I'd love to have a long Sea of Cortez necklace.

[jshepherd]

I really believe Zeide got that whole vapor deposition thing from one page in Strack. This was before Strack was translated into English, of course.

I quote, from page 661.

Karl Schlossmacher wrote in the nineteen sixties that a reddish or bluish overtone had been produced by chloride vapour deposits (barium or strontium chloride). The layers were only superficial and wore off rather quickly.

From this short paragraph, the only reference to vapor deposition in more than 700 pages, ZGE determined every shiny bead-nucleated pearl was covered with some sort of vapor deposit. This was not true, of course.

Several of us knew Zeide had a couple of screws loose months before she was finally outed by Caitlin. Kevin and I talked about her within a very short time of her becoming a member. We did a lot of research but came up with nothing. Some of the things she claimed we could verify. Many of the other things she claimed we could not. It put us into a bad position.

ZGE finally got a little too overconfident and claimed to be able to culture whole abalone pearls and gave her method to me in "10 words or less." She also gave a lot of information about some supposed research project in China. I knew she had lied about the abalone culturing and I was able to research her claims in China. Yes, I was behind the "Dugga" posts, indirectly. During this time I emailed back and forth with several other forum members who also had come to me with their suspicions. Caitlin and Slraep were the primary members involved. Slraep was understandably infuriated as she has suffered a financial loss. When we put all of our research together we came up with much more than a reasonable suspicion. We had what amounted to proof that she was a shyster. We gave Caitlin the charge of taking her on, which she gladly did by the way. Confronted with the fact that many members of the forum knew she was a fraud and just before she was going to be publicly outed she started a post called "Mea Culpa." Basically telling us it was all just a joke - ha, ha, sorry about that.

Regarding her pearls, Stephen Bloome did visit her very modest abode in Fresno. She did have a lot of pearls. But they were almost all junk, and she had purchased nearly everything on ebay. There were only a few nice pieces. One very old Mikimoto strand that belonged to hear mother (a PPB, of course), some pearls from Perlas (forum member) in the Philippines (I believe, I could be wrong), and two strands from Pearl Paradise - a freshadama strand and a baroque.

Originally Posted by Slraep

I must say that as long as I can remember, I've had a terrible materialistic hankering for this item---the Thurn diadem. It's not too big, not too small, just the right size for wearing to friends' tea and crumpet parties. I think I could even get away with wearing it with a pair of jeans.

That specific tiara is one of my absolute favorites as well Slarep!!! YUMMY!!!!

and Kevein as far as the Lop Noors... ypou tease..

cheers
Ash

Originally Posted by jshepherd

Slraep was understandably infuriated as she has suffered a financial loss.

Yessiree bub, you don't want to mess around and infuriate Slraep, that's for sure!! No telling what she might do! In this case I forked out some bucks I could afford to lose because I was curious to see the pearls in question. Needless to say they failed inspection. The mere mention of lawyers getting involved and perhaps the hint of me flying down to Fresno and talking to The Shyster's husband, got her to sent all my money back pretty quick. I auctioned off some of the pearls and sent a check to an animal shelter. Yes, it all ended up going to the dogs!(and kitties). Heheheheh...

Slraep a.k.a Doe'n Mess Wid Me

Slarep,

you rock turning a bad experience into a great deed!

cheers
Ash

[Caitlin]

This is a gem of a post from Richard Wise to Zeide, #22 in that thread.

If any one wants to ask whether a Zeide claim is true, we can start a thread called, "Zeide's Claims". Then you can copy the post you question to the new thread, where Slreap or I or any one who knows can answer the claim. It is her false claims I want to nuke, not whole threads. If it seems merited I will edit the thread. Since we are still finding so much stuff, I would really appreciate everyone on the forum viewing her claims with skepticism and letting me know where the claim is. It is like getting bindweed off of your favorite flowering plant--the more you dig it out ,the more new plants it grows from every little piece of root that broke off. I really so hate to see the forum continue to be tainted by Zeide as she continues to fool new members reading old posts.

Richard Wise said-

Zeide
Thanks for the explanation, facinating!

The Seventeenth Century French traveler and dealer, Jean-Baptiste Tavernier uses "water" frequently to describe pearls. In one chapter he describes the most beautiful pearl in the world that was, at that time (1640) owned by the Sultan of Muscat , it is the most beautiful not because of its perfect symmety or color but because it was so translucent that you can see through it.

Obviously a bead nucleated pearl could not have that sort of translucency. I have seen it in small naturals set in old pieces and figured skin oil might have contributed to the affect.

Would you agree with Tavernier

Yippee! I love water and knew Tavernier was the source. I have a translation and I will simply have to get to it.

And also Steve is vindicated by the commemts on the "poison pill" though I suggest a less ambiguous term might be "poison pill pearl".

I will edit above thread for future readers- to say that Christie's appraisal was the realistic one.

I was dismayed when this all came to light, and thought, what's too bad about the whole unpleasant episode is that she could have been a good contributor here if she had stuck to her basic ideas (appreciation of natural pearls and their closest cultured counterparts, solid nacre freshwater pearls) and didn't go off and mislead/lie to people and everything else. I would have been another one of those people who bought Hanadama, only to be disappointed later, if I hadn't stumbled on this site and read those early discussions. (No offense to those who love them, they are beautiful in their own way!) But, I guess that's the whole problem, it wasn't enough for Z. Sad, really.

Perle

Oh, how could I forget to mention that that diadem is fabulous! Okay, to add to list of pearly tiaras, how about the Cambridge Lover's Knot?

Perle

Bavarian version of the Lover's Knot. Yes, I lust after this one too. You'll have to fight me for it! I think Ash might want it also. There's going to be some hair pulling!

The Vladimir tiara with the original pearl design. The pearls can swing around! Needless to say, I want it, I want it!!

Heavens! Me too!!!

This is the one you mean, Perle? Diana's Cambridge Lover's Knot.
No need to ask. Yes I want it.

[knotty panda]

I'm sorry. I can't see anyone wearing that other than Diana. It was her signature piece. Some signature, huh?

Originally Posted by knotty panda

I'm sorry. I can't see anyone wearing that other than Diana. It was her signature piece. Some signature, huh?

Knotty, Diana's tiara was given to her on her marriage in 1981. It originally belonged to Queen Mary, who had it made in 1913. It has also been worn by Queen Elizabeth. Just imagine the name "Danuta" instead of "Diana", the next time you think of it.

There have been many versions of the Lover's Knot tiara(at least four). It's quite confusing.

http://www.royal-magazin.de/lovers-k...oversknots.htm

Slraep

[smetzler]

Originally Posted by Slraep

Just imagine the name "Danuta" instead of "Diana", the next time you think of it.

As an occasional pearl wearer myself, I was about to make a smart comment about head scratching for proper appreciation. Then I saw Diana juxtaposed with the other blue-veined 'props' and discovered how beautiful SHE really was. I am convinced her blood was red.