Eusharon (eusharon.com) – any experience or opinions?

[Maryana K.]

Hi everyone,
I'm based in Europe and I'm considering buying pearls from Eusharon (eusharon.com), a Chinese wholesaler that says it has its own freshwater pearl farm in Zhejiang and has been in business for over 20 years. I see this thread never got any replies, so I'd like to bring it up again.
Has anyone here ordered from them, especially their Edison or "Freshwater AK" pearls? I'd really appreciate your thoughts on:
Did the quality match the photos and their AAA/SAAA grades?
Are their luster descriptions realistic? Some of their marketing (e.g. "Hanadama-like" luster, ISO/GIA "verified" nacre data) seems a bit exaggerated to me.
They offer NGTC certificates for an extra fee. Has anyone received one, and did it check out?
Any experience with shipping to Europe, customs, or returns?
Any opinions about this company, positive or negative, would be very helpful. Thank you in advance!

 

[jshepherd]

I don't know this company and haven't seen any reviews for them on this forum or elsewhere, so I can't speak to their pearls or their customer service. I'd disregard the part about having their own freshwater pearl farm, etc. It's the processing that matters in Zhejiang, not the farming. Very few companies are vertically integrated there (farming+processing+wholesaling) but there are lots and lots of companies selling pearls there. Teh farming and processing are completely separate businesses for most people there. The farmers are literally farmers and the processors are big buildings and offices that process from farms all around the region.

The technical claims are an issue though. I have been involved with the USJC and the recent ISO application put forward by the Chinese pearl association and it is still in review, and it has faced a lot of push back from the industry and will not be implemented the Chinese industry had wanted. It's lead to a new set of conversations about classification vs grading, but the application itself is going nowhere as is.

The ISO application was not named ISO 24001, and I see no ISO 24001, so I don't even know what they are referring to on their education pages.

The "GIA Luster Units" is another issue. There is no such thing. GIA does not grade on a numerical scale. They have excellent, very god, fair and poor.

The other figures don’t make sense as presented either. “Layers per square millimeter” has no explanation of what they are actually measuring. Mohs hardness measures scratch resistance, so it has nothing to do about withstanding setting pressure. And you can't assign freshwater pearls and akoya blanket roundness and nacre-thickness comparisons without defining the samples and testing methods.

“Freshwater AK” is a marketing name for bead-nucleated freshwater cultured pearls. They are not akoya. GIA has specifically addressed the misleading use of “freshwater akoya” and “AK freshwater." It's a real problem right now.

Finally, AAA and SAAA also doesn't tell us anything without knowing their grading criteria. They are internal labels, not industry standards.