Recent content by ennui

AI is incorrect around 60% of the time. Sometimes AI will choose the most popular response as opposed to the correct response. Remember this when you read your news feeds.

Apparently it's more complicated than that. Search says: An empty package scam, often called a brushing scam, involves receiving unsolicited items to boost fake online reviews and potentially compromise your personal information. How the Scam Works In a brushing scam, scammers or third-party...

I've also had good results with Wright's Silver Cream. It's usually easy to find at the grocery store. If you're going to cut them apart and restring, you can look on eBay for trash pearls with a 14K clasp.

I did find articles about GM Pollack, and they seem to be a well-known chain of stores until closing in 2015. I don't think they scammed people but I do think they might be in trouble for trademark infringement, using the name Mikimoto for their own products.

Tiffany abandoned the Iridesse stores in 2009. Most of the articles I found are behind paywalls, so ... There are a few items on eBay, if you want to watch there for a while. Maybe something similar will pop up? If it is Iridesse, it should be hallmarked somewhere, maybe on the opposite side of...

I thought about that at one time, but now I plan to leave them as is. I was more concerned about losing them back in the days when you held the telephone handset to your ear. :giggle:

I simply use a polishing cloth, especially for something as small as one clasp. I have the two part cloth -- white side has jeweler's rouge, gray side for finishing off. I like baroque Akoyas, please let us know what you decide to do.

These earrings were given to my mother in the 1950s. I don't often wear them because they are screw backs, but they are 14k and need to get out once in a while. I like that there is a left and right.

The tricky language is "inversely related," I think. Two variables are inversely related when an increase in one variable causes a reduction in the other variable. We all agree on cold=thinner, etc. I'm wondering if these satiny Australian Akoya look similar to freshwater pearls, and it would...

Apparently there are Akoya pearl farms off the south coast of India, too. Learn something new every day.

Hoarder or passionate collector? Btw, I think you need more Tahitians. :giggle:

The grass is greener where it gets watered. ;)

It's one of the best AI responses I've seen. :giggle: I think your faux pearls are a very cool find -- even if you only wanted the clasp.

CoPilot says: Glass Beads Filled with Essence d’Orient Glass beads filled with essence d’orient were a type of wax-filled imitation pearl developed in 17th‑century France as a safer, mercury‑free alternative to earlier methods of creating pearl‑like beads journals.uoregon.edu+1. Historical...

You can buy diamond testers on Amazon; they are surprisingly inexpensive.