Ling Ling in Beijing -- strand of freshwater pearls

[Tucs]

Hello,
Back in 2006 and with the help of this board I was able to buy my mother a 10-11mm strand of freshwater pearls with matching earrings from Ling Ling, for my mother. I asked her for the best quality she had. They looked beautiful and, to my untrained eye, perfectly round, clean with good luster. Back then, I paid $1,100 total.
Now my husband is going on a business trip to Beijing and he's promised to get me my own strand with matching earrings. I'd like slightly smaller sized pearls, perhaps 8-9mm, and longer than the one I got (I forgot how long the other one was, but it seemed to me all were about the same length, am I wrong about that?). Anyway my main question is how much I should pay for it now, are prices similar, higher, lower? Eight years is a long time.
Any other tips greatly appreciated!
Thanks for your help.

 

[mrselephant]

Is $1100 in Canadian dollars or RMB? I went to the Shanghai pearl market 3 weeks ago and their freshwater pearls are quite cheap. The "best" strand a particular store showed me was 800 RMB. 800 RMB was before negotiations too. I didn't ask for prices for coloured freshwater pearls though because I wasn't looking for those. Hope that helps.

 

[GemGeek]

10-11 mm was large in 2006 and so more valuable than that size would fetch today. It's amazing how fast things change.

mrselephant, please take some photos for us next time you go.

 

[Tucs]

Hello, thanks for your replies. That was US$. My husband got me a multicolour rope this time. Much cheaper than that, but it was also much smaller-sized pearls. What size were you looking at, mrselephant? I believe freshwater strands with high quality round pearls larger than 10mm are quite rare.

Just for reference (it's hard to compare strands without having them side by side), a reputable vendor is currently listing a 17.5-inch 10.5-11.5mm AAA freshwater strand for US$2,160 (US$1,553 for the AA+ version). The same vendor lists 9.0-10.0mm AAA studs for $152. So roughly US$2,300, at today's prices.

The strand I got in 2006 was 18 inches, 10-11mm. I paid US$1,100 for the strand plus matching 10mm earrings, and based on my experience all would qualify as AAA (perfectly round, no blemishes, very good lustre).

 

[Tucs]

PS: Here is the thread with my experience back in 2006 (with a couple of photos I happened to add the other day):

Ling Ling in Beijing

Hello, I am going on a trip to China and I am planning to do some pearl shopping at Ling Ling in Beijing, which I read in this forum is an honest seller. I would like to get a nice necklace and also some earrings. I was wondering if somebody could advise me on this. My bugdet for the necklace...

www.pearl-guide.com