos contaron una historia –podría ser real o ficticia, pero esto no es lo importante- que ahora quisiera compartirles:

Después de una tormenta nocturna, un hombre caminaba por la playa. El sol salía y descubría a una playa con miles de estrellas de mar que empezaban a morir por desecación. Continuó caminando hasta que se encontró con un niño que tomaba las estrellas y las regresaba al mar. Había miles y miles de estrellas, por lo que su esfuerzo parecía inútil.

El hombre se acerca al niño y le dice: “Niño, ¿acaso no ves que no vas ha hacer ninguna diferencia? ¡Son kilómetros de playa y miles de miles de estrellas!”.

El niño –aún con una estrella de mar en sus manos- se queda pensativo. Acto seguido arroja la estrella de regreso al mar y le contesta al hombre: “Pues, para las estrellas que he regresado ya hice una enorme diferencia”.

Esta historia nos trae una gran moraleja: aún cuando nuestra aportación personal se limite a no tirar basura y decirles a otros que no la tiren…¡ya estamos haciendo algo muy bueno!. Y si por alguna razón decides que puedes incluso ayudar a recolectar la basura existente entonces ¡estás haciendo algo más grande y una mayor diferencia!.

Si vas a extraer o comprar conchas o corales de los pescadores, te invito mejor a no hacerlo y que mejor recolectes lo que encuentres en las playas. Los corales, caracoles y ostras tardan muchos años en crecer y pueden llegar a desaparecer de nuestras bahías, lo que nos restaría color, diversidad y belleza.

Te invito a que seas parte de los que hacen LA DIFERENCIA y no parte de los que viven en LA INDIFERENCIA. Seamos como el niño de la moraleja.

Hasta la próxima.

Technorati Tags: Huracanes,Destrucción,estrellas de mar,abanicos de mar,ostras perleras,Guaymas

A Hurricane’s Unseen Victims

We just survived hurricane "Odile", thankfully we just recieved some rains (unlike "Jimena" in 2009, when it poured like a deluge) but the winds were strong enough to cause some problems: the winds caused some good height waves (there were reports of some reaching up to 6 meters/19 feet in our locality). The damage to the farm was basically confined to a collapsed access to the "palapa" work area, so we will be unable to offer guided tours to the pearl farm until repairs, hoping to be ready for tours by mid-October.

In La Paz, Cabo San Lucas and other communities in Baja California Sur they suffered significant damage in homes, hotels and shops, as well as road, electrical infrastructure and drinking water supply (which again reminds us of "July" and "Jimena", which wreaked havoc in Guaymas). We send our sincere wishes of speedy recovery to our brothers Sud Californians.

And here is where it all ends for most people: in the material and human damage. But I think that most people forget a further victim: our environment .

This past October 16 - after the passage of the effects of "Odile" - I went to walk at the beach just in front of Hotel Marinaterra’s "Beach Club” in San Carlos, a beautiful area formerly known as "Shangri-Lah". It’s a small bay with rocky reefs, a semi sandy-rocky beach and a beautiful island covered with Cactii. I have enjoyed this little cove since the first time I visited it in 1988, and it has always had an interesting fauna so it is a good place to snorkel. It saddened me to see it this way...

Garbage

The first thing that I could see were several large garbage heaps, mainly consisiting of soft drink (PET) and household cleaner plastic containers, plastic bags, assorted footwear (including tennis, shoes and flip flops), car tires, pieces of PVC pipe, pieces of home appliances (TVs, radios, VCRs, etc.).. imagine I was even fortunate to see a couple of old audio tapes! (I had years without seeing one), varied clothing articles and accessories (sunglasses, caps & hats). And this without counting the contaminating elements that we cannot see, as I am certain there would be all kinds of chemicals in the water such as petroleum derivatives (oil, paints and pesticides) and that of cleaning products (chloride and others).

It is really sad to see these trash pits and to know that this happens partly because the waves destroyed and carried away whatever was in their way, but also because rain water dragged all this garbage to the sea. Our sea and our beaches have become an unofficial haven for our trash.

But besides garbage, there are many other concerns: the thousands to millions of innocent victims of these natural phenomenons: marine animals. Sadly, I discovered dozens of different groups of dead fish: eels, seahorses, stingrays, snappers, Cardinals, Snappers and puffers. This was sad, but these fatalities where followed by even larger quantities of dead invertebrates.

