In Reply to: Lombok pearls posted by Freogirl on Thursday, 4. September 2008 at 19:38 Bali Time:
Lombok tends to grow mostly the South Sea and Mikimoto varieties the former being the more expensive. Good pearls swiftly get exported off Lombok. Brought in Lombok from the more reputable suppliers, an opera chain of ISO certificated mikimoto will cost about a third of estimated value in UK and the same with a baroque South Sea. To complicate, the cheaper South Sea black pearls are imported from Cook Islands...yes!
Prices cannot be compared with Oz unless you have a good idea of these varieties that are predominantly sold on sole owner jewellers...most pearls in the chain store jewellers in Oz are fresh water or cheap sea grown on mass in China, Bangladesh and Burma. Many of these black pearls you see are tinted with silver nitrate.