A mixed bag of abalone pearls.

[Amanda]

Well, frankly, you both need to get a grip. How are we supposed to wait happily to find out what masterpieces you decide upon.....?

[dmj]

Haha I've somebody s going to sell me abalone pearls for a low prize I can make a piece in a week

[Amanda]

Ah. Can't help you there, sorry. Aren't many abalones floating round London!

[antz]

As promised heres some $1 reserve auctions
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...e=STRK:MESE:IT
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...e=STRK:MESE:IT
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...e=STRK:MESE:IT
Let me know what you think

[Adeline Leigh]

Fabulous, Antz. Bidding war beckons, I reckon.

[Sai]

Hi All. I have been a regular reader of the pearl-guide forum for the last 7 years. I used to be obsessed with reading every post in the initial years, esp. Ms Z's. I still read the forum, but I am not as obsessed anymore -- I used to look for a new post every 5 minutes.

Even though I was a reader, and learned a lot about pearls, I never joined as a member as I did not have much to say. When I wanted to get some of Antz's pearls, I had to enter my personal info, and join as a member. I promised to Anthony that I would post a picture and tell all of you how wonderful it was to deal with Anthony. I must have looked at the pictures of his pearls at the beginning of this thread a million times that I feel like I would be able to identify them anywhere. Thanks Anthony for the pictures, and my pearls.

Here is a picture of the pearls I got from Anthony. The design is mine and the setting was done by my jeweller -- May jewellers in Virginia.

Sai

[Caitlin]

Welcome at last!!! I would love to see a better picture, you lucky person, you!

[Sai]

Thanks Catlin. A more clearer picture --

[Adeline Leigh]

They are stunning, Sai. The pic is blurry but kudos on a matched trio and are they ringed with diamonds that are reflecting blue, or, (gasp), little itty-bitty abalone pearls as well?!? A slamdunk/ homerun (whatever you Americans call it) for sure.

And congrats on being the longest lurker to ever come around I lurked for 2 years but you with your pearl obsessiveness, it surely takes the cake!

[pattye]

Welcome Sai,

You have a real treasure there! Please tell us more details about your design; just beautiful and graceful.

[Amanda]

They are lovely, what a fantastic design you came up with! What is the metal and what are the surrounding stones?

[Sai]

Thanks for the compliments. The metal is 18K white gold and the surrounding stones are diamonds (1.5pointers in the pendant and .5pts in the earrings). I am not entirely happy with the settings. I don't like the 3 prong setting in the earrings, and the pearls are covering up the diamonds as they are not perfectly circular. I might change the earring setting. Also, in the pendant, I hoped the seed pearls would be right next to the bigger pearl -- I don't like the slight gap between the two. The gap is more apparent when you look at it up close and especially from the back. Am I picky?

Why I chose white gold and diamonds -- I put the pearls next to 18K yellow and white gold. Next to white gold, the blues in the pearls looked awesome and the predominant color in the pearls is several shades of blue. Yellow gold did not complement the different shades of blue as much, only the stronger shades looked good, but, with the white gold I could see all the different blues. Also, I put the pearls next to ruby, emerald, sapphire, diamonds etc to see if any of these colors go well with the pearls. Diamonds and light blue transparent sapphires seemed to complement these pearls best. I am thinking of wearing the pendant on a strand of tiny blue sapphire beads.

Why I chose 18K gold -- All my jewellery is either 18K or 22K, so, I chose 18K. In case you are wondering why 22K -- I am of Indian origin, and most of my jewellery is from India. And, my jeweller deals mostly with 18K gold. He said I would be mostly paying for the workmanship (an arm and a leg :-)). Cost of gemstones was extra, but it is not something I could add later without redoing the whole thing.

[antz]

Wow Sai they have turned out well, I forgot just how blue they are.
With only afew days to go looks like these will all be going cheap
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...e=STRK:MESE:IT
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...e=STRK:MESE:IT
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...e=STRK:MESE:IT

[Caitlin]

You are the one setting the price for abalone pearls. That is, the ones you sell are determining what buyers will pay. I hope the two pretty ones do very well!!!

What does the back of the top pearl look like?

[antz]

Hi Caitlin, the back of that pearl concaves in I should add a photo of that today