[abby]

Hi everyone,

This forum is wonderful. i wish i have found it before spending $$$ on fake pearls on ebay

I have found another seller but i really have no idea what to look for. I have just started learning/reading about pearls (from this forum, thanks!) Could somebody please give their opinion on the following pearls.

http://www.alkamonia.com/pearls/otherpearls.htm

your opinion will be appreciated. thank you.

abby

[jshepherd]

I will give my opinion on this, but I am going to point out that your profile email address matches the email address listed for the Website that you are asking our opinion on. Meaning, these are your products.

I would advise someone definitely do not buy. The pictures only show low-grade pearls, and I particularly have problems with the following:

- Baby South Sea pearls
Clearly showing a lot of freshwater pearls.

- 7.5-8mm Mikimoto Akoya pearl necklace
There is nothing about the strand that would suggest Mikimoto. It is a loose strand of pearls. Furthermore it states it is a 16-inch, 7.5-8mm strand. This cannot be correct as it has 61 pearls. A 16-inch loose 7.5-8mm Akoya strand will have an average of 54 pearls, a 7-7.5mm strand will have an average of 58 pearls, and a 6.5-7mm strand will have an average of 63 pearls (give or take 2 in either direction). So the strand is either smaller than stated, freshwater, or a small sized baroque.

If you take a look at the Site that is hosting the pictures:
alkamonia.com/pearls/otherpearls.htm

And you remove this portion:
otherpearls.htm

You will see that there is another "urgent sale" featuring a strand of "Akoya" pearls. It states that they are completely natural and untreated, semi-baroque, AAA quality, Japanese pearls worth $1800 which they are sacrificing for $499.

I would have issues with the following:
Natural - definitely not the case
Untreated - definitely not the case
AAA quality - semi-baroque Akoya???
Japanese pearls - but all other pix on the page show pearls on display in China
Value $1800 - This is a stretch for off-round Akoya pearls. I would say the listed price ($499) would be a high retail price for the pearls.

[abby]

Dear Jeremy,

Thank you very much. You've just saved me thousands of $$$. As I have said in my very first post, I wish I had found this forum earlier. I have bought pearls from ebay (es-store from HK and allure, and A-1 Pearls). I am very dishearthened knowing I have paid so much money for junk pearls. And that is why i posted these photos as i did not want to buy fake pearls again.

yes, that is my site, I have used it to post the photos that i have received from the other 'supposed to be genuine supplier'. I was planning to buy these pearls from this new supplier after reading from this forum about es-store and other ebay stores. But im even more disappointed to know that these are also low grade/fake pearls. this new supplier has a physical/traditional jewellery shop, not selling on ebay so i thought her stuff would be real. And literally, she was asking me $1,500 each strand of south sea pearls.

The strand of akoya pearls you mentioned on the page was one of the necklaces i bought from ebay. I simply copied and pasted the description from these ebay- HongKong sellers. I won 2 of these strand, and i seriously thought i got a bargain so why not sell the other strand to others. I still have those strand as i have not advertised it yet. And after reading from this forum again how hard it is to get refund from these ebay sellers, i am just so lost.

I admire how you are able to judge a pearl from photos. I wish i could do the same. I'd like to educate myself more about pearls so i would appreciate if you can recommend books or other sites that will help me learn more about pearls.

Thank you very much.

cheers,
abby

But how come ebay is not kicking out es-store and the other stores ?