The party vendors are opening Akoya salt water pearl shells and pulling out Freshwater pearls. Some are claiming they are akoya, some are not. Many of the pearls are dyed which is also not disclosed.
The vendors measure the pearls and then look at a premade price appraisal from the National Pearl Association of the United States, Which by the way does not exist except for the Pearl Party gals to use. The appraisals use no criteria except size, which is not done anywhere except pearl parties.
The appraisals I have seen at online parties the pearls are ranging in appraised prices between $30-$60.00. The real price for these commercial grade freshwater pearls is between 50 cents to a dollar, maybe $4.00 if you had a jeweler order you in one.
Many are complaining of long wait times for the jewlery they are having their pearls made into. Some are cracking, breaking, falling off and the jewelry not being the alloy the seller is saying it is. Some complain the serling that is not and turning necks green or breaking out.
If you bought Vantel pearls you may have some recourse as a class action group is forming. Otherwise call the attorney generals office in the state you bought the pearls from and ask them to help you get your money back.
This was posted on another forum and was OK'd by the author to share.
The National Pearl Association of the United States
Pearl Party People looking for this "Appraised Pearl Value Chart" from the National Pearl Association of the United States please read this.
Bo Perry from the Providence office of the Cultured Pearl Association of America called me on Friday to vent a bit of frustration. He has been getting calls, almost on a daily basis, from people asking for some sort of "pearl size value chart" put out by some organization called "The National Pearl Association of the United States."
His response has been the same every time: there is no such organization and the chart you're describing would be impossible to legitimately produce.
Bo asked me to help stop the telephone calls and I thought a new thread here might help.
The National Pearl Association of the United States does not exist. It has never existed. It was made up by a "pearl oyster party" company in order to create a Appraised Pearl Value chart. This chart is not legitimate. The values are completely made up.
1. It's impossible to assign a pearl's value simply by it's size. Can you do that with diamonds or any other gemstones? Of course not. It's the quality and type of pearl that determines the value.
2. The chart states blue/silver and black are the most valuable. These are not natural colors. They are the least valuable.
3. The statement "We ONLY have EXCELLENT quality, the finest available in the industry!" is demonstrably false. The finest qualities would NEVER be inserted into an oyster and sold for a couple dollars apiece.
So please stop emailing and calling the Cultured Pearl Association of America. Do some Google research. Learn the name of the company that made up the association and call them
Blogs & Forums
