November 2000

South Sea cultured pearls - the direct method

South Sea cultured pearls from Australia and Tahiti
With the brand-name "CC-Perlen", the South Sea Pearl Center of the China-Center Group, Düsseldorf, has aroused a new awareness of quality in the pearl market. In recent years the company has come to the fore as one of the most important suppliers of Australian and Tahiti South Sea cultured pearls.
In the firm's 26-year history pearls have enjoyed a very important position from the start, whether Japanese Akoya cultured pearls, Chinese river pearls or, scarcely least of all, top-quality South Sea cultured pearls. In recent years the consistent, goal-directed business approach of Henry Wang, the General Manager of the China Group, has enabled him to set up direct connections with pearl farms all over the world, especially in the area of Australian and Tahiti South Sea cultured pearls, and to extend and intensify the scope, quality and price range of his stock. He has paid special attention to the systematic development of trading in South Sea cultured pearls from Australia and Tahiti. The firm is now well-known as one of the small group of buyers of superb top-quality wares at the big international pearl auctions and from the pearl farms themselves. Pearls of all kinds, but especially the incomparable and beautiful large South Sea cultured pearls have been increasingly sought after for years now in the jewellery world. This is not surprising, for the goods in question are among the finest natural products that have fascinated human beings for millennia because of their natural beauty in terms of size, shape, colour and lustre - the most important criterion of assessment. Lustre is not only responsible for the almost mysterious sheen that is unique in nature, and therefore for the particular attraction of pearls, but also indicates how long the pearls have been in the oysters and the strength and quality of the coating. Unlike stones, which can be cut and shaped, pearls depend entirely on natural processes for their drawing power.
In recent years "pearl fever" has affected not only the USA, one of the main consumer markets (after Japan), but Europe, although Germany, in spite of the high level of education an customers' good taste, is numerically somewhat "under-developed" in this respect compared with the past. This is especially true of the market for South Sea cultured pearls. The South Sea Pearl Center is particularly concerned to change this situation, and to persuade people in Germany and Europe all the more emphatically of the incomparable beauty of pearls, above all by consistent dedication to ensuring high quality, a broad selection, and the best possible prices. The firm also keeps close to customers' wishes by attending the major national and international jewellery Fairs (Inhorgenta, Ambiente/Tendence, Basle etc.). Not only the quantity but especially the quality of pearls is a prime concern of the South Sea Pearl Center. This can be appreciated even by less experienced customers when they have the opportunity to compare pearls directly, as Henry Wang, General Manager of the China-Center Group, explains. He believes that end-consumers must become aware of such criteria as size, shape, colour and lustre, and that it is essential to offer them the possibility of assessing the pearls themselves by direct comparison.
The brand "CC-Perlen" is intended to establish high quality at all levels of the market. The Düsseldorf South Sea Pearl Center offers not only pearls in all quality categories at the most favourable prices, but through its many years of intensive acquaintance with pearl farms is also able to supply truly top-quality goods in the several hundred-thousand DM range. In Germany, compared with countries like Italy, France, Switzerland etc, there is something approaching a backlog of demand in the sector in this respect. The firm is providing a significant addition to existing facilities in the pearl market.
In conjunction with friendly pearl farms and producers, further attempts will be made to establish a gradation system and an international standard for assessing pearls.
Another area of the China-Center Group's stock is a large collection of high-quality gold jewellery with pearls, particularly South Sea pearls, produced by the Group itself and devised by its own designers. In this respect, too, the firm's attention to high quality, the best-possible price-performance ratio and a rapid delivery service is evident. The "CC-Perlen" brand-name will come to stand for all the abovementioned advantages.

CHINA-CENTER
Düsseldorf