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My tahitians are in!!! Pics and Micropics.

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RockHugger

RockHugger

Ideal_Rock
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Nov 10, 2009
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They are in! They are a dark grey, with a light forest green overtone. They actuall seem to have a light rainbow effect. The blue in the last picture isnt accurate..for some reason pics taken in my livingroom always have a blue tint...?
2 of them are 99% clean, only one SMALL (Almost eye clean) dimple on both of them. The other has a few more noticable dimples, but pretty anyway.

Pearls in the pretty boxes the came in...

pearls1ksps (2).JPG
 
On my hand...they are like marbles and were trying to roll away!

pearls2ksps.JPG
 
and my favorite :-D you can really see the green in them..

pearlspsks4.JPG
 
Wowza! Beautiful and huge. What are your plans with them?
 
microshots...100% real pearls. Dont even need to take to a jewler to verify these pictures. Taken at 100-120x.

pearlsmicropsks.jpg
 
Date: 2/25/2010 11:22:20 AM
Author: RockHugger
and my favorite :-D you can really see the green in them..
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Beautiful, how big and where did you get them from, was that the private sellor on Ebay?
 
microshot of another pearl...again 100% real. They were sold as NATURAL (not cultured) pearls, so Im not sure if thats true or not. I dont feel like paying for an x ray either. So I will assume cultured.

pearlsmicropsps2.jpg
 
Yes, these are the 3 I got for 70$ from the private ebay seller. Its always more risk to buy from private sellers vrs reputable dealers, but you can get one heck of a deal if you are lucky! I seek out private sellers for that reason.

I want to make 2 into danglie earrings, and the 3d into a necklace.
 
Very nice rockhugger! See what happened here... you bought one strand of pearls and now you are a pearl junkie! Congrats and have fun!!!
 
I will start to worry when I start crushing them up and snorting them! It took over a month of treatment to get over my gemstone addiction....
 
Date: 2/25/2010 2:24:29 PM
Author: RockHugger
I will start to worry when I start crushing them up and snorting them! It took over a month of treatment to get over my gemstone addiction....
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HAH! I just snorted myself!





They're just gorgeous
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do you have any earring and pendant designs in mind?
 
What a steal! They are just lovely! Can''t wait to see them set!!
 
Very pretty!
 
I forgot to write in here, sorry.

Those micro pics are really cool! It looks like finger prints all over the pearl..

I look forward to seeing what you do with them! Great buy too
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Ok, don't slam me for this.. and first I wanna say they look very nice. But, they remind me very much of tahitian shell pearls I've seen. What makes me say this is the color, orient, and how clean the surface is,. The few times I've seen shell pearls, they've looked pretty much just like these photos. Then again, it could just be the pics and or my monitor, and i am by no means a pearl expert so take what I say with a grain of salt.

Either way, they're very pretty.
 
The magnification rules that out. These I know for a fact are real pearls.
 
Yeah, I was gonna say, RockHugger mentioned they had small blemishes but ever shell pearl I have seen is perfect.....
 
Yeah, I have no idea what real pearls vs fake look like under magnification. I''ve read so much conflicting stuff on it that I can''t even comment
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And as I''ve never seen either under magnifcation I can''t even make a guess. So trusting your judgment. I guess I''m jaded with ebay after having a few bad experiences.

y2kitty- the better shell pearls are no longer blemish free. they''re now trying to make them more realisitic looking.
 
Date: 3/10/2010 8:09:53 AM
Author: y2kitty
Yeah, I was gonna say, RockHugger mentioned they had small blemishes but ever shell pearl I have seen is perfect.....
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The 1 pearl has a few dimples. 2 of them have only 1 dimple each. But the magnification shows the scales. I am pretty sure (although not 100%) shell pearls dont have the scales. But correct me if I am wrong please.
 
But shell pearls don''t pass the tooth test correct? At least all my Majorica don''t. So that would be an easy way of telling. A real pearl feels gritty on your teeth and an imitation feels like nothing.
 
they are lovely! I think the necklace will be fantastic. im a real fan of pearls and these have such a great colour too!
 
Date: 3/10/2010 11:32:50 AM
Author: y2kitty
But shell pearls don''t pass the tooth test correct? At least all my Majorica don''t. So that would be an easy way of telling. A real pearl feels gritty on your teeth and an imitation feels like nothing.
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Well, this is where conflicting info. comes in.
Depeding on the quality/brand, they can in fact feel gritty.
Some sites said there''s no graining, some sites said with the higher quality fakes, there is in fact graining and rings but it''s larger than natural pearls.

