In the last week of May 09 the 1st Tahitian Pearl Collection auction by TPJ was held in Kobe, Japan. The practice of not disclosing reserve prices of some lots by other auction houses was taken to the extreme at this auction with all reserve prices being undisclosed, which seemingly back fired on the auction organises. Although the auction was well attended the timing was a little bad as the Robert Wan Tahitian Pearl auction was held only a few days earlier and most attendees had already filled there requirements of Tahitian Pearls. Additionally the quality of the pearls was generally lower than those at the Robert Wan auction.
Even though the famous Kobe Jewellery Fair was being held over the following 3 days, drawing many people to Kobe, the TPJ auction was only successful in selling 45 out 133 lots. This disappointing result can be contributed to the fact that there was no reserve prices indicated to provide a measuring stick for bid amounts. 88 lots were withdrawn due to the bids received being below the undisclosed reserve price, which seamed to be a result caused by attendees submitting very low bids to try their luck to pick up a bargain.
