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This is a terrific idea. Catherine is brilliant and has all sorts of great options. She has been really good with me and I recommend her very highly.

This is really interesting, thank you for the education!

Caitlin and Jeremy, thanks for your posts, they were really helpful in providing some context. I feel much less concerned. It sounds like the probability of a low quality pearl not being spotted by an educated/informed seller is extremely low. It is also good to know that the bead nucleated...

Certificates certainly sound a bit hit and miss!

Yes, agree. You know that I did hours and hours of reading here but only realised how thin nacre could be recently. Took a while for the penny to drop, which I have to assume would be the case for most pearl laypeople. The Akoyas in particular. My questions were more to the heart of how quickly...

Thanks Dizzie, I have asked the vendor, haven't heard back. I'll see her in person on the weekend. Re the X-ray, this is kind of at the heart of my question, which is: how can you tell? I wasn't going to ask for that if the expert view here is that be nacre is likely to be okay, which it seems...

I have been through every website linked to people here and many others. I also had people on this site tell me it was unique. I'm sure you will say I should have asked sellers here if they had something not on their sites, but no, I didn't. I am just some new pearl consumer and it took me a...

I do understand, however you have limited the scope entirely to pearls that have passed checks and are part of a tight wholesale-retail link. The scope is broader than this in reality, and that is what I am commenting on. There is enough material on this site and others that demonstrates that...

This is what worries me, plus the possibility that even experienced people might not be able to tell what's good from 'bad' nacre. If bad nacre can be lustrous and anyone can think it's a good pearl - that's what concerns me.

Thanks all. My problem is identifying what reputable means, and whether even the reputable sellers can themselves be taken in by poor quality or smuggled pearls. If a hypothetical seller is a jeweller with qualifications who vouches for the strand, and the strand looks great, am I to still not...

I am revitalising this thread because of my recent 'aha' moment (which took far too long) where I realised just how thin the nacre is for marine pearls, or at least how thin it is likely to be. I can't quite get my head around necklaces that sell for many thousands of dollars that cannot be worn...

Hi Allison, it's Jan Logan. I've found their pearls to be good and prices quite variable. I did find in Melbourne that the store people weren't pearl experts, which was a bit off putting, but not a deal breaker (obviously!). Good luck! Fiona