Fan corals

These typical corals from the sea of Cortez are fished out to satisfy tourists. They are few in numbers and it takes them many years to grow. These primitive animals resemble the old "hand fans" and therefore they recieve this common name. On this occasion I found hundreds of these corals on the beach, comprised of at least 4 different species, but two species were more common: the "Purple coral" and "fire coral", the latter I consider as the most beautiful in the Gulf. And along with these corals I found yet another “victim”: the “Rainbow Lipped Pearl oyster”, which is the species that we grow at the pearl farm here in Guaymas.

Rainbow Lips have this habit of attaching to fan corals for growth and protection, and this is why one of this specie’s common names is "Tree Scallop", since fishermen are well aware that they can obtain them from corals ("trees") and from this animal they can obtain the adductor muscle which is known as "scallop".

Among the corals that I collected on the beach I found some 15 small rainbow lip oysters.

Molluscs

Thousands of mollusks died on this beach. I found several varieties of snails –such as the Cone (Conus), turban (Turbo), Conchs (Strombus)- mussels, clams, scallops, Arks and black-lipped oysters. Their hard shells shattered by waves and rocks. Some of the animals I saw were very weak but still alive; but most had been shatered to pieces. Animals that seemed to have a better survival rate were the black-lips, most of which only had their external shell fully polished. I did not find an Octopus, I assume most are skilled enough to escape the violent waves.

Technorati Tags: hurricane odile,destruction,ecology,Guaymas,starfish,sea fans,tikkum olam

Echinoderms

This is yet another group that suffered great losses... mainly among the stars and sea cucumbers. I did not find a single Hedgehog or sea biscuit, but this may mean that the fragile shells of these organisms were "sprayed" in waves and rocks. I collected several dozen at least 3 different species of sea stars, but the beach was covered by hundreds of these. Sea cucumbers were a not very common variety, which is buried in the sand.

Marine Worms

Most of the people do not feel like some marine worms: they are not very "nice" and some are frankly aggressive and cause pain. This group met at least 3 species... several specimens of "fire worm" (a species of polychaete that has thousands of cirrios (pimples) which deliver an excruciating poison who touch them. Without however the group most numerous was the sipunculans and priapulidos (nice name)... worms that are buried in the sand. Some of the worms arrived to measure up to 40-50 cm long.

Perhaps many of these animals do not cause more disgust some people, others perhaps cause 'concern' to put to sea (really are harmless) and for others they are simply them indifferent... but for my all these animals are valuable and "beautiful"; These bodies fulfilled a very important role in our ecosystem and make possible the perfect functioning of the Gulf of California. If we have love for our sea, it means that we also have self-esteem and by these animals... our making effort to not POLLUTE our seas and beaches do not become landfill or garbage cans, but also do whatever is in our hands to protect these animals directly.

I was recently at a seminar and we had a couple of spectacular speakers. Almost at the end of the event told us a story – it could be real or fictitious, but this is not important - which I would now like to share:

After a night storm, a man was walking along the beach. The Sun came out and discovered a beach with thousands of Starfish began to die from desiccation. He continued walking until he found a child who took the stars and returned them to the sea. There were thousands and thousands of stars, so his effort seemed futile.

Man approaches the boy and says: "boy, not you see that you're not going has make any difference?" They are miles of beach and thousands of stars! "."

The child - even with a starfish in his hand - is thoughtful. He then throws back to the sea star and replied to the man: "Therefore for the stars that I returned and did a huge difference".

This story brings us a great moral: even though our personal contribution limit to not throw trash and tell others that they pulled it... because we are doing a very good thing!. And if for some reason you decide that you can even help to collect the trash existing then are doing something bigger and a greater difference!.

If you are going to extract or buy shells or corals from fishermen, better invite you to do so and who better to collect what you find on the beaches. Corals, snails and oysters take many years to grow and may disappear from our bays, which subtract us colour, diversity and beauty.

I invite you to be part of those who make the difference and not part of those living in the INDIFFERENCE. We are like the child of the moral. This is a crucial part of tikkum olam.

Until next time.

Photo taken from here.

Big Cortez Pearl

The BIGGEST Cortez Pearl Ever.

