"Tahitian Pearls" seller found on TradeTang

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ercillor

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May 17, 2012
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I have purchased several handsome "Tahitian" pearl necklaces from a Chinese seller on TradeTang. The most expensive of these was an 18" / 10-11 mm round / 'green-black' string for which I paid only $250.00.

In response to specific questioning the seller stated that: "These are saltwater Tahitian cultured pearls. Not freshwater pearls. I am wholesaler. My customer resell these for thousand of dollars."

My wife is very happy with her new pearls and I feel that I've probably not spent more than the pearls were worth -- even if they DO turn out to be freshwater pearls -- but I wonder if it is at all possible that I have purchased a genuine Tahitian pearl necklace -- as I've described it to be -- for the amount that was paid.

Could I distinguish freshwater pearls from saltwater Tahitians?:confused:

Thanks,
ercillor
 
A strand of 10-11 mm, round Tahitians for $250? That's pretty much all you need to know. You could post pictures of what you have and we could tell you what the seller actually sold you.
 
I just went through several pages of "Tahitian Pearls" on TradeTang. I did find one nice photo of a genuine Tahitian strand for a whopping $43. But then I noticed that the picture was actually stolen from our Website, lol.

Unfortunately TradeTang is just as bad as eBay. The pearls are all dyed freshwater.
 
Well, somehow I'm not surprised... it is as I suspected... Thanks for your expertise. I'll post some pictures for you very shortly [as soon as I've figured out how to do it].
 
ercillor said:
I have purchased several handsome "Tahitian" pearl necklaces from a Chinese seller on TradeTang. The most expensive of these was an 18" / 10-11 mm round / 'green-black' string for which I paid only $250.00.
Click to expand...

A genuine round Tahitian pearl strand for $250??? I am really curious to see the picture, but am very skeptical. If it's too good to be true then it probably isn't the real thing, or stolen goods. This reminds me of the other thread where the OP thought he/she bought an akoya set for $78.
 
ercillor said:
I paid only $250.00
Click to expand...

This is where the market is exploited, having the buyer believe they made a good buy, even knowing they might not be genuine.

You can buy a strand of FW, and dye them yourself for about $30.00.

There are two layers to the scam.
 
I don't wish to sound overly questioning of your expertise, but after having been made to feel downright stupid by some of your replies I have to ask if there is at least one of you who does NOT sell pearls for a living. For those who do, would you be willing to tell me about your average 'mark-up?' I ask because a local jeweler, who I know very well, has told me that she generally marks pearls up by a factor of five so that Tahitian pearls purchased for $250.00 on the wholesale level would sell -- in her shop -- for around $1200.00. We are awaiting the arrival of her 'pearl expert' who usually comes in once a week but my friend believes that the pearls which I purchased could very well be Tahitian. She also informs me that the entire pearl industry is being over-produced and that it is increasingly difficult to make a living by retailing pearls alone. I have a feeling that most of you would agree with her.
Thanks for your help,
ercillor
 
Hi Ercillor,

I can't really comment on retail mark ups in brick and mortar jewelry stores, but that mark up does sound about right for her situation. However, the entire pearl industry is not being overproduced, and there are many who make a very good living selling pearls. I am one of them. For a brick and mortar retailing pearls alone ... even Tiffany & Co couldn't pull that off with Iridesse. Unfortunately, if you spend a few hours on this Website and read the articles and discussions, not only will you know more about pearls than your friend, there's a good chance you will know more than the expert that is coming in.

But her mark up would be irrelevant. The seller is in China. There may be Tahitian pearl wholesalers in China, but they aren't original suppliers. Tahitian pearls don't come from China.

If the pearls are 10-11 mm, you've got about 41 pearls in the strand. My guess is that the pearls are actually 9.5-10.5 mm. That would make them about $6 apiece. We have plenty of Tahitian pearl farmers on this board that would tell you based on that alone, there is no way that the pearls are Tahitian. Unless that nacre is peeling and the nucleus is showing, and the pearls smuggled out of Tahiti after they were to be disposed of, you don't have a Tahitian strand of pearls.

