[jshepherd]

I will give my opinion on this, but I am going to point out that your profile email address matches the email address listed for the Website that you are asking our opinion on. Meaning, these are your products.

I would advise someone definitely do not buy. The pictures only show low-grade pearls, and I particularly have problems with the following:

- Baby South Sea pearls
Clearly showing a lot of freshwater pearls.

- 7.5-8mm Mikimoto Akoya pearl necklace
There is nothing about the strand that would suggest Mikimoto. It is a loose strand of pearls. Furthermore it states it is a 16-inch, 7.5-8mm strand. This cannot be correct as it has 61 pearls. A 16-inch loose 7.5-8mm Akoya strand will have an average of 54 pearls, a 7-7.5mm strand will have an average of 58 pearls, and a 6.5-7mm strand will have an average of 63 pearls (give or take 2 in either direction). So the strand is either smaller than stated, freshwater, or a small sized baroque.

If you take a look at the Site that is hosting the pictures:
alkamonia.com/pearls/otherpearls.htm

And you remove this portion:
otherpearls.htm

You will see that there is another "urgent sale" featuring a strand of "Akoya" pearls. It states that they are completely natural and untreated, semi-baroque, AAA quality, Japanese pearls worth $1800 which they are sacrificing for $499.

I would have issues with the following:
Natural - definitely not the case
Untreated - definitely not the case
AAA quality - semi-baroque Akoya???
Japanese pearls - but all other pix on the page show pearls on display in China
Value $1800 - This is a stretch for off-round Akoya pearls. I would say the listed price ($499) would be a high retail price for the pearls.