I'm not a jeweler or an appraiser, kashmira, so "good" or not is beyond my skills. When I looked at them, I was not happy with them. The Freshadamas were far better in immediate visual impression than the AAA quality freshwaters, but I was not happy. I was def. pleased that PP refunded so quickly and easily though.
Pearl Education (Warning: Somewhat of a Rant)
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I'm not a jeweler or an appraiser, kashmira, so "good" or not is beyond my skills. When I looked at them, I was not happy with them. The Freshadamas were far better in immediate visual impression than the AAA quality freshwaters, but I was not happy. I was def. pleased that PP refunded so quickly and easily though.
Okay I didn't realize there were so many new posts in this thread, so I'm going to try to catch up.
Hi Simply Splendid,
No, Loren's strand is perfectly round- it might just be the reflection in the picture.
I had actually picked it out of a batch of gorgeous South Sea strands I got in, to make it for myself for my wedding anni (April 2nd) but my husband said "no" on spending money right now. :cry:
Hi Simply Splendid,
No, Loren's strand is perfectly round- it might just be the reflection in the picture.
I had actually picked it out of a batch of gorgeous South Sea strands I got in, to make it for myself for my wedding anni (April 2nd) but my husband said "no" on spending money right now. :cry:
sooooo many new posts!
Just thought I'd add, especially for those who are not in the 48 contiguous states...make sure that whoever you are ordering from has the item IN STOCK before purchasing, or make sure you are ordering far, far in advance of when you actually need the item.
My experience with PP has been less than stellar. I can't comment on the quality of their pearls becuase i have yet to receive them. I placed an order on the 28th, sent emails the week after because there was no update on tracking info. Received an answer a couple days later saying the items were out of stock & they were waiting on a delayed shipment. I wouldn't get my items before Mother's day. Grrr.
Then, I got another email from Jeff Sheppard himself, apologizing, and offering to next-day a string of pearls (at no charge to me) to have something to give for mother's day. So yay! happy again.
And then another email, saying they didn't immediately notice I was in Hawaii, so the string of pearls wouldnt' make it in time either bc UPS doesn't do saturday delivery here. boo.
So, here I am on Mother's day without the planned gifts, still waiting on my pearls.
I thought about cancelling the order, but I do want to see the pearls IRL, hopefully they are worth the wait.
Just thought I'd add, especially for those who are not in the 48 contiguous states...make sure that whoever you are ordering from has the item IN STOCK before purchasing, or make sure you are ordering far, far in advance of when you actually need the item.
My experience with PP has been less than stellar. I can't comment on the quality of their pearls becuase i have yet to receive them. I placed an order on the 28th, sent emails the week after because there was no update on tracking info. Received an answer a couple days later saying the items were out of stock & they were waiting on a delayed shipment. I wouldn't get my items before Mother's day. Grrr.
Then, I got another email from Jeff Sheppard himself, apologizing, and offering to next-day a string of pearls (at no charge to me) to have something to give for mother's day. So yay! happy again.
And then another email, saying they didn't immediately notice I was in Hawaii, so the string of pearls wouldnt' make it in time either bc UPS doesn't do saturday delivery here. boo.
So, here I am on Mother's day without the planned gifts, still waiting on my pearls.
I thought about cancelling the order, but I do want to see the pearls IRL, hopefully they are worth the wait.
Hi Japster, I see. Am I right to say that Loren's purchase at this price point would be once-off then? Or would you be able to offer such good prices for perfectly round AAA strands 11-13mm all the time? I am asking because from Loren's post, one would get the impression that these prices are regular price points. Thanks..
Hi, new here. I recently bought some gem quality CFWP from the pearl outlet after reading reviews here and on other forums and they are beautiful! I have some small Akoyas (Grandma) I also own a gem quality strand of south sea pearls, as I live in Western Australia and it out of the north of WA that much of the Pearl fleet is based, and they are beautiful too. While all are beautiful they are in fact quite different, particularly in the different ways that they glow. I can see that some people if they liked a particular look of pearl might not like the others at all. Me, I am more catholic in my tastes and adore them all!!!.
Eliza, These are freshwater cultured pearls. The shape is determined by the shape of mantle tissue inserted during nucleation to encourage (or rather irritate) the oyster to coat it with nacre. Because the mantle tissue is easy to cut in a variety of shapes, there is often a lot of interesting experimentation in the freshwater industry with shape.
The price on that for TPFers would be $50 shipped.
That one was a particularly good price I passed on to her but it is still pretty similar to what I would charge a good friend/client/my wax technition and/or parole officer. If it was my mother-in-law I would probably charge 8x more.
It also really depends on what lots I get in at the time. And of course with my maunfacturing and selling to retail or online stores, I have to put items at a retail list price on my website. I generally release codes that can be googled or work with clients through email for pricing.
I am new here, only browsed today because some bloke sent me a link to the above-mentioned post. I cannot comment on most of the posts on this forum, but I have personal experience with Fiji Pearls.
Pearls Fiji is owned by a man, a Mr. Justin Hunter. I've had the pleasure to report on his operation twice. Comparing his pearls to Tahitians is not an apples to apples comparison. His are a special breed, literally. He breeds his hatchery stock to accentuate the rare orange mantle not found in traditional, indigenous French Polynesian stock. His operation is quite small and very exclusive. His prices reflect that. A fine pair of comparable Tahitian pearls can be found for about a tenth of what his company would be willing to part with them for.
Sorry, I have got to nudge in again on this one.
The shape is not determined by the shape of the mantle tissue insterted during nucleation. There is a mother-of-pearl bead in all flattened freshwater pearls including the ones linked to from the previous post and coins. This is very common in China. The reason round beads are not used initially is because there is veyr little space between either valve of the mussel. There is enough room for a flat nucleus, but not a round. Rounds have been used, but either in an in-body fashion as is the case with Kasumi pearls, or in third graft when the shell is older and has an available pearl sac to regenerate nacre.
The shape of the mantle tissue has no bearing on the shape of the resulting pearl.
xxx
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OMG! Just had a look at Pearls Fiji and Mr Hunter has some gorgeous pieces, specifically those of the golden variety.
Mistikat - will be sure to let you know about the Ottone!! Don't be holding your breath, though!! LOL A large Golden South Sea pendant would be lovely with it!!!
Mistikat - will be sure to let you know about the Ottone!! Don't be holding your breath, though!! LOL A large Golden South Sea pendant would be lovely with it!!!
Pearl Prof- Nice to see you here- I'll send you a PM. I appreciate the correction- I admittedly am not as versed in the "fancy" shapes of the Chinese freshwaters, my last understanding that I posted above was based on a discussion I attended of Renee Newman in 05 or 06' which is ancient in the industry.
BTW, I know you have more experience hands on with the freshwater farms and would love to see future blog posts on your past visits to them.
Japster - love this and especially with the leather cord!!!
http://www.futurefashionista.com/14kcistsosea.html
http://www.futurefashionista.com/14kcistsosea.html