If you love pearls, then you must know—or you need to know—Jack Lynch of Seahunt Pearls at booth No. 422 at the AGTA GemFair Tucson. Lynch consistently has the newest varieties straight from the farms and is a trusted source for product knowledge.
I dropped by his booth yesterday, where he told me that sales of Tahitians have picked up. And though long strands have been selling well all year, he’s been moving single lengths ranging in retail price from about $2,000 to $6,000 per strand.
He also informed me that acquiring quality freshwaters has been a challenge due to Chinese demand. Despite that fact, he had a hard-to-find strand of white freshwater pearls ranging in size from 15.4 mm to 19.3 mm per pearl on hand for a retail price of about $20,000. “It’s hard to find nice round strands of quality white freshwaters, especially tissue-nucleated ones,” he reveals. Despite the challenge, he’s scraping by with old stock. “Fortunately, I’ve been a pearl hoarder for years, so my inventory is still strong,” he says.
The best value in pearls right now may be his Ripples—bead-nucleated rough-skinned Edison pearls—and those Tahitian strands. The former are popular because of their metallic sheen and organic shapes. He has Ripple strands of 13 mm to 15 mm pearls starting at $300 retail. By the middle of day one of the fair, he had already sold 40 percent of what he brought, forcing him to ask his office staff back home to FedEx out reinforcements.
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Tahitian Pearl Strands
The strands above retail for $3,000 apiece, though Lynch has strands starting at $2,000.
Ripple Pearl Strands
Lynch’s Ripple pearls—bead-nucleated, rough-skinned Edison pearls—are popular because of their metallic sheen and organic shapes. Ripple strands of 13 mm to 15 mm pearls start at $300 retail.
Mega White Freshwater Strand
This thing of beauty has pearls ranging in size from 15.4 mm to 19.3 mm for a retail price of about $20,000. Sourcing fine-quality white freshwaters is a challenge now, due to demand in China.
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