TJ Maxx Strand - photos and some questions

[marumari]

Greetings; I am new here and this is my first post. I am a jewelry enthusiast with intermediate knowledge of precious metals and faceted/non-organic gems, but I'm a total novice when it comes to pearls. I have been an admirer, however, for years, and I recently spotted something interesting at my local TJ Maxx. I am wondering if I've done alright. (These are my first pearls aside of a nice if sort of plain-looking 100-inch strand my mother bought me for christmas).

I paid $299 + tax for this necklace. The tag indicates they're FWP (confirmation of this plus any additional information would be most appreciated), and the clasp is stamped 14k FIC (any idea what the FIC part means? Extensive searches have yielded little useful information), and the diameters range from 12-15mm. Preliminary research seems to indicate that they are of reasonably good luster and size. There are a few pits, wrinkles, bubbles etc. on their surfaces (see photos), but these are not visible from any kind of distance and there are no cracks or peeling. They look and feel very nice to wear.

I can have a refund with receipt within 30 days. I just want to be sure that these were a more or less worthwhile purchase for what I paid. Thanks in advance for any/all help!

Quick facts:

Definitely real
12-15mm in diameter
round/near round
varying shades
Clasp stamped 14k FIC (anyone know what the FIC means??)
Labelled "FWP" on tag
Pearls are attractively shiny, but have minor flaws (pits, bumps, wrinkles)
Paid $300

 

[pattye]

Welcome, Marumari,

You've come to the best place to learn about pearls! Yes, you have cultured freshwater pearls with a bead inside, with natural (not dyed) colors. I feel you did ok with the price. The pearls look like they have good luster in some of the photos. It's not easy to take good pics of pearls.

You look lovely in your new pearls! We have peeps here who get extremely creative with a 100 inch strand, which is a terrific wardrobe basic for many of us!

 

[marumari]

not to question your expertise, but because I learn best when I understand the "why" of things, how do you know they're bead nucleated? Or that they're undyed?

Thank you very much for your input

And thanks! I have also come upon a lovely white gold locket with a hinged bail that I'm looking forward to trying out on my 100 inch pearls

 

[KarinK]

Hi and welcome!

If you hang out here, this will probably only be the first of many pearl purchases

If a tag says Freshwater, there's no need to worry. It's when it says akoya, south sea or tahitian, sound sceptisismen comes in handy.

The pearls have a nice size and look great on you. If you want to compare on-line prices, you can safely browse any store you find in the signatures on the forum.

- Karin

 

[dkan 168]

The shape of the pearls (some noticeably "potato" in shape), the appearance of the surface imperfections that could be observed, and the unevenness of the colours amongst the pearls, made me come to the same conclusion as pattye, and she has seen and handled a lot more pearls than I have.

Good price for the strand though as already mentioned by pattye.

DK

 

[Pearl Dreams]

One point-- although your pearls are clearly genuine freshwaters (looking at surface marks), over the years I bought 2 strands at T J Maxx that were sold as cultured pearls, but which on closer examination with a loupe were imitations. I returned them both and learned not to trust T.J. Maxx. Now I always do my own simple test right in the store before buying-- rub two pearls together and see if there is any resistance (real nacre has a bit of resistance)-- and then examine them with a loupe as soon as I get home.

Last year I bought a large strand with a T.J. Maxx store tag that said "Freshwater pearls" and a manufacturer's tag (Lucoral brand) that had a "cultured pearls" sticker on it, and these were fake.

On a small strand I bought about 10 years ago, the tag said "cultured pearls 14K" but they proved to be fake, with a base metal clasp! I actually wrote to corporate offices to complain that time.

Now getting to your questions, freshwater pearls are being bead-nucleated to get those very large sizes (15mm) and very round shapes. I assume there is a little distortion in your photo and that all the pearls are round? Freshwaters that do not have a bead inside will tend to be considerably smaller and/or off-round.

Those are colors that occur naturally in freshwater pearls. If they were colors that do not occur naturally in fwp, like green, blue, red, black, etc. then we'd know they had been dyed.

But you know, I have to say if the largest pearls on your strand are bead nukes without being ripples, the price is pretty amazing. I've seen ripples at T.J. Maxx (not cheap) but not the smooth large round ones.

 

[KarinK]

Last year I bought a large strand with a T.J. Maxx store tag that said "Freshwater pearls" and a manufacturer's tag (Lucoral brand) that had a "cultured pearls" sticker on it, and these were fake.

Good point, Pearl Dreams!

- Karin

 

[BAS]

Well, if they are bead nucleated Chinese freshwater pearls, are they what are now being called "Edisons" by whichever farm happened to grow these?

