I posted some pictures of our (Jeremy, Caitlin, and Heather) Tahitians "finds" from my phone in my albums. I'll eventually figure out how to get them here, but these were astoundingly, scum of the earth, ugly and disfigured organic misrepresentations of our beloved Tahitian pearl. It was flabbergasting to hear the seller tell Jeremy (in Mandarin) that these HOLLOW BROKEN pieces were all pearl. It actually looked like hardened mud in part of the shell. I say shell because the nacre was so thin it had cracked and the holes were at least 1/4" in diameter. I guess I got what I asked for. It is really impossible to believe that anyone would buy any of these strands for the $35. to $80. price range. We joked that, if they had been $10., we might have bought one for dramatic comparison.