By Gail Brett Levine
Pearls are not only June’s birthstone, they are one of the staples of auction houses around the world, with buyers eager to possess pieces of exemplary quality or provenance. Natural pearls and South Sea pearls take the lead over Akoya cultured pearls, even when cultured pearls have provenance of producer, manufacturer, or high-profile owner.
Auction results for South Sea pearls increase the bigger they are, especially when they reach 15-plus mm. At the same time, however, roundness, lustre, and nacre greatly impact desirability. Although a favourite among designers, South Sea baroque and semi-baroque pearls do not appear to have the same panache among purchasers. Interestingly, black, grey, and gold South Sea pearls do not reach nearly the monetary levels strands of white South Sea pearls achieve consistently, especially when coupled with the overtone of silver and/or rose.
Natural pearl results at auction have steadily increased year after year, and when coupled with a signature or prominent owner, the results are dramatic. The critical factor of natural pearls is roundness. The more off-round, oval, or barrel-shape a natural pearl, the less desirable it is. Two natural pearl necklaces sold at an auction gallery in March 2014 are good examples. The first was a 40-in. graduated strand consisting of predominantly barrel-shape natural pearls that sold for $7380 US and a 48.5-in. graduated round natural pearl necklace that sold for $98,400 US. It is without question that every natural pearl carry a gemmological laboratory report.
One only need look to Christie’s New York’s Magnificent Jewels auction in April where a four-strand natural pearl necklace set a world-record price of just over $5 million US. Featuring pearls measuring 4.90 to 12.65 mm, the necklace went to a private buyer from Asia.
Black pearls are known for their rarity, with very few sold at auction over the past 50 years. Christie’s last sold black pearls in 2012 in London when the Cowdray Pearls fetched $3.3 million US.
Jill Burgum, senior director of fine jewellery for Heritage Auctions in Dallas, shares her thoughts: “At auction, we continue to see great interest in and strong prices realized for the sale of natural pearls. They are very much in demand to a worldwide audience based on their rarity factor. The market for Akoya cultured pearls is considerably more challenging. Overall, the prices are soft unless there is a major brand name attached to help drive interest. For South Sea cultured pearl sales, we have seen prices dip from where they were a few years ago then level out. Large, fine-quality strands remain a steady seller.”
