Recent content by kchronister

Great question! We normally show pearls on white background. It's a combination of showing the product best overall vs. total online experience. Having said that, some of our partners show them on gray/shaded backgrounds, and it has not hurt their performance. I think in the end it's the...

As others have said, have your jeweler pay some attention to the diamond prongs. One of the great things about a 6-prong setting is that failure of one prong doesn't make the diamond unstable. But failure of two prongs could put you in the danger zone... It's really impossible to say for sure...

The documentation and getting in is crucial of course, but let me reiterate another point Katbran made that's nearly as important: Comfortable Shoes. I once (once!) made the mistake of wearing new shoes to an industry show. There is no misery worse: The blisters of day 1 will be the festering...

Other than James Gandolfini being dead... I'd view that as a compliment, Mr. Sheperd!

I've read it... a testament to my ability to choke down nausea, I suppose. For my part, I look forward to a more positive viewpoint of our industry via http://www.powerofpearlmovie.com/... I hope to see that completed soon. The trailer is tres interessant indeed!

Though it may sound odd from a guy in "the pearl business"... I have no problem with imitations. My wife owns some seriously-decadent genuine pearls - and on special occasions, loves wearing them. But it's her shell-pearls and imitations that she wears daily. They look great, and if they get...

Hey thanks for the responses and sorry to have got all tied up with stuff this week... I would have said "badly-restrung-but-okay/decent-quality cultured akoya" if it were up to me. Having said that.. dayum! Someone did a worse-even-than-usual-amateur job on these with what looks like fishing...

We get a fair number of inquiries on the "what kind of pearls do I have?" basis, and normally tell folks to head over here to get an expert/group opinion. Had a first today though: someone flat out said "nope, too much trouble"... Okaaaay. Yet I find myself curious what the group would have...

I think they're fantastic. I'm pretty sure next Mother's Day I'll be getting my mother a necklace with one pearl for each grandchild, with each one's voice/video or picture on 'their' pearl...

As others have said, a gentle wash and some clearer photos would really help. Having said that, my gut reaction would be to lean toward imitation, because of the silver clasp. Not a hard-and-fast rule, but you less-often find genuine Akoya with silver clasp (or imitation with real gold clasp...

Totally agree! I love big bold jewelry/pearls myself. "Dainty" is fine for some, but not in my vocabulary. A couple times, my wife has even had to ask me for "something a little less over-the-top this year okay?"... Nah. Over-the-top is way too much fun!

Emiko finds the most amazing pearls and turns them into works of art. Ron and his crew truly find awesome one-of-a-kind pearls that we'd never otherwise get to see. My personal favorite is their Scorpion Brooch, but their birds are also stunning. It's all just fantastic. What an amazing company...

On top of what Pearl Dreams says about the pearls (and I agree), the clasp looks modern. 10K Yellow Gold would not have been typical for the period, nor is it stylistically 1920's looking. What it -does- look like is a standard 'filigree' style clasp that's put on thousands of modern...

Thanks for satisfying my curiousity! That's what I'd have bet on: While it's possible to find falsely-stamped "gold" items, it's about 99% less common than a misleading tag. I'm crazy enough that I carry around a loupe and always look for the stamp/hallmark, even though salespeople look at me...

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...