Raw Pearls acquires Samuel Jones Pearls, uniting freshwater and saltwater expertise

Raw Pearls took over the running of Samuel Jones Pearls on 20 April, giving the pearl trade a cleaner way to shop two very different parts of the category without losing the names that signal provenance. If you are buying pearls this year, the merger makes comparison easier, not harder: Raw Pearls stays anchored in freshwater, Samuel Jones remains the familiar hook for Japanese saltwater expertise, and both ranges now sit behind a single point of contact.

That matters because pearls are not one material so much as a family of materials, each with its own look, value and handling. Raw Pearls is a UK-based trade-only supplier in Somerset, and Samuel Jones Pearls traces its story back to 1916, when Mr Samuel Jones founded the business as the original importer of cultured pearls into the UK. The old Hatton Garden lineage and the Japanese pearl connection give the combined operation something many buyers want but rarely get in one place: a clearer provenance story, paired with a broader selection.

For shoppers, the practical effect is likely to be a sharper price ladder. Freshwater pearls typically sit at a more accessible entry point, while Japanese saltwater pearls occupy a different tier of rarity and refinement. Keeping Raw Pearls predominantly in freshwater and Samuel Jones rooted in Japanese saltwater should make that distinction easier to read at the counter, rather than forcing customers to decode two unrelated suppliers. Samuel Jones Pearls also continues to offer freshwater, cultured, Tahitian and South Sea pearls, plus 24-hour stringing and repairs, which gives the brand a service edge as well as a selection advantage.

The change followed the retirement of Richard Maymon and Claire Maymon, with Miranda Raw now leading both names side by side. That is a meaningful signal in a market where consolidation can blur identity. Here, the brands are being kept alive rather than absorbed into anonymity, which should reassure buyers who care about where pearls come from and how they are sorted.

Raw Pearls brings recent momentum of its own. The company has said it won Supplier of the Year at the NAJ Awards 2025, the Professional Jeweller Awards 2024 and the UK Jewellery Awards 2023, and it previously reported a 30 percent increase in sales and a record number of new account openings. Put together, those numbers suggest a business already drawing trade confidence before this move. The Samuel Jones name now gives that growth a heritage counterpart, and for pearl buyers, that combination should make sourcing feel more organized, more transparent and easier to compare.