Pearls for Soldiers in Iraq

[SGTProvera]

I am stationed in Balad Iraq where we have a bazaar that locals come to sell goods to uniformed service members. They sell knock off watches and some actual jewelry for decent prices, but we recently received some complaints about the pearls being sold. The problem is that no one expects a$25 Movado to be real, but a pearl necklace for $200 that supposedly appraises at $600 in the states, is apparently believable enough, except for by the wives the pearls are sent to.

I am a paralegal on post and have been asked to check into whether the vendor should be barred from post due to selling counterfeit or low quality pearls saying they are valuable. My problem is that no one on post knows pearls well enough to say whether the pearl price being portrayed is accurate or not; I got advice to bring in a lighter and see if the pearl burns or to order a real $600 necklace and compare them, but any investigation is on my dollar and I don?t care to create an incident by burning pearls based on some quacks advice.

I do have a girlfriend that would appreciate the pearls whether worth $200 or $600 so I wound up spending $185 on the necklace and earrings pictured in my attachment to try and take care of this investigation and Valentine?s Day all in one go. Can anyone tell me the approximate value, or give me advice on who I might need to get in touch with to get an appraisal done from Iraq? They also gave me the certificate attached, which to me looks like it could have been modified, but again I am no expert.

Thank you for any help you might be able to provide,

SGT Provera

 

[pearlescence]

The pearls look a decent deal to me for that price
why is it that everywhere in the arab world sellers want to set fire to stuff to prove how good it is. I have never set fire to any pearls and indeed, what would it show if they did or did not burn? I have no idea

I cannot tell from here whether the ones in the photo are real or not - but as to quality, that is surely a decision for the buyer to make. Price is only a function of how much someone is willing to spend to acquire the item
The certificate seems to be honest - it does not claim perfection in shape or surface.
My thought is that the complaining recipients are expecting too much - you could look at some other seller's sites (I don't sell Akoya and anyway I sell in ?GBP) but you could check out PearlParadise.com and maybe even eBay to see current prices against size and quality
cheers
wendy

 

[effisk]

Can anyone find an online seller that stocks 5.5-6mm "semi-round" akoyas?
The closest I could find is a 6.5-7mm, 16", AA+ (that's round) at $250.


What you got is not a bargain but as Wendy said, the certificate seems to be honest (that's if the pearls are akoya and not freshwater).

 

[Nerida]

They look like the real deal, although as effisk points out, the size is fairly small for akoyas. I certainly bought some Chinese grown akoyas in HK that I would describe as semiround. I think the smallest I bought were 6 - 6.5mm. The earrings look good - I think you got your money's worth Sgt Provera - and a nice gift for your girlfriend. Would they sell for $600 in the states? Perhaps in a bricks and mortar store, maybe. Probably for a couple of hundred dollars if you used a reputable online vendor.

For a novice, the best way to see if pearls are real is the fabled tooth test - rub the surface of the pearls against your teeth - almost as if you are going to gnaw at the pearl... if it feels gritty - the pearls are real pearls, if very smooth, then the pearls are imitations. This is better than the match to place a flame under the pearl to show they are not plastic. There are certainly plenty of imitation pearls that sell for more $ than you paid, too - not plastic, but higher quality beads made from crushed oyster shell.

 

[SGTProvera]

Thank you

Thank you

Thank you very much for your help. I passed the info along to our contracting people and they are going to discuss how to encourage more realistic expectations for the customers without causing incident with the vendors.

 

[Nerida]

SGT Provera -not sure if you will check for any further followup, but this should make your troops happy - I saw a fairly ordinary pair of akoya pearl earrings on 14K posts in a B&M store here in Sydney yesterday - 7mm, AA only, and $300 just for the earrings. Now I know I'm talking Aussie dollars here, but still, that makes your purchase look fantastic!

 

[effisk]

SGT Provera -not sure if you will check for any further followup, but this should make your troops happy - I saw a fairly ordinary pair of akoya pearl earrings on 14K posts in a B&M store here in Sydney yesterday - 7mm, AA only, and $300 just for the earrings. Now I know I'm talking Aussie dollars here, but still, that makes your purchase look fantastic!

PIC REMOVED

edit: re-attached the picture. For a split second, when reading Nerida's message I thought the picture was being censored by the great Australian firewall

 

[Nerida]

Effisk - I have a blank spot where you've probably added some whiz-bang graphic for us to laugh at...?

 

[Amrita]

Nerida, it showed up as a little square with a red cross inside of it on my screen. But when I clicked on it, the link worked and it opened up this page http://www.australianmade.com.au/australianmade

Hope this helps!

 

[Nerida]

Yes, I ended up finding that too... for a while I thought I might have one of effisk's specialty animated graphics.. but no, and I think this particularly jeweller wouldn't even know where the akoyas had been grown. Or even what akoyas were. Or even necessarily that they were akoyas...