Song Chaoshu took the bead and looked at it carefully again and again.
Black pearls are actually a kind of bronze pearls, which are a very precious variety of jewelry. They symbolize the crystallization of the most difficult years and are called the most painful tears of the mother oyster. They are rare and noble because they have gone through hardships.
"Black pearls are extremely rare and are the most valuable of all types of pearls. Every natural black pearl is worth a fortune."
Song Chaoshu observed the black pearl carefully. "Especially before the black nucleus-planted South Sea pearls were successfully put on the market, there were only very expensive natural black pearls or faded nucleus-planted Akoya pearls on the market. Those pearls were dyed black with silver nitrate, and there were also a small number of imitation black pearls. In the past thirty years, pearl farming has been successfully developed in the French Polynesian Islands. In 1976, the Gemological Institute of America recognized that the cultured black pearls produced in Tahiti were cultured pearls with natural colors, and the price of black pearls began to drop."
Xiang Yang asked: "Then how much is my black pearl worth?"
Song Chaoshu shook his head, "I don't know."
Xiang Yang blinked, "Aren't you in the jewelry business?"
“Because natural black pearls have never been priced in the market.”
The annual production of high-quality black pearls is estimated to be no more than 150,000, of which more than 95% are cultured pearls, and the remaining small part is real wild natural black pearls.
More than 60% of this small amount of natural black pearls are collected by big families and wealthy people such as the British royal family and the Dubai royal family.
Less than 40% of wild natural black pearls are sold through annual international auctions.
Moreover, most of the natural black pearls being auctioned have a particle size between 9mm and 10mm, and more than 60% of the black pearls have a particle size not exceeding 11mm.
Therefore, the circle generally regards 11mm as the dividing line for precious black pearls. Fine round black pearls above 11mm are so rare that there is not even a ready-made reference market price, and the price of each pearl varies greatly.
"This is an extremely rare black, seedless natural pearl. You can't find more than a hundred of them even if you go to all the jewelry stores across the country. Each one is like a treasure of a super-large jeweler's town store. It's difficult to measure it with an accurate market price," Song Chaoshu explained.
There are generally four types of black pearls commonly found on the market.
Among them, the best quality is the cultured black pearl, which is also called natural pearl. The price of this kind of black pearl is about 7,000 to 8,000 yuan per gram, which is twenty times the price of the same amount of gold.
Slightly inferior are the equally rare brown to black cultured pearls without a bead, which include beaded akoya pearls that fade after two or three years of wearing, as well as dyed black pearls, radiated pearls and, most recently, the so-called "laser-treated" pearls that have appeared on online shopping malls.
The most representative of this kind of pearl is the Lophelia Tahitian black saltwater pearl pendant. The color is not pure black, but also peacock green and dark blue. The price ranges from one thousand to twenty thousand yuan. It is a pearl that is famous both at home and abroad. It is very attractive to women as young as 18 to as old as 80. It is sold on Taobao.
The next best thing is imitation pearls made from black shells, which are imitation pearls made from black shells that are shaped into beads and polished to have a pearly luster.
The lowest quality and cheapest type of black pearls are painted pearls. Black pigment is directly applied on the milky white pearls. Such pearls will fade directly and have no luster. They are usually towed by large trucks and sold at the entrance of vegetable markets in some inland cities.
To distinguish natural black pearls from cultured black pearls, color-changed black pearls and imitations, you only need to carefully observe the luster of the pearls to see whether the pearl light comes from under the polymer thin layer. The pearl light of untreated pearls comes from the surface of the pearls, while the pearl light of treated pearls comes from the inside of the pearls, just like glass marbles.
Professionals can observe whether the color of the top and sides of the pearl is reflected normally.
Some pearls have a pink hue on the top and a bluish hue on the sides. Some black pearls have a slightly purple hue on the top and a green hue on the sides. These are all artificially treated black pearls.
"Boss Xiang, your luck is really good." Song Chaoshu said with envy: "Are you ready to sell this black pearl? If so, please name a price first."
Xiang Yang was indeed prepared to make a move, but he was not very clear about the price of black pearls, so he said: "Boss Song, you are a specialist in this field and it is difficult for you to give a price for this black pearl. How can I, a fisherman, know what is a good price for this black pearl?"
Song Chaoshu stared at Xiang Yang for a while.
It is not difficult to see the so-called "black pearls" in general jewelry malls, but those merchants seem to have forgotten to add the word "dyed" before the word "black". When ordinary people ask whether these black pearls are real, unscrupulous merchants will generally answer shamelessly: these are real cultured pearls.
Yes, those pearls are generally dyed from real seawater or freshwater cultured pearls, but they will not tell the seller whether the jade has been optimized or not like jade sellers do.
Because in our country it is not illegal not to tell the seller whether the pearls are dyed. However, if a businessman dares to sell dyed pearls in Tahiti, the main production area of black pearls, he will be rewarded with life imprisonment.
Song Chaoshu wanted to let Xiang Yang call and check the prices of black pearls in the mall and then make an offer, but he had some concerns.
To do jewelry business is actually to build a reputation.
Some jewelry brands even put out advertisements saying that wedding rings of a certain quality can only be purchased in one pair in a lifetime with an ID card. When you go to buy a second pair, they won't sell it to you even if you give them double the price.
Why don't they make money? Is their boss stupid
No, these are actually the reputation and brand culture of those big jewelry industries. As long as they promote this reputation, they will have a golden signboard in the future.
The reputation that is accumulated bit by bit over decades or even hundreds of years cannot be replaced by any amount of money.
If he were to trick Xiang Yang here, his reputation would be ruined if the matter got out in the future.
Song Chaoshu thought for a long time before saying, "According to the rules of the industry, we will not quote a price for pearls like this. These things that have no market price are all quoted by the owner of the item. Give me a price in your mind, and then I will roughly evaluate whether it is worth the price. If it is worth it, then I will buy it. If it is not worth it, you can bargain for it yourself. Do you think it is okay?"