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    advice needed on purchasing Tahitian pearls

    And I forgot to mention that gold and diamonds also turned out to be real.
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    advice needed on purchasing Tahitian pearls

    an update and a question an update and a question Thank you very much to everyone for advise on pearls purchased from "Dranix", it was very helpful. Just as an update, we had one of the 2 strands looked at GIA before receiving an opinion from Jeremy. The report came back in January(it took a...
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    Duties and taxes in US

    Would anyone know if there are duties and taxes to be paid in US if a jewellery item containing pearls is shipped from another country? (Value over 2K). My friend would like to send something to me from Australia but I am concerned about expenses. Thank you for any info.
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    classic white strand with fur cloak

    Actually white pearl studs are part of uniform of Porter airline (Canadian, reportedly the best small airline in North America). The flight attendants have to wear white pearl studs if they have pierced ears. Size is optional.
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    AAAA Quality?

    For top quality I would recommend the Pearl Source, they simply appear to have a larger inventory in top quality category. AAAA may not be better than AAA from other sources, but in my experience, and I was shopping for top quality a lot lately on all websites, AAA is not readily available and...
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    advice needed on purchasing Tahitian pearls

    OK, thank you! This advice was very helpful. I already contacted the lab on 5th avenue, here in New York. The unfortunate thing is that you have to wait 4-5 weeks for the report and the return policy is technically 30 days. They said that for pearls they have so many requests that it takes...
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    my new metallic pearls

    I will have to practice this type of photo or ask my friend to help. For now I enclose the vendor's picture, it does more justice to the pearls than my picture. Their photography skills are much superior and I was using a phone camera. In a normal day condition you do not see all these colors...
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    advice needed on purchasing Tahitian pearls

    Thank you every one for your advice and suggestions. I will have them appraised and will post the results. It was a calculated risk on our part to order them from an unknown website but the site looked reasonably convincing, providing their factory and headoffice address, pictures of farming...
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    advice needed on purchasing Tahitian pearls

    Thank you so much, Wendy. I just looked them up, it seems that they are located near my home address.
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    advice needed on purchasing Tahitian pearls

    Do you know where one could get such appraisal? I know that here, in New York the system of appraisals is strange, it has conflict of interest build in. They get paid an X percent of appraised value. I do not think they use the lab, however.
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    advice needed on purchasing Tahitian pearls

    No, I think it is important to find out if they are real. I am sure that I could return them if they are not what they suppose to be, particularly, I have an additional AmEx warranty on purchases. I would not pay almost 10 K for colored freshwater. ( even though they do look exactly as I wanted...
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    advice needed on purchasing Tahitian pearls

    Yes, they supposed to be grown in Australia. The seller apparently called Dranix. They say on their website that they are very large company in China producing mostly freshwater pearls and purchasing high quality pearls as well. They also own jeweler store in Bangkok.
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    advice needed on purchasing Tahitian pearls

    They apparently have 30 days warranty if pearls are damaged or not as pictured. I attached certificate that came with them and vendor's pictures. They do not seem to have many pits, although I have other strands that do not. The vendor stated that they are less than 3% in a strand. As for the...
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    my new metallic pearls

    Size is 9-10 mm, the color is sort of pink overall, but the pearls have some sort of golden-greenish hallow, which is shifting when pearls are turned. It is noticeable little bit on the lower left pearls on the picture. It all depends on the light. There is some variation of color between pearls...
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    advice needed on purchasing Tahitian pearls

    OK, here may be better pictures. I found these once particularly difficult to photograph. They seem to behave not like my other Tahitian strands. Usually my pearls seem to be more grey-ish with less light, and light brings out more colors. With these once it is almost the reverse: in a darker...
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    my new metallic pearls

    My new metallic pearls ordered from China arrived today. We were told by the retailer that they had to process 300 kg of pearls to select these. That seems like a lot of pearls.
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    Customs fee for items shipped from the US to Canada?

    Hello, I had some experience with Canadian customs. First of all, the fee is paid upon delivery. It is always 15% sales tax + other things, and it is not simple. It depends on the item, and stated country of origin, and the way it is sent. I know that UPS would charge about 50% as a brokerage...
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    advice needed on purchasing Tahitian pearls

    I was looking for sometime and contacted Pearl Paradise. In Pearl Paradise I was told that they currently do not have a peacock AAA necklace and that somebody else was looking for one. Then I came across a Chinese web retailer and saw exactly what I was looking for. I did something I would not...
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    Did I get ripped off?

    If this could make you feel any better, this is a picture of my own white 9 mm Chinese freshwater pearls purchases relatively recently at Tifany store on 5th avenue for about $1200. And the color strand is purchased by my sister on ebay from China [Pearllunar] also for about $600. I have to say...
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    Did I get ripped off?

    Hi, I am also a New Yorker, and just wanted to comment that $600 is not an unusual price to pay for a strand of fresh water pearls, particularly if they are as large as 9 mm. Also, if you do not have any certificate stating that these are South Sea pearls, it will be your word against theirs...
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