Wish pearls (pah!)

[pearlescence]

I just got ths from a would-be supplier - just to put on record the prices of these wretched things..
US $263.16 - 309.00 / lot
Free Shipping 100 pieces / lot US $2.63 - 3.09 / piece Min. Order : 1 lot
Valentine's Day love /wish pearl
Valentine's Day love /wish pearl
US $263.16 - 309.00 / lot
Free Shipping 100 pieces / lot US $2.63 - 3.09 / piece Min. Order : 1 lot
Valentine's Day love /wish pearl
lucky/Love /wish Pearl MIX Gift Box...
US $263.16 - 309.00 / lot
Free Shipping 100 pieces / lot US $2.63 - 3.09 / piece Min. Order : 1 lot
lucky/Love /wish Pearl MIX Gift Box Valentine's Day
lucky/Love /wish Pearl MIX Gift Box...

 

[KarinK]

Hi Wendy,

It is not quite clear to me what the prices are for, but it might just be my ignorence.

- Karin

 

[Adeline Leigh]

Hmmm, me too, Wendy. (Frowning) Pretty cryptic but rather intriguing; pray tell, what is this?

 

[jshepherd]

It's a price list for these...

http://www.wishpearl.us/

 

[lilliefuzzysocks]

QVC the shopping channel has been pushing these with an assortment of pendants to pop them into. http://www.qvc.com/qic/qvcapp.aspx/...earl-Goldtone-Cultured-Pearl-Pendant-w18Chain

 

[Caitlin]

We have had a kind of running conversation on wish pearls over several threads and several years. It is kind of an in joke, I guess, but a perusal of old posts might reveal it.

From Lilliefs' post, we are about to see a surge in this kind of Disney take on commercial pearls!!!!!!!!!!!! Pardon while I run for the barf-bucket.

 

[lilliefuzzysocks]

QVC must be making money selling wish pearls they have been doing it for years. Who knows, someone who started with a wish pearl, then decided to buy big girl pearls. I know many who buy Honora are now buying from Pearl Paradise.

 

[Caitlin]

And you, dear LFS, are probably a major reason why! Your unceasing educational efforts on behalf of real pearl knowledge is being felt through out the Honora universe! Kudos!

 

[lilliefuzzysocks]

We don't talk negativly about Honora, we don't talk about them at all. Many don't have a clue what great quality pearls really look like or where they can be obtained. I am so greatful to have found vendors who sell what I am looking for, truthfully grading each item consistantly. It makes buying pearls over the internet a pleasant experience. Who wouldn't want to share that with girlfriends, real or virtural?

 

[pearlescence]

I sometimes find myself watching the Honora and other pearl sellers on QVC, from behind the sofa with my fingers over my eyes.....It isn't so much the pearls, which are what they are and nothing wrong with that, it is the hyperbole of the sellers, bigging them up which is so cringeworthy at times

 

[Caitlin]

LFS: Of course you don't! The Honora pearls are fine and wonderful, if you never go further into pearls than that, but those who love that iridescence are just waiting to discover fancy pearls and if you are there, willing to show them some real pearls, then they want both/and! That is total win/win. I still see some commercial pieces I would wear. I just don't want to pay the prices, any more.

Wendy
the less important the pearls, the greater the hyperbole? That's why the pearl in a can gets the greatest hyperbole of all! I'll meet you at the barf bucket!

 

[Adeline Leigh]

It's a price list for these...

http://www.wishpearl.us/

Enlightenment! Good grief, do people actually buy such stuff?

Wait a minute, I was one of these suckers just 5 years ago! My moment of epiphany was when I tablulated how much I was spending, season after season, on Liz Clairborne's and Monet's limited edition (as if!) Marjorica pearls and faux crystal. Convinced myself I could do a better job with real gemstones and CFW pearls and taught myself how.

And PG has been instrumental in my 'education'; I lurked for 2 years (as that a record or what) before gaining enough insight and courage to post.

 

[Marianne]

The only canned mollusk product worth a dime would be smoked oysters..... IMHO Thanks for outing them Wendy!

 

[ennui]

QVC must be making money selling wish pearls they have been doing it for years. Who knows, someone who started with a wish pearl, then decided to buy big girl pearls. I know many who buy Honora are now buying from Pearl Paradise.

It's not only QVC; I've seen Wish Pearls at JCPenney and tourist-y gift shop places. Sometimes, grandmothers don't know what to buy young girls.

 

[pearlescence]

There's a pearl company (bricks and) which sells them in its shops which are in tourist locations. This wish pearl thing irritates me because I get the fall out from the whole speil they do on what a fabulous pearl, worth thousands routine and it is some mid quality poor little potato pearl sitting there...I just never know what to say - they think they have something so wonderful and rare and genuine...

 

[Jeweljunke]

I think an inexpensive wish pearl is fine and fun for very young children. I know my 10 year old niece and her 7 year old sister, who both love jewelry and who have expensive jewelry thanks to Aunt Dian, would find it fun and interesting to open a wish pearl.

Dian

 

[Adeline Leigh]

I think an inexpensive wish pearl is fine and fun for very young children. I know my 10 year old niece and her 7 year old sister, who both love jewelry and who have expensive jewelry thanks to Aunt Dian, would find it fun and interesting to open a wish pearl.

Dian

Hey D., did I only just know your real name?!

Not just your kiddies, count moi in!

Check out this post by one of my online pals, Fiona, who opened her own mussels and fished for her own pearls in Suzhou; what a thrill! And all for $8 to boot. Here's the URL to her blog and her introductory paragraph:
http://www.lifeonnanchanglu.com/2011/09/diving-for-pearls-in-three-feet-of.html

"These shining bright pearls were birthed by me - yes! delivered into the world! - by plunging my hands into the wet and dripping muscular pseudopod insides of a giant pearl-filled mussel, oozing mud and brackish pond water, by the side of a lake in Suzhou, and forcing them one at a time from their slimy mollusc nest. If that little description doesn't make you feel squeamish, read on."

Fiona loves pictures, just like us, so go there have a peek!

 

[pearlescence]

that looks different, the real deal. These wish pearl things are pickled molluscs in tins, where the pearl is salted, like gold in a played out mine to mislead

 

[Jeweljunke]

Adeline, Yep, that's me, Dian (sounds like Diane). Wow, that looks like fun. I would do it in a heartbeat! The photos are fabulous. Loved the photo of the boats. Yikes!

Wendy, I think adults who buy these for children know exactly what they are and are not mislead...

 

[Caitlin]

They are like Hallmark cards......