Which one is a good one?

[butterfly]

Hi everyone,

I am new, I just found and joined this site yesterday!! (fortunately) I need to buy a strand of FW as a wedding gift for my friend, could anyone here tell me which one is a good one and whether the prices are reasonable?

http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/priscilla_emerald_wong/detail?.dir=90f1scd&.dnm=21c5scd.jpg&.src=ph

A - $250 (18" 8.5mm)
B- $180 (18" 8mm)

Many thanks!

 

[Pearls_by_Angela_Carol]

In looking at both strands, B seems to be more fairly priced. However (and I stress that this is my opinion) I would look for another strand besides B. The pearls are off round and in a classic strand such as these I prefer round. The A strand looks like a mixture of round and off round with the off rounds being close to the clasp.

Although it is hard for me to personally tell by the pictures, my first impression is that both strands are AA+ grade pearls. If your budget is around the $250 mark then I would look for a strand of AAA grade 7mm - 8mm. These should be within that price range and should be almost perfectly round with a very high luster.

Just curious - what grade did the seller put on these two strands?

 

[butterfly]

Thanks a lot! I also think B is better...in terms of price and quality.... they graded them AA qualiity, but in fact their luster are nice....

 

[Pearls_by_Angela_Carol]

Yes, thier luster should still be nice. Where you will see the big differences between these and an AAA strand is in the surface quality, the roundness and the matching of the pearls across the strand.

Depending on when you have to ahve the gift, you may consider contacting any of the sellers that participate in this form and as them for pricing for AAA in the size you are looking for and ask them to give you options for the price range that you are looking in. While B seems to be the best price/quality pair of the two that you have shown, I think you can do better from some of the sellers here.

 

[butterfly]

Thanks a lot for your help! I should have asked around for options, however, due to the time limitation I eventually went for B...but next time must shop around first!