Most of the members here can recognize fw vs Tahitian from even a grainy photo, which is why I asked you to post one.

http://www.tradetang.com/wholesale+tahitian+pearls.html Those are all freshwater pearls.
 
jshepherd said:
Hi Ercillor,

I can't really comment on retail mark ups in brick and mortar jewelry stores, but that mark up does sound about right for her situation. However, the entire pearl industry is not being overproduced, and there are many who make a very good living selling pearls. I am one of them. For a brick and mortar retailing pearls alone ... even Tiffany & Co couldn't pull that off with Iridesse. Unfortunately, if you spend a few hours on this Website and read the articles and discussions, not only will you know more about pearls than your friend, there's a good chance you will know more than the expert that is coming in.

But her mark up would be irrelevant. The seller is in China. There may be Tahitian pearl wholesalers in China, but they aren't original suppliers. Tahitian pearls don't come from China.

If the pearls are 10-11 mm, you've got about 41 pearls in the strand. My guess is that the pearls are actually 9.5-10.5 mm. That would make them about $6 apiece. We have plenty of Tahitian pearl farmers on this board that would tell you based on that alone, there is no way that the pearls are Tahitian. Unless that nacre is peeling and the nucleus is showing, and the pearls smuggled out of Tahiti after they were to be disposed of, you don't have a Tahitian strand of pearls.

Most of the members here can recognize fw vs Tahitian from even a grainy photo, which is why I asked you to post one.

http://www.tradetang.com/wholesale+tahitian+pearls.html Those are all freshwater pearls.
Click to expand...

Capture.jpgCapture.jpg

If you wouldn't tell me that ALL the pearls there are FW, I would think that this picture is of Tahitian silver peacock drops... Price is not, but from image only, I would say Tahitian... shows me that I'm not such an expert yet....
 
I agree that there are some pictures of Tahitians there. Yesterday there was a picture pulled from our Website that was on TradeTang. But that doesn't make their product Tahitian. The photos just posted above were stolen from ES Pearl.
 
I agree, absurdly cheap. If they were the right prices for those pearls then we are doing our buying all wrong somewhere along the line!
I reckon that some of them aren't even real pearls - the big round ones are most likely shell fakes
 
I understand how the poster would feel stupid. I have too, on more than one occasion! I do not buy or sell pearls as a rule. I am a perpetual pearl scholar as are many of us here.

But we really don't know what he has without a photo. I am thinking of some Tahitians Jose sold for less than $300. They were small and circled, but the variety of colors in the strands was astounding, so it is possible to have some Tahitians for that price. However they would be 'faulty' Tahitians such as heavily circled and with incomplete colors or just very silver gray, without overtones.

However, I do know there are virtually no Tahitians going through China before going out to the world. The Chinese could not buy them any cheaper than anyone else, so they would automatically be more money than the pearls Jose gets directly from Tahiti.

What the Chinese do do is sell larger freshwater pearls that have been dyed to look like Tahitians. I know. I have several strands from Gem Shows. I paid $10.00 for my first such strand of 12mm in 2005 at the gem show in Tucson, where I live. The way you can tell they are freshwaters is by the price. My last such strand cost about $250.00 for pearls around 12-13mm and it was large off round dyed freshwaters dyed with wonderful Aubergine overtones. These are pretty pearls and most people assume they are Tahitians. They are actually larger than many Tahitians, but they are off round, though most do not notice that, either.

If the pearls are the size, claimed, they are about the right price for freshwaters that size, at today's prices.
 
I'v e got some strands like that Caitlin. IN fact I was knotting one up yesterday for the website. I sat there thinking how like perfect peacocks they were...green with a purple/aubergine eye from any direction. (no pic as yet)
Which leads me to another thought. With such great look alikes of tahitians and white south seas in freshwaters, (and I'm sure goldens either about or imminent) where will that leave the more expensive industries. While some will always want the real thing, when the freshwater version looks and feels the same and costs a tenth, how many will vote with their wallet.
It is happening with akoya as quality of freshwaters comes up to them for a fraction of the price...
 
I remember post I made years ago about how Freshwaters can mimic about any other kind of Pearl! And they can fool all but the experts. Whenever in doubt, guess freshwater. You will only be wrong less than half of the time.
 
I bought a strand of large, dyed freshwaters that resembled baroque Tahitians at a gem show. I knew what they were and liked them enough to buy them, but the seller (Chinese) was insisting they were abalone pearls! At another gem show I attended, certain Chinese sellers were insisting their freshies were Akoyas. The truth does not seem to matter to some, if they can just sell the pearls.
 
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