advice needed on purchasing Tahitian pearls

[pearlescence]

I agree with KarinK. Unfair on us to ask us for this sort of information, which we can't give anyway since your photos simpl are not good enough. If you want to find out if they are Tahitians or not because you don't trust the vendor even though you spent $kks you need to get an independent and expert lab type appraisal

 

[Elenayak]

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.

 

[pearlescence]

Gemological Institute of America
Independent

 

[Elenayak]

Thank you so much, Wendy. I just looked them up, it seems that they are located near my home address.

 

[pattye]

Took a quick look at the website of Bangkok Pearls, in their listing they put Tahitian in parenthesis, although the title says South Sea. Showing Australia on the certificate is confusing, but probably human error. To me, the necklaces look more like very well matched Tahitians than dyed freshwater.

But definitely get an appraisal; it will set your mind at ease.

 

[GemGeek]

An appraiser can't tell you what the lab can tell you. GIA can give you an identity report. They have equipment that can tell by chemical analysis whether they are freshwater or saltwater and if they have been dyed. Good luck.

 

[Pearl Dreams]

For that amount of money, if I had any doubts, I'd want to make sure-- and P-G cannot provide that assurance. Go with GIA as GemGeek suggested.

For what it's worth, if the only photo I'd seen was the vendor's photo of the peacock pearls, I wouldn't have wondered if they were freshwaters.

 

[Elenayak]

For that amount of money, if I had any doubts, I'd want to make sure-- and P-G cannot provide that assurance. Go with GIA as GemGeek suggested.

For what it's worth, if the only photo I'd seen was the vendor's photo of the peacock pearls, I wouldn't have wondered if they were freshwaters.

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 etc. Knowing that business of jewelry and art is associated with frequent fraud it would be good to get an appraisal. It is not about trust or mistrust, but a business transaction. Like counting money in the bank is not about mistrusting the bank. I have to say about the vendor that they returned promptly emails and phon calls, and delivery was free by FedEx. The pearls appear perfect, I was able to see only one very small pin prick and the luster is almost not real. If only pearls were real!

 

[Ramona]

The vendor's picture show round pearls that I am more inclined to believe are real Tahitians. Your pictures suggested that some of the pearls have potato shapes, which would be more typical for FW. Can you get better pictures of yours that show the pearls like the vendor's pics? So, either it is your picture or the vendor sent you different pearls.

 

[Ramona]

I would say that for this reason, I only purchase cheap pearls over the internet from sellers I know little about. Otherwise I go with reputation. It is like buying a carpet or an "antique" on your travels. You have to decide how much you like the product, fake or real, and how much you are willing to pay for it. Any seller from Asia that sells over the internet, I generally now assume they try to sell fake pearls based on my experience on Ebay. So, I would not spend that money and then worry afterwards.

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 etc. Knowing that business of jewelry and art is associated with frequent fraud it would be good to get an appraisal. It is not about trust or mistrust, but a business transaction. Like counting money in the bank is not about mistrusting the bank. I have to say about the vendor that they returned promptly emails and phon calls, and delivery was free by FedEx. The pearls appear perfect, I was able to see only one very small pin prick and the luster is almost not real. If only pearls were real!

 

[CharmedOne]

They do look pretty close to the vendor photos to me. Both yours and the vendors are graduated and the colors are very close to the vendor. But as far as what the pearls are I would think would be difficult to tell from photos and having them authenticated would be best. They are quite lovely and they do look like what you picked to purchase. If that makes sense. ~d

 

[GemGeek]

You don't want an appraisal - you want an identification report. Just tell the lab at the intake window why you want the report and they will get the right one. An appraisal is for value and GIA does not do that kind of report. Appraisers can be fooled, especially with the quality of freshwater pearls today. The report will help establish value if you do want to get an appraisal later.

 

[Elenayak]

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 long time to process. I am going to do this anyway an then, depending on the results think of what to do next.

 

[Pearl Dreams]

That is a long wait time...if you tell them about your 30 day return window is there any possibility they would rush the job? I think it's worth a try.

 

[pearlescence]

There must be a lot of dubious pearls around!

 

[GemGeek]

You could try taking them to a shop that specializes in pearls and ask if they would give you an opinion.

 

[Ramona]

X-ray at a dentist's? That at least should tell whether the pearls are nucleated or not.

 

[Pearl Dreams]

X-ray at a dentist's? That at least should tell whether the pearls are nucleated or not.

Excellent idea!

 

[lisa c]

I'm curious about them saying they come from Australia. Do they grow Tahitians there?

- Karin

Remember the thread we had a while ago Super Peacock Pearls Necklace, started on 4/25/2012? Josh H reminded us (post 18), and Rusty Tully confirmed that there are pearl farms in Western Australia that farm the margaritafera. Rusty mentioned the Abrolhus Islands and Chimere Pearls by name. I don't know how much the farms produce, Josh referred to them as small, but I guess that means we can't really rule out the source as Australian.

 

[jshepherd]

Remember the thread we had a while ago Super Peacock Pearls Necklace, started on 4/25/2012? Josh H reminded us (post 18), and Rusty Tully confirmed that there are pearl farms in Western Australia that farm the margaritafera. Rusty mentioned the Abrolhus Islands and Chimere Pearls by name. I don't know how much the farms produce, Josh referred to them as small, but I guess that means we can't really rule out the source as Australian.

Based on the color, you actually can. The volume of production could never support it or create it. That said, it is a strand of Tahitian pearls (or at least P. margaritifera), not freshwater. I recommend not spending the money on a lab report. They aren't dyed freshwater, they look exactly like Tahitians, and there really isn't anything else they could be.