Recent content by jshepherd

Is the piece stamped Mikimoto? What about the size of the pearls? Pearls have no internationally recognized grading or valuation standards. An appraisal will always been subjective and they can vary widely. It really comes down to their best guess, which might not have any correlation between...

They are definitely not called China AK in this forums. The term China AK (or Freshwater Akoya) is misleading. Akoya pearls are saltwater pearls cultured in Pinctada fucata oysters, while these new Chinese bead-nucleated pearls are cultured in freshwater Hyriopsis cumingii. While some...

It has very little value, unfortunately. Pearls like this are worth a few dollars at most.

They are imitation pearls.

https://www.pearl-guide.com/threads/psa-fake-giant-clam-pearls-tridacna-gigas.462343/

Years ago I made the mistake of smelling it. Never again. I also made the mistake of pouring some on my hand to remove epoxy. Also, never again. I've gotten a bit older and wiser over the years :ROFLMAO:

I would suggest puncturing the metal piece instead of trying to remove it. Attack is very strong. You will feel the burn if you get it on your hands. With a small puncture, it is possible to wet just the tip of a Q-tip or squirt just a little bit into a small container for soaking without spilling.

No, it's a piece of shell. It has no value. You can read more about them here - https://www.pearl-guide.com/threads/psa-fake-giant-clam-pearls-tridacna-gigas.462343/

No, it is a scam. It's difficult to keep track of all these scam pearl sites popping up from China. Facebook and Instagram don't do anything about them, unfortunately. Here is a link to a few more of these scam sites. Most of them seem to be run by the same group of people.

It's an 8.5-9 mm freshadama strand. I think it's a still shot from a video.

There are, but I did not see any genuine Vietnamese Akoya pearls being sold in Vietnam - even in the pearl specialty shops. They were all Chinese freshwater pearls. The Akoya that do grow in Vietnam do not stay in the local market. They go to Bangkok (as Cees mentioned) or to Japan to be...

Freshwater pearl go through a bleaching process that whitens and evens out the tones. The chemicals used are mixed at the processor's factory, and if the mixture is too strong or if they were left in too long, it can damage the nacre. If you just bought this strand a couple of days ago and can...

I think these are the same photos for an earlier thread. Yes, this can happen to solid nacre freshwater pearls. If they arrived this way, they are likely poorly processed, causing nacre issues. These are real pearls, they are just very low quality.