Oh yes! It happened this year. Finally after years of never seeing a really large Cortez Pearl we had the unique opportunity of harvesting a freakishly giant pearl measuring 17 mm in diameter. This huge dark-gray/purple baroque pearl is uniquely different from previous large Cortez Pearls because:

• The largest Cortez Pearl was a 14 mm baroque pearl that was not solid. It was a “gas giant pearl” and these pearls are usually filled with a stinky dark liquid (which I fondly call “Pepe” for “Pearl Petroleum”) and do not have a very thick coating of pearl. When the putrid liquid is removed (cleansing the interior with hydrogen peroxide) you are left with a very light and hollow pearl.
• The largest solid Cortez Pearl was a 12 mm near round pearl that was harvested in 2012. The largest nuclei (pearl beads) we employ for the production of a cultured pearl will measure 10 mm, so this large pearl is quite solid with 2 mm of nacre growth (or 1 mm of nacre to each “side”).

So this information –and the one that follows- basically lays down the information needed to hopefully understand what makes this Giant Cortez Pearl special and why it is most unlikely we will ever see another pearl like this in many, many more years. This is truly a one of a kind pearl. Let me explain some basic pointers.

 

The Pearl Sac

The Rainbow lipped pearl oyster is an animal with a tiny pearl sac. The “pearl sac” is -technically speaking- just a very thin layer or nacre producing cells that grow on top of the pearl (and initially on top of the mother-of-pearl nuclei), but many people refer to this sac as the “general anatomic area” where the pearl is growing. To place this in a context it is like when people refer as that “a baby is growing in a mommy’s tummy” as opposed to stating that “a fetus grows within the uterus”, so I hope you get the idea. So, the pearl sac of this species (the general pearl producing area) is incredibly small. Tiny. Insignificant. To give you an idea of how small it is you can watch a video of the extraction of a pearl from any other variety of pearl oyster and one from the rainbow lip. You will see the big difference!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FSyFTvHuadY

Let me tell you a story of something that happened to me back in 2012 or 2011…can’t really recall the year. I was at the pearl farm when I was told we had some special visitors. Went up to meet with them and they were a couple of pearl farmers from Tahiti. I will not state their names in public out of respect of their privacy. So, I greeted them and they wanted to see the farm and in the end they requested me to open up an oyster so they could see its shell and anatomy (I could imagine a bit of “technical espionage” there, but no harm can come of something as simple) and when I did…that is when I was amazed! Their reaction was astronomically unique! Their eyes seemed to “pop out” of their heads, a look of utter disbelief painted in their faces and they would look at the animal then at my face then back at the oyster then back at my face and this in a very fast manner! Finally he was able of uttering this phrase: “How…how can you EVEN produce pearls larger than 8 mm!?!?!?!?!”

Well, their experience is rooted in the Tahitian Black lip oyster (remember: genus Pinctada) which is not only a much larger sized animal but also it has a very conspicuously large “pearl sac” in comparison with the Pteria sterna which has a very tiny and compact “pearl sac” surrounded by the animal’s intestines too. So, from their experience what we were doing producing pearls in sizes between 8 to 12 mm is simply impossible. It took them some time to regain composture, then they left and I have never heard from them again. Not even a postcard.

Nuclei Sizes

Since our rainbow lip oyster has this tiny pearl sac we can only use “small” mother of pearl beads. The smallest sized beads we use are the 6 and 6.5 mm nuclei (our average size when seeding oysters) and we also have other larger sizes, our biggest nuclei being a 10 mm bead. I –personally- very rarely use that size…and since we keep the information on the biggest sized beads we use for every daily operation during the pearl seeding season I can tell you with a 100%

Technorati Tags: Cortez Pearls,baroque pearl,pearl size

degree of certainty that I have been unable to use a bead in this size since 4 years ago.

So, the 12 mm pearl I mentioned before was quite obviously the product of a 9.6 or 10 mm nucleus, but this larger pearl was actually the product of a smaller bead: for that given day of seeding, the largest nucleus I used measured only 9.3 mm. If this particular pearl is the product of such pearl it means that it has a whopping 7.70 mm of nacre around the bead! This is clearly a lot more than the typical coating of 1.5 to 2.3 mm of nacre we see in our Cortez Cultured Pearls.

The photo on the right side displays the large baroque pearl with some “smaller” pearls (8.5 to 9.5 mm in diameter).

Why is this Pearl SO BIG?!?!?

I don’t really know. This is a mystery that only the destruction of the pearl or an advanced pearl analysis may help us understand and I would welcome an offer to analyze this pearl before it can be sold or goes into our “Pearl Museum” display.

My only guess is that the pearl producing cells of that rainbow lipped oyster worked under a different metabolic rate, probably in a state of angiogenesis (similar to what tumor cells do in our bodies, by promoting the growth of blood vessels to feed the tumor and allow it grow), but this is simply my guess.

