[Pearlgully]

Hi Caitlin,

I guess my post #16 was submitted before I read yours in #15 & #13.

The pearls are not on e-bay any longer. It says the bidding has ended!!!!!!

Gail

[Caitlin]

I am glad the ad was taken down.

IMO, if you can find some natural Mississippi freshwaters from the Peaches or the Latendresses, they will never cost $25 per, nor even $50 per pearl!. Maybe per carat. The Peaches know their pearls. They dredge and sell mussel shells and keep the pearls they find for sale.

If those were natural, wild, American pearls, the Peaches wouldn't be selling 110 of them on a card. The Peaches do not sell cheap. So if the price was $2,750 (or less)to move the entire card ,($25 each for 110) then I know they still made a profit.

Just the price factor alone argues against an American origin. Also, I am fairly sure that the typical shape for American mussel pearls is like a tooth or a wing.

One of our non-posting members sent me a Picasa album of photos with almost as many Chinese pearls as on the card. Most of them looked like the ones in the photo. I even posted one thinking it was American freshwater (Jeremy pegged it as Chinese) and took it down when my friend said they were from China. I looked at them long and hard. Did not want to make that mistake again.

Looking at them carefully, I am sure they are keshi- you can see the sticks and stars in some of them.............

[Caitlin]

Hi Gail

Their booth was HUGE with an incredible amount of pearls

They (US Pearl) have 3 large booths. They sell a LOT of CFWP.
They have a large booth at the Pavillion- same place as Drusy Designs.
They have two motel rooms and spill out into the parking area at the Dayz Inn. They are there every year.
AND they have a huge booth at the GLDA show at the Starpass Marriott Inn.

Someone could probably call and ask them about the pearls on the card, but I'll bet they are CFWP.

[Pearlgully]

Originally Posted by Caitlin Williams

Someone could probably call and ask them about the pearls on the card, but I'll bet they are CFWP.

I tried but Mr. Peach is in Hong Kong.



Gail

[knotty panda]

Originally Posted by GemGeek

Can you imagine being "outed" by the pearl police?

Blaire, YOU GO GIRL!

I hereby make a motion that we change our titles from jr. member, expert, etc. to Rookie, Lieutenant, Captain, etc.! The titles would correspond to the amount of $$ the police expose. Caitlin and I would share top honors with the $60MM from the POA. Y'all got some catching up to do!

Dr. Tom: Is the POA behind the palace gates in Brunei?

Blaire: Did they glue those "naturals" to the card? That sure is what it looks like from here.

[GemGeek]

He quoted his friend and was totally shocked when he saw the photo and realized his friend lied. In fact, he pulled the eBay sale because he won't sell anything that isn't on the up and up. He has a fine jewelry store that shows at AGTA, so he has a reputation to protect. I'm sure he'll think twice before selling something for someone else again.

[GemGeek]

Originally Posted by knotty panda

Blaire, YOU GO GIRL!

Blaire: Did they glue those "naturals" to the card? That sure is what it looks like from here.

Ha! Major General Caitlin!

No glue -- they typically are attached by strips of stickum like double-stick tape. Cabochon stones are often displayed in the same way when they are trying to sell them as a lot.

[Pearlgully]

I noticed that the seller lists the address of his store as 10 West 47th Street, NYC, however, take a look at the picture of his store. I assure you that there is nothing on 47th St. that looks like that!

(I stayed home from work today so I am really into this thread.)



Gail