I have no idea what to believe. Maybe Pearlie can chime in?
 
I am no expert. They look too round to be dyed FW. Color doesn''t seem to be dyed. But 3 Tahitian pearls for $70 is quite unusual. The seller must have sold it at a loss. Even wholesale price for 8-9mm was $20 each in 2004, according to a thread in another forum.
 
Date: 3/10/2010 9:15:25 PM
Author: HHPmom
I am no expert. They look too round to be dyed FW. Color doesn''t seem to be dyed. But 3 Tahitian pearls for $70 is quite unusual. The seller must have sold it at a loss. Even wholesale price for 8-9mm was $20 each in 2004, according to a thread in another forum.
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The seller wasnt a vendor. She was selling 2 things at that time that were part of her personall collection. She said she paid MUCH more for them.
 
Those are huge. Great colour.
 
With only a couple photos to go by, those certainly look like cultured black pearls to me. In other words, the real deal.

What size are these? 12mm?

$70 is a heck of a price for 3, but not unheard of.

OK, on to the ''tooth test''. I can feel my blood pressure climbing just at the thought of this. Whoever came up with this has done a huge disservice to the pearl industry.

If any of you take your pearls to a jeweler - or anyone else - for identification, and they put your pearls in their mouth......stop them immediately, pick up your gems, and high-tail it out of there. That''s the mark of an amateur.

A professional would never, never, never put pearls in their mouth. That''s like walking up to a painting and scratching it with your fingernails to see if it''s real or if it''s a photograph.

There is some truth to the ''gritty'' feel of a pearl rubbed across the surface of your front tooth. Pearl nacre is laid down in uneven, concentric layers. If we were to view nacre under high magnification, it would look like tiny bricks. So, yes, there is sometimes an unevenness to the surface which CAN feel kinda rough-ish.

But here''s where the problems start. Unless you know what you''re doing, or you have other items to compare it too, how will you know what "gritty" feels like? And a very high quality freshwater pearl will feel different from a lower quality Akoya which will feel different from a South Sea.....and on and on.

Next problem. Fakes. Majorcan Pearls are fakes. They are not shell pearls, they are glass beads dipped in fish scales and glue. And some of them can "tooth" kinda/sorta like a real pearl. They don''t tooth like plastic, they don''t tooth like glass beads.

Next problem. Shell pearls. Shells are composed of the same materials as pearls. So guess how they''re going to feel against your tooth?!

Next problem. Composite pearls, or Orient pearls. These are shells that have been ground down and reconstituted into the shape of a pearl bead. Again, it''s shell material, it''s layers of aragonite and conchiolin, so they''re going to have a roughness to them.

You will not find answers to your pearl questions in your teeth. Careful observation and consideration is what will give you the information you need to determine a real pearl from a fake.

First, pearls have heft. Compared to plastic, for example.

Second, pearls are not perfect. You may not only find surface blemishes, but also an unevenness in color and luster.

Third, pearls have somewhat of a translucency, or depth to them. This is what I see in RH''s pictures. Dyed or irradiated pearls are flat in color and seem one dimentional.

One more thing, please. As a buyer/consumer, please never never never put pearls in your mouth (unless you already own them). If you cannot trust a seller to tell you honestly what the item is, then that is a trust deficit that cannot be overcome. 10+ years in this business, only twice I''ve had people attempt to put pearls in their mouth, and I cannot tell you how offended I am by this. I exhibit at art shows, with a booth full of fine cultured pearls of all varieties, and after spending 10 -15 minutes with someone explaining and describing what they''re looking at - they want to put the necklace in their mouth to see if the pearls are "real".

Go back to what I said earlier. Substitute pearl jewelry for fine paintings. If after explaining my paintings and techniques, an art show patron then wants to scratch a small corner to see if I was telling the truth or not........well, you get the idea.

Long post. Thanks for indulging me. Hope this clarifies that toothie thing for y''all.

julie.
 
Pearlie- Tell us what you really think
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But seriously, thanks for the informative post.
 
Pearlie...thanks again for your expertise in this matter. I too would be highly insulted and "pissed" for lack of a better word if someone did a tooth/scratch test to my art! It would take all that I have in me not to rip their teeth out of their head!!
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j/k .... RH..... seriously, you look to have a lovely set of pearls! Enjoy them knowing that every once in awhile you can get a lovely deal on Ebay!!!
 
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