here we go again - another christmas another fake pearl necklace!

Sambucus_Nigra

aliasojo wrote: »

Just a thought Meritaten but does he know he's buying fakes? I'm not sure my OH would know the difference and he would likely think real pearls came in a range of prices from £2.99 to £299.

I am a girl [well, woman in my 40s] and I have no idea what the difference between a fake pearl and a real one is. You could have taken me shopping every week for 20 years and looked at real pearls in front of me and I'd still not know the difference between real ones and fake ones. It couldn't interest me less. It wouldn't occur to me to even ask the question. I suspect this is more the case to be honest.

meritaten

aliasojo wrote: »

Just a thought Meritaten but does he know he's buying fakes? I'm not sure my OH would know the difference and he would likely think real pearls came in a range of prices from £2.99 to £299.

That has occurred to me too alias - as I am not entirely sure he would know a fake pearl from a marble! I am sure tho that I have educated him on the COST of real pearls!

No, sadly I have come to the conclusion that HE knows that they are fakes and HE thinks he is fooling ME!
I think I will have a word with favourite daughter and ask her to tell her dad................he hasnt fooled me and I am just waiting to see what rubbish he comes up with next - and that mum doesnt wear necklaces either! see what he says to that!
DD will think its hysterically funny you see, and will put it to him much better than I could - if I say anything it will only cause a row!

Lotus-eater

Sambucus_Nigra wrote: »

I am a girl [well, woman in my 40s] and I have no idea what the difference between a fake pearl and a real one is. You could have taken me shopping every week for 20 years and looked at real pearls in front of me and I'd still not know the difference between real ones and fake ones. It couldn't interest me less. It wouldn't occur to me to even ask the question. I suspect this is more the case to be honest.

On the antiques roadshow recently it was proved that almost no one could tell the difference between decent fake, cultured and wild pearls.

So it's all rubbish anyway.

Spendless

aliasojo wrote: »

Just a thought Meritaten but does he know he's buying fakes? I'm not sure my OH would know the difference and he would likely think real pearls came in a range of prices from £2.99 to £299.

Which reminds me. My nan (not that one!) asked my Dad to sell her old gold. Dad returned with the money and a couple of chains that 'weren't gold'. Nan said I've been had, the person selling said it was. Narked someone could rip of an old lady, I asked where she'd got it.

"Can't remember" she said "but you bought it off a reel by the yard". :rotfl:

meritaten

I admit its difficult to tell cultured pearls from real ones - but believe me hon - I can tell fake from real! I dont care what this expert said - there is something about the look of the lustre, the weight, the way they warm on the skin and the feel of them that tells a real pearl lover when they are genuine. also, no-one could possibly believe that real pearls are presented in a cardboard box! or even an Argos style box! real pearls are treated with respect by jewellers and presented as such!

Lotus-eater

meritaten wrote: »

I admit its difficult to tell cultured pearls from real ones - but believe me hon - I can tell fake from real! I dont care what this expert said - there is something about the look of the lustre, the weight, the way they warm on the skin and the feel of them that tells a real pearl lover when they are genuine. also, no-one could possibly believe that real pearls are presented in a cardboard box! or even an Argos style box! real pearls are treated with respect by jewellers and presented as such!

It wasn't what the expert said, they laid out 3 necklaces and asked everyone to put them in the order of value, almost no one got it right and no one knew the reason why one was more expensive than the others.

You can tell fake from real, I don't disbelieve you, I'm just saying what most people think (or don't think and can't be bothered) about it.

meritaten

Lotus-eater wrote: »

It wasn't what the expert said, they laid out 3 necklaces and asked everyone to put them in the order of value, almost no one got it right and no one knew the reason why one was more expensive than the others.

You can tell fake from real, I don't disbelieve you, I'm just saying what most people think (or don't think and can't be bothered) about it.

hun - I wasnt at that antiques roadshow - but I am sure I would be able to tell the fake from the cultured or real!

