There is a lot of stuff to repond to on this forum and I don't know if anyone is till reading this thread but here is some info.
One person mentioned that they tried to find out some info on the USGL's domain. The information is on Network Solution's whois lookup.. the link is here:
http://www.networksolutions.com/whois/results.jsp?whoistoken=0 This has all of the registration info about the domain. Second, the website is here:
http://www.usgl.us/about.html. A physical address is on the website but I find it interesting that the website is copyrighted 2005-- however, that may only mean that they did a redesign and changed the copyright appropriately.
Enough in their favor. Here's the scoop on the USGL... Many jewelry insurance underwriters are warned to be very wary of USGL certs. Thje reason is that the certs are requested and paid for by the sellers and are items very often given inflated values in order to please the seller as the sellers are 90% of the USGL's business. Most insurance underwriters are advised to request an independant appraisal by a GIA trained gemologist. This can be pricey but worth the fee for the security of having an accurate appraisal. I believe Labtrade Laboratory is also reputable but don't take my word for that.... when in doubt, go to the GIA. Also, gemology clubs and associations might be a good source of info.
Something I noticed in the feedbacks of the seller mentioned in the first post is that he seemed to have some sort of snide answer to every negative feedback and always seemed to blame the seller for not having good vision, being crazy, etc.... this is a bad sign of someone without ethics and unwilling to take resposibility for his bad faith actions. Be wary and read the feedbacks any time you consider bidding on ebay. the anonymity of the practice of online auctions can be a breeding ground for less than honest people. Ther are honest sellers on ebay but there are also dishonest ones... trust the feedbacks and look at how the seller reponds to negative feedbacks... it's very telling.
As for Neimans, the jewelry they sell is genuine and of decent quality but it's definitely not of the quality they advertise. The USGL certs they offer are, once again, paid for by the buyer and since they need such a volume of the certs, the USGL likely overestimates the value of the items in order to keep Neiman's business. One other thing about those auctions (both live and online)... the gemstones and metals are real and the quality is so-so but one thing that allows them to sell for such low prices is that the gem setting is usually done in countries such a China where they can get the setting done for .25 per stone because there is a lot of available labor over there and the labor is very cheap. If you buy something on a Neiman's (or similar auction) for a low price, it's probably only worth that price.
Now for pearls--- if an ebay seller is selling a strand of Akoya pearls with an estimated retail value of 4,000.00 for cheap (I've seen a lot of them for like 89-100.00) be wary. Akoya pearls are expensive for a very good and unfudgeable reason.... growing a pearl, even when the growth is stimulated by man, is a natural process. oysters are not machines that just spit out perfectly matched sets of pearls on demand. because the growth process is still a natural one, it is not easy to get 30 well matched pearls even if you get a crop of a thousand. It is for this reason that a well-perfectly matched set of pearls is so expensive (and don't forget that jewelers mark up items too). Lately, China has begun growing Akoya pearls using a different process which is still natural but they do take a short cut to growing. However, these pearls are nearly indistiguishable from genuine Japanese Akoya pearls and are mitigating pearl prices because China has such a huge labor force and can grow hundreds of thousands of pearls. This is a similar situation to the replacement of natural diamonds by Moissanite.... I would not be ashamed to own a moissanite gemstone--- it is so similar to a diamond in every repect that it takes a trained Gemologist to tell the difference. many of the lower priced pearls on the market are the Chinese grown Akoya style pearls--- they are good quality but not true Akoyas and will still cost you some money.
Hope this helps y'all! Just be careful--- there are alot of honest, goos sellers on ebay too and if you pay attention, you will find them.