 

[JerseyPearl]

Here is a IRL photo of my Edisons from PP

 

[JerseyPearl]

To my untrained eye, the TJ pearls look pretty darn good...you can see there are some differences, but the size of the pearls are 12-15mm in my strand as well. Looks like you got a nice deal, and certainly for the price, a lovely strand to wear and enjoy!

 

[BAS]

JerseyPearl -- Thanks for shots of your Edisons to compare with marumari's purchase!!!

 

[JerseyPearl]

Thanks BAS,And here is a neck shot as well.

 

[JerseyPearl]

duplicate, sorry

 

[Pearl Dreams]

I had an errand today that took me past a nearby T. J. Maxx, so I went in, hoping to see a strand like the one bought by marumari.

They had one! It was 12-15mm, $299, rather pale multicolored FWP with a 14K clasp. Judging from the photos above, the strand I saw was not quite as clean as the one marumari bought (had more blemishes). Also the center pearl was too large next to the pearls on either side of it-- the graduation was a bit too sharp.

Now here is the interesting thing. While most of the pearls were bead nucleated (judging from the very round shape, the surface characteristics and a very small bare patch on one pearl) I think a few of the smaller pearls were solid nacre. Unless they are implanting considerably-off-round nuclei, the strand was a mix of primarily bead-nucleated pearls with a few solid nacre pearls. The pearls that I thought were solid nacre had better luster than the other pearls.

While these strands being sold at T. J. Maxx cannot compete with Edisons for quality or luster, the improvement in what the store is carrying is promising. Maybe by next year we'll be seeing strands of even better quality, at similarly affordable prices.

Edit:
Okay, I have discovered from a little hunting around the Web that there are lots of non-round bead nucleated freshwaters. I've seen button-shaped in-body bead nukes and others even less round. So, I suppose the entire strand I saw is bead-nuked after all.

So, why are they using off-round beads to nucleate the freshwaters in-body?

 

[marumari]

Thank you everyone for your answers! I feel pretty fabulous in the necklace, so I'll probably keep it. I think you're right though - there are more pearls on the horizon for me.

(I think I need to try on some golden south sea pearls and see if they work with my fleshtone - love them)

 

[JerseyPearl]

marumari your strand is quite lovely on your neck. I find the colors of these pearls adjust to what you are wearing and your skin tone. Feeling fabulous is what it's all about! So enjoy your fantastic TJ find...you got a bargain!

 

[lisa c]

Darn, that looks good Jersey!
Well done, marumari!

beautiful...

 

[Sea Urchin]

Wow, great deal you got there! Granted I'm no expert, but I'd expect that strand to cost several times what you paid, at the very least.

 

[kchronister]

One point-- although your pearls are clearly genuine freshwaters (looking at surface marks), over the years I bought 2 strands at T J Maxx that were sold as cultured pearls, but which on closer examination with a loupe were imitations. I returned them both and learned not to trust T.J. Maxx. Now I always do my own simple test right in the store before buying-- rub two pearls together and see if there is any resistance (real nacre has a bit of resistance)-- and then examine them with a loupe as soon as I get home.

Last year I bought a large strand with a T.J. Maxx store tag that said "Freshwater pearls" and a manufacturer's tag (Lucoral brand) that had a "cultured pearls" sticker on it, and these were fake.

On a small strand I bought about 10 years ago, the tag said "cultured pearls 14K" but they proved to be fake, with a base metal clasp! I actually wrote to corporate offices to complain that time...

Out of curiousity, was that base metal clasp stamped 14K, or only the tag said so?

Having worked at places that sold to overstock retailers and being familiar with their acquisition & QA process, I would very much suspect they did not purposely sell mis-marked pearls. But in buying you have to consider the venue, because a general retailer/overstock/clearance outlet scenario just structurally has more chance of a problem:

As an overstock/clearance specialist, they are often not buying from the original creator of the product... they are typically buying second-generation goods: Something another retailer returned, ordered and didn't take, leftovers from a discontinued 'last year's style' line, etc. So although you complained, they may not even KNOW where the "not gold" clasp or "not pearls' beads originated to take further action...

For QA, they are probably buying large lots of merchandise and spot-checking them rather than doing one-by-one verification. A mislabeled gold clasp, for instance, likely originated at the supplier rather than at the store level.

They may even be buying "mixed lots" of "I have all this various pearl jewelry left over," so then you have additional potential for mix-up during the sorting-out process - typically a process not being performed by a pearls specialist in that scenario!

All of this plays into why their prices are good: they buy cheaply and it's 'efficient'. But it's also exactly why an extra heapin-helpin' of 'check it three times, then check again' is a good idea there.

Of course, the fact their buyer is probably a jewelry generalist (or even just an 'accessories' buyer) rather than focused on pearls contributes to the "they can get fooled too" issue.

 

[Pearl Dreams]

The clasp was not stamped...only the tag said it was 14K.