So, what do you think made this pearl possible??? I leave you with this thought… cheers!

The Tucson Gem Show, part 1

Technorati Tags: Raw Pearls,Tucson,Gem Show,Cortez pearls,Blister Mabe,Pearl Harvest

February 4th, 2015: Here I am reporting from Tucson, Arizona, in what is considered the largest international gems & mineral show, a city that becomes a haven for precious gems, semi-precious stones, fossils and all kinds of jewelry in the world. This year -and every year since 1995- we are displaying our exclusive and unique Cortez Pearls, and every year I try make a small report about the people, companies, products or events that drew my attention,and this year is no exception.

But before I begin with a general report of 2015’s Tucson Gem Show I want to start with a very quick report about our Cortez Pearls production. I will begin with the information about our 2014 Pearl harvest.

The 2014 Cortez Pearl Harvest

The year 2014 will go down in the annals of our history as a bittersweet year: we had the best pearl harvest in our history: after more than 15 years of commercial pearl production, we finally reached the goal of the 4 kilos of Cortez Pearls (this means just around 4,000 pearls). But despite the very good news, we also had problems with the environment (global warming) and this resulted in a very high mortality in the group of oysters that will allow us to produce pearls in the year 2016. Because of this reason, we have had this bittersweet situation.

Some of the novelties of 2014 and that we are showing here at the Tucson Gem Show are these:

We have a new variety of Cortez Mabe Pearl on sale: we call it the "Mini-Mabe", these are Mabe pearls that have a lower dome height and a smaller diameter (this means, much smaller than traditional Cortez Mabe), but this gives them a lower value of investment and -in addition- it also allows the jeweler or designer to use less metal to produce jewelry items that are more affordable for the end user. These pearls have been used by our Australian distributor (Raw Pearls of Adelaide) with great success, and these lovely little Mabe have caused a great impact at the Gem Show and are all but almost exhausted.

Raw Pearls Turtle Pendant w/Cortez Mabe

News

For this show's gems have been exhibiting the Cortez Pearls of the 2014 harvest (the 2015 harvest will take place in the middle of this year) and among the most important items I have to mention is the beautifully unique 2014 Cortez Pearl necklace. This beautiful necklace consists of 43 cultured pearls from the Gulf of California, all the pearls were produced by our exclusive "Rainbow Lip Pearl Oyster" (Pteria sterna) and was made with pearls of at least 6 different yearly harvests. This multicolor, graduated necklace is made with pearls that measure between 8.3 mm and 10.6 mm, with the central Pearl -an incredible dark purple-red Cortez Pearl- measuring 11.3 mm. What else can I tell you about this beautiful necklace? It is an extremely rare piece, this would be the 11th Special Cortez Pearl Necklace that we have produced with this finesse and quality... and it's a uniquely special piece, the owner will even have the right to Christen it with a unique name and this name will be linked to the necklace for generations to come.

Cortez Pearl Necklace 2014

Among the pearls that came to Tucson, we have the large Cortez Blister Mabe Pearls, which this past year were more abundant than in other years, but that ultimately are a little more than 100 pearls... these pearls have beautiful colors and larger sizes (reaching up to 5 cm/2” in diameter), and are perfect for producing pieces of jewelry with a high visual impact.

Cortez Mabe Blister

In general this year’s gem show had a special flavor to it, something which I had not felt in many recent years and that I can only describe in a single word: enthusiasm.

This enthusiastic atmosphere seemed widespread amongst buyers and most of the sellers, and I believe this optimism may be due to the recovery or improvement of the United States economy (although customers from Canada and other oil exporting countries were not in the same spirit). Let us hope that this spirit will also translate into an overall growth of the international jewelry industry.

Note: The information you have read up to the previous paragraph was written while at the Tucson Gem & Mineral Show, but as of this moment the report was written on February 11th. There was simply too much work at our booth and I could not continue with a "live and direct" report.

Elisabeth Strack’s Pearl Presentation (AGTA)

The AGTA carries out seminars and lectures by expert gemologists, designers and industry analysts every year. This year was no exception and we were lucky to go to the presentation of one of the foremost authorities in the world of pearls: German Gemologist Dr. Elisabeth Strack, author of what many (myself included) consider to be the Pearl Bible: "Perlen".

