Finding appraisers is difficult particularly for exotic items. Most appraisers are very familiar with diamonds and have almost no familiarity with anything else. Though there are now two nationwide appraisal organizations, NAJA and another who's acrornym escapes me, most appraisals are done by jewelers.

Beware of jewelry store appraisals. Many jewelers use aprraising as a platform to attempt to gain you as a client. This is the old low-ball or "I can get it for you cheaper". The minute you hear that or any variation thereof, its best to walk because what you are going to get, maybe pay for, is a backdoor sales pitch.

If you use a jeweler, check his stock. Does he have a good inventory of pearls? Stripped to basics, comparison is about the only way to appraise. If he doesn't deal in it, how is he going to know? Pricelists exist but they are tricky to use..

Last week a client got a "ball-park", thats a free appraisal on a ruby he was purchasing from me. The ball-park ended up being 35% less than I paid for the stone in Burma. Free advise is worth what you pay for it.

By the way, I charge $150.00 per hour.