Unexpected Christmas Pearls

[ltlmsmfft]

I have the most amazing family ever! My 2nd cousin's husband works for an international company and they live all over the word, moving every couple of years. Right now they live in Malaysia; but, having spent so much time in Asia they have developed an awesome friendship with a pearl seller in China. I went home to Philly for Christmas and as luck would have it they flew into Philly for a big family Christmas party. My love of pearls led me to ask my cousin a bunch of questions about her pearl contact and so the next day before they left she gave me a bag with a multi colored pearl necklace and matching button earrings! I was overjoyed!!! Anyway when I put the pearls on I realized just how large they were and almost fainted. Now, they are not perfectly matched in size nor are they super high quality. They are certainly off round and I would say below the lowest quality of freshwater pearls that pp sells ( that's the only point of reference I have to judge by). I'm not sure how far below that they are in quality; but, it's not too noticeable when worn on the neck. A few of these pearls appear to be about 10.5mm!!! The only bad thing is now I know for sure I like much larger pearls than I thought of buying before. That's a terrible problem to have isn't it?

 

[ltlmsmfft]

I believe the earring posts and necklace clasp are in silver, so eventually I will have them reset and restrung with higher quality findings; but, for now I am a very happy camper!

 

[ltlmsmfft]

*sigh*. It is really hard to photograph pearl blemishes on an iphone. This pic is dark because I had to keep the lighting off the pearls to try and get a pic of the imperfections. The little dashes and spots are blemishes on the pearls.

 

[seaurchin]

Those are just beautiful. Wish I'd get some surprise pearls!

 

[akoya]

Maybe take the pics on a piece of beige or white (not sure which one better) tone of fabrics... the luster will be more obvious?

china pearl strands of good quality r not cheap too. i tihnk i used to ask PP for their metallic pearl strand. they look pretty round on the site but the pics i was shown... they r not v round. recently i went to check tmall.com (its something like a sister co of taobao.com which is part of the site that alibaba own in China) ... tmall.com r goods sold by companies to customers n they r more expensive/believed to be more reliable/better than taobao.com sellers.

anyway i checked from tmall.com, one seller in particular seem to have high rating n their multi color pearls, not v round too and the price isnt cheap too. their rounder ones ... the pricing can get a low grade akoya pearls. i think with their cost of living going up, things r getting more n more exp. maybe u shld ask them help u grab some good quality pearls to keep first lol

 

[ltlmsmfft]

Ok, here they are next to my metallic white freshadama 7.5mm strand from PP. I guess the multicolored strand is more round than I realized.

Does anybody have any tips for getting pearls appraised? I would like to take them to somebody local to see what I have; but, I have never had any jewelry appraised before. Is this something all jewelers can do?

 

[pkinnew]

I too would love surprise pearls!!! Your strand looks good next to your Freshadamas! I haven't taken pearls to be appraised but I don't think all jewelers appraise pearls so you may need to shop around to find someone certified. And I would get the cost of the appraisal upfront to make sure it's worth it. Good luck and congratulations!

 

[katbran]

I would definitely check the cost of appraisal but remember that the appraisal is more for insurance and not what you could get for them if you sold them. They are pretty and look off round to me . A nice present !

 

[ltlmsmfft]

Thank you for the advice! To be honest, I am most curious about what grade these pearls are vs how much they are worth. I like them a lot and am enjoying wearing them so the exact dollar amount is not important to me. I kind of what to know what grade they are just as a point of reference for the future. To my untrained eye they look closer to something that might be bought in one of the major department stores vs the online vendors many of us enjoy buying from. It would be nice to know where they fall on the grading level so I can use that as a benchmark for future purchases.