I have always found strange to find low grad tahiti pearls so easily on the market
since the under grad quality must not be exported, for example :

http://stores.ebay.fr/DEANS-COLLECTIBLES-AND-GEMSTONES

Besides, this guy is a lovely one ...

How does this happen ? rumorous statements from that Dr Strangelove blog look terrible...

[jshepherd]

Wow!

These are certainly some examples of pearls that should never have been exported from Tahiti.

http://cgi.ebay.fr/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?...2BSI%26otn%3D4

http://cgi.ebay.fr/10-7mm-Drilled-Ba...713.m153.l1262

http://cgi.ebay.fr/13-5mm-Drilled-Ba...713.m153.l1262

http://cgi.ebay.fr/10-1mm-Baroque-Dr...713.m153.l1262

[Hanaleimom]

They are ugly. Who would buy these?

A member told me she read a story about a guy who smuggled low quality pearls in frozen ducks in his cooler. They x-rayed his cooler and caught him.

I guess some days the x-ray techs went to sleep?

[pearlescence]

They look more like swedes and turnips than pearls. Whether they have legal nacre depth or not they are very ugly and have bad surface flaws.
The rest of the offerings on this person's ebay look like a couple of strands of reasonable pearls broken up each into several lots

Wendy,

would you care to explain what you mean by "swedes and turnips"? I seriously hope you are not thinking of us Swedes as turnips but it would be interesting to know where from this frase is coming?

[Nerida]

What a horrible looking bunch of pearls!! I guess the thing is, black South Seapearls come from more places than just French Polynesia, so maybe these weren't grown in Tahiti, and may have some other source? Truly awful though.

[pearlescence]

Swede is what a root vegetable is called here.... I assure you I did not mean people from Sweden!

[Sueki]

Splutter,
Jerin !
I just choked on my coffee !!

No, no, absolutely not calling you and your fellow countrymen vegetables.
It's just the name of that particular root veg. over here.......

[richipat]

Only one word....NASTY

Originally Posted by Hanaleimom

They are ugly. Who would buy these?

The question still remains : who sold them to put this quality on the market?
regular sale? off regulations sale?

Originally Posted by pearlescence

Swede is what a root vegetable is called here.... I assure you I did not mean people from Sweden!

Luckily I consider myself to be a person with a cheerful temperament - otherwise our other members who have not read this post before are right now just certain to observe it thanks to your colourful picture

[pearlescence]

To continue this thread deviation, swedes are very good boiled and mashed with butter and pepper

[effisk]

Originally Posted by jshepherd

Post just received from a pearl farmer in French Polynesia.

The tax may be going bye-bye... I would wait for the official word before ordering discount pearls, however. It does not really jive with the current situation and these could just be rumors floating around the South Pacific.

Josh!
I see you on the board! What is the news behind the news?

The tax thing has been voted at the FP assembly earlier this month. The tax will be suspended until Jan 2010.

However some of the members of the assembly having stakes in the pearl industry (they are therefore not supposed to vote), opponents to this measure are asking the vote to be cancelled...

[effisk]

The tax is being discussed again. An amendment aiming at the removal of the tax has been proposed. The opposition propose a reduction of the tax instead. More here for French speakers.

[effisk]

A l'Assemblée de la Polynésie française, les débats ont repris là où les représentants les avaient laissé la veille, à savoir la suspension ou non du dispositif DSPE pour les perles. Chaque camp est resté sur sa position déjà défendue lors de l'étude du collectif budgétaire. Finalement, la taxe sera suspendue du 1er octobre au 31 décembre 2008 malgré l'opposition de certains perliculteurs.

The decision has eventually been taken: the tax is finally suspended until end of 2008.