In Reply to: pearls posted by nellzy on Friday, 11. January 2008 at 07:10 Bali Time:
Be aware that most pearls for sale in Bali are imported. Contrary to popular belief, there is NO freshwater pearl industry in Lombok. ALL freshwater pearls for sale in Indonesia come from China. They are imported into Lombok, or into Surabaya and then to Lombok/Bali. There are also businesses in Bali that import direct from China.
There is a small sea water pearl industry in Lombok, but most of what is for sale by street vendors is very poor quality. Large glass beads inside with thin nacre. Most are an uneven yellowish colour. The good stuff goes directly overseas, and is world market sea-water pearl price - so pretty expensive.
There is a good variety of freshwater pearls in a range of colours available in many stores in Bali and by some vendor (some of whom claim they are from Lombok - RUBBISH!).
ALL freshwater pearls for sale by street vendors, and most shops, are dyed. This is a normal process in the freshwater pearl industry. This process is done in China - the quality of the dye is what you are looking for - nice and shiny, no chips etc.
Locals use cotton string to thread the pearls. The quality is generally OK for freshwater pearls. They will also string them with separating knots if you ask them to, but it will cost a bit more as it is time consuming. This is recommended for round shaped pearls so they don't damage each other.
Look for quality clasps - often the clasp used is very poor (costs the vendor Rp5000 for 100 of them).
Don't buy pearls that have had a flame put to them. The string will have been weakened. You should be able to tell by the weight and feel of the pearls and the stock being displayed. Plastic feels like plastic. The bite test is more for sea-water pearls. Once freshwater pearls are dyed they feel quite smooth.
Buy what takes your fancy if the price is right.