Worst Article On Pearls Ever And Guess Where It Is

[Daddys Little Pearl]

I was googling a specific type of pearl today and a very interesting thing came up in my search, one of those wonderful (not) ebay guides, this one on how to tell real pearls from fakes. By the time I had read it my eyes were crossed and I did not know whether to laugh (which I was by the way) or cry ( which I wanted to). Hopefully innocent customers will not think this is an accurate portrayal of pearls at all. Will post the link here so all can see, I tried to report the article, but you can only report an article for bad language, fraud, etc and no way to report it for being factually a joke for the most part. I did vote a "no" in the "was this helpful" box. and maybe if enough people go there and vote No ebay might take the article down. Hope it ok to post this link, and please any new pearl customers do not get your pearl information from ebay regardless of who writes it, get it here on this forum, go to Pearl Paradise or one of the reputable pearl sites, or purchase a good book on pearls and get good information.
I think I will write a guide for ebay on how to buy the Brooklyn bridge, I am sure they will publish that also ( unless they have already let someone auction it off)

Here's the link, so get out your matches, curl up to your monitor and enjoy: "guide"

Daddys Little Pearl

 

[la_corsetiere]

EEEEK!!! Speck of dust!?! Guess it's time to go flame some pearls....

Sheri

 

[Magpie]

Crumbs - I'm no pearl expert, and even I can tell that's a load of nonsense. It would be good if eBay had a section where you could add comments on guides, then it would be possible to point out the factual errors for the benefit of the unsuspecting. I noticed that the author of that guide is a 'Top 1,000 reviewer', which probably means he/she spends far too much time on eBay writing the first thing that comes into his head about stuff he knows nothing about.

 

[pattye]

Recalling awhile back someone came here who had burned their golden south sea pearl to see if it was genuine and ruined it. They must have read that guide. Gives me a stomach ache.

 

[Cyril Roger Brossard]

Pattye, although I understand your point, and although submitting a pearl to fire is relatively idiotic to me, let's be reminded that the artificial nacre (link here) is flame resistant, and that fire resistance is something found in many kingdom including plant... (Atriplex sp. Maireana sp. or even Rhagodia sp.) My point here is purely academic. The protein will definitely be damaged, but by extension to the above statements we may admit that the crystal may withstand some reasonable exposure to a flame.

This said, I do agree that suggesting exposing a pearl to a naked flame is quite ridiculous.
So let me reiterate ( as I fear I might be misquoted or misunderstood)
Fire + Pearl = Tears and Shame.

 

[pearlescence]

It's very common as a sales technique in parts of arabic north africa to wave a flame at anything - shoes, handbags, ornaments...I wonder if this nonsense stems from that somehow

 

[lilliefuzzysocks]

If you're a ebay member, you can vote if the information is helpful..... I voted , did you?

 

[Marianne]

Yes, I voted too, but there was no way to leave a comment.... as in : Get this drivel off-line!!!

 

[Daddys Little Pearl]

Marianne, we actually can leave a comment, but not on articles. When any of us see a listing on ebay that is misrepresented, such as the "south sea pearl" for 99 cents from a seller in China, you can go to the bottom of the page, on the right there is a link to "report an item". From that you go to a menu, and select "fraudulant listing activities". Maybe if enough people do this, ebay might tighten things up (ok we all know that's not going to happen) But at least it is something. I wonder how many people right now own bargain "South Sea" pearls. Buyer beware.

 

[CLICLASP]

I happen to have a pearl "burnt" in a chinese shop where I liked a pearl but not the setting, the seller told me to wait and I get the pearl unglued,
I did not want to miss that moment and here it is, the pearl was not damaged at all but I would not do it myself.

 

[pattye]

Wow! And yikes! Thank you, Anna! I guess the heat loosened the glue~

 

[snufflepig]

It's very common as a sales technique in parts of arabic north africa to wave a flame at anything - shoes, handbags, ornaments...I wonder if this nonsense stems from that somehow

(as I continue with my forum stalking & off topic) - this reminds me of a train ride in China where there were vendors walking up and down the aisles selling socks, demonstrating their durability by holding a lighter under them, and tearing through the fibers with a needle, after which the sock was still intact. I'm not sure how long people expect their socks to last, but I regret passing up the opportunity to buy a pair... would have made a great conversation piece later on!

 

[sinju]

i have show one person burn pearl made from shell, and it does not burn too, for normal people they will love that method, but for some people that familiar with pearl they more trust their eyes and finger

 

[Rossweisse]

PT Barnum was right?

PT Barnum was right?

If you're a ebay member, you can vote if the information is helpful..... I voted , did you?

I was surprised to see the majority of people who did vote found the misinformation helpful. Oy vey. So once you've scraped and burned your pearls shouldn't you put them in a net bag and run them through the washing up machine?

 

[KarinK]

I was surprised to see the majority of people who did vote found the misinformation helpful. Oy vey. So once you've scraped and burned your pearls shouldn't you put them in a net bag and run them through the washing up machine?

Only with bleach. Very important!

- Karin

 

[Katbran]

I agree that Ebay seems to have dropped the ball with these guides. Obviously anyone can write anything and call it a guide. That's just terrible.

 

[pearlescence]

And then use a wire brush to buff up the lustre.....

 

[Renna]

Okay...maybe I'm mean, but I wouldn't need to know any of the true versions of the "Facts" in that guide to know that it was useless. The poor quality of writing and spelling is a HUGE tip-off that the author doesn't have a clue. I assume the people who liked the guide are either in cahoots with the original poster, or they never read.

 

[GemGeek]

Exactly. The problem is that there are articles almost as bad all over the Internet. Pity the consumer trying to get the facts.