Hi everyone. I feel I should reply to this one considering it is about my website, though i don't really know what to say. Thanks Jeremy for the vote of confidence, we do our best :)
It's terrible that people can almost get away with anything on Ebay, because somewhere out there there's always someone who will be duped. In the case of pearls, so little is known by most people out there that it is almost too easy to be dishonest.
The freshwater pearl he's selling for $695...
Of course things could happen, but I think the farmers and the countries involved with culturing pearls are much more cautious these days, as they are aware of the dangers, and the huge upside in protecting the cultured pearl industry.
Really with pearls its so hard to have a genuine grading system for all, though we do our best. With Tahitian pearls, in my opinion, the color is supposed to be the biggest thing with them. You can look at the pearl under all kinds of different lighting to see if it has that rainbow color, but...
Very interesting pictures. I wonder if theres a lot of fake pearls being sold in Hamburg. Either way its a great service for those of us who are really interested in their jewelry.