The presentation took place on February 4th at the Tucson Convention Centre and  Dr. Strack spoke mainly about three issues:

1) the “new wave” of natural pearls, mainly made up of non-conventional species (non-nacreous pearls from snails, clams and even the Nautilus) and

2) a review of some pearl innovations, such as the Galatea Pearl and the “Provoked Baroques” as well as a redefinition of freshwater pearls based on their production system (Note: if interested, my friend Caitlin Williams wrote an amazing article on the Evolution of the Freshwater Pearl on the PearlsOfJoy.com website. I recommend Caitlin’s article wholeheartedly).

3) the Natural Pearl Market: Something that seems very important to stress is that Dr. Strack explained that the way in which you can assign a monetary value to a natural  pearl no longer obeys the “old pricing rules” which seemed to function for centuries; she basically states that today the value of a pearl is just a "thing of the market", where the price of the pearl basically depends on what a customer is willing to pay for it. Wow.

She mentioned the famous that the once popular pearl pricing "Rule of Tavernier", named in honor of Jean Baptiste Tavernier (a great Explorer and French merchant of the 17th century who discovered the famous "Tavernier Blue" diamond) is no longer the “rule of thumb” for natural pearl pricing. This rule basically consists of a system based upon two factors and their interaction:

• The "Size Factor": basically the weight of a Pearl is obtained in grains (a grain being equal to 64.79891 milligrams) and this value is then multiplied by itself. Thus, if a Pearl weighs 4 grains its size factor value will be equal to (4 x 4 =) 16.
• The "Multiplier Factor" or of Quality/Beauty: Tavernier established a range between 0.5 and 30 as a possible value for the pearl’s quality or beauty.  Pearls of little or no beauty will be valued between 0.5 and 3, while the more "normal" pearls fall within the range of 15 to 20, and exceptionally beautiful pearls -the so called "gems"- will fall within the range between 25 to 30. Once you select the appropriate number you proceed to...
• Multiply the Factors: take the resulting number of "Size Factor" (SF) and that of the "Multiplier Factor" (MF) and multiply them. In an example, lets us say that we have two pearls, one being very beautiful (MF = 30) and a far less graceful one (MF = 0.5); if both weigh the same (8 grains, SF = 16) then we have that the price of the gem pearl will be $480 and the less graceful one will be worth just a mere $8.

And in what currency is the value of the Pearls set in the examples above? In US dollars according to Strack (for more information, you can consult Elisabeth Strack’s book "Pearls" on pages 297 and 298). I assume that there was another currency in use in the times of Monsieur Tavernier, very probably the most international currency of the day was the "Mexican Peso" (also known as "Real Español"), but Dr. Strack found a way to upgrade its outdated value to a 2006 equivalent (date of the publication of her book). We are fortunate to have it so easy.

But again, for Elisabeth Strack, the price of natural pearls today is completely out of all rules and simply depends on the "market".

An example she provided with a pair of natural Pteria sterna pearls, the same oyster that we use to produce our beautiful Cortez Pearls, is revealing. In this example, she had the photo of two tear-drop shaped pearls, one of weighing 10.15 ct (carats) and the other one at 1345 ct; these were sold to a final price of $2,600 to $26,390 USD USD/ct...equivalent to some by smaller Pearl and $34,970 USD by the greater size.

Having used the rule of Tevernier, the value of these same pearls would be a little different (I'll use a 15 FM for example):

10.15 ct = mg = 31.33 2,030 grains then 31.33 x 31.33 x 15 = $14,723 USD

1345 ct = mg = 41.51 2.690 grains then 41.51 x 41.51 x 15 = $25,846 USD

In this case the price could be very different, since I don't have the actual MF value assigned to these pearls, but changing this value would obviously make a huge difference.

It's really rare to find pearls like those in the example above, so if you do find a natural pearl… first you should consider its size/weight and then its beauty. Please do not become too emotional with the price and then do consult with an expert in this field before you actually tell your boss you quit and will move next to your favorite movie star’s house.

It is very important that you know and understand this: these prices are the end customers pay. What I mean by this? That these would be the prices that people pay as Bill Gates, Carlos Slim, Paul Allen, Mark Zuckberg, etc... and not are prices that could pay the intermediaries, which are those who buy these pearls and can offer them to another intermediary (the famous Jewelers like Tiffany, Cartier, Harry Winston, etc.) who is who ends up offering these gems to moguls. The only way in which you could access these prices is you go directly to the final customer... it would be good to know them and they you know you so you open up the doors.

At the moment it is the information that I am going to share this great annual event in Arizona, but next week I will continue with additional information about the event. I hope that the information is of utility and interest and here my kind readers I'll be sharing my expert advice with you.