Pearls are my birthstone and I have been fascinated by them since I was a small child. To me, they are like little bits of the moon which glow with something special which I cannot even name!

a couple of years ago me and OH were in Cornwall and we went to this Treasure Park..........and behaved like kids! we panned for gold - and got fools gold! we sifted sand for diamonds and got CZ which OH kindly had made into stud earrings for me as they were perfectly matched. then we went oyster dipping for pearls - he got a very small mishapen pearl - and I went nuts cos I got a beautiful gold pearl of a very nice size! I didnt care about the worth - but it was so much more than the cost of the game - even OH was impressed!
I had it encased in a gold cage when we came home and I wear it often.
So, I think OH knows how much pearls mean to me.
I do own a lovely string of pearls which I inherited from a great aunt - they were in a sad state when I had them, I had them re-strung and wore them constantly for months, which restored thier lustre. luckily they are a long string and I can wear them without feeling strangled! I still wear them occasionally to help them keep the lustre - they are still a bit yellowed, that cannot be helped - they are about 70 years old though!
oh dear - I do sound almost as eccentric as the great aunt I got the pearls from!:rotfl: I think I must be very much like her (though I didnt know her very well) as I seem to have got a lot of her stuff by default! I love the antiques I have had passed on to me from her - our tastes seem to be very similar!

Violet8

My OH and I have a fundamental difference in what a "gift" should be. Much like the lady above who wanted binoculars and was told it wasn't a "real" present, this is what I'm up against. My family has always given practical things or things some people might not think of as things to buy as gifts- e.g. when I was 19 I got a hoover for my flat from my parents that I was delighted with (as I had asked for some money for one) and this year from them one of my presents was a multipack of Seabrook crisps with a multipack of Galaxy chucked in- now that's what I call a present!!

However, OH has more of the 9 year old boy mentality mixed in with the idea that it should be "something that you wouldn't buy yourself"- often boiling down to something from the likes of Hawkins Bazaar which, while cool, has no real use/place to be tidied away to and has left me a bit baffled as to why he saw it and thought of me.

This year however I was treated to pretty much everything that I asked for- I said I'd like a cake storage tin and he picked out a perfect one, and I got the CD I asked for. He also gave me 2 boxes of Matchmakers (which I am 100% he knows I don't like) and a couple of t-shirts that to be fair, would have been to my taste a couple of years ago but aren't really now, and, perhaps best of all- a pair of wind up chattering false teeth!!! So a bit of a mixed bag. This year it's more me that's the failure as two of his gifts are going back!

I am slowly getting him round to the idea that practical or consumable is good- last year he got me a toilet seat (perspex with barbed wire in) that I LOVED but when I told my friends they clearly thought I was in some kind of destructive relationship- they're more the sexy nightie and designer handbag type

meritaten

Violet8 wrote: »

My OH and I have a fundamental difference in what a "gift" should be. Much like the lady above who wanted binoculars and was told it wasn't a "real" present, this is what I'm up against. My family has always given practical things or things some people might not think of as things to buy as gifts- e.g. when I was 19 I got a hoover for my flat from my parents that I was delighted with (as I had asked for some money for one) and this year from them one of my presents was a multipack of Seabrook crisps with a multipack of Galaxy chucked in- now that's what I call a present!!

However, OH has more of the 9 year old boy mentality mixed in with the idea that it should be "something that you wouldn't buy yourself"- often boiling down to something from the likes of Hawkins Bazaar which, while cool, has no real use/place to be tidied away to and has left me a bit baffled as to why he saw it and thought of me.

This year however I was treated to pretty much everything that I asked for- I said I'd like a cake storage tin and he picked out a perfect one, and I got the CD I asked for. He also gave me 2 boxes of Matchmakers (which I am 100% he knows I don't like) and a couple of t-shirts that to be fair, would have been to my taste a couple of years ago but aren't really now, and, perhaps best of all- a pair of wind up chattering false teeth!!! So a bit of a mixed bag. This year it's more me that's the failure as two of his gifts are going back!

I am slowly getting him round to the idea that practical or consumable is good- last year he got me a toilet seat (perspex with barbed wire in) that I LOVED but when I told my friends they clearly thought I was in some kind of destructive relationship- they're more the sexy nightie and designer handbag type

lmao - a toilet seat with barbed wire would tickle me too! ignore your friends! they dont understand! lmfao!
not sure I would like the chattering false teeth tho!

winterwhite11

elisebutt65 wrote: »

After 47 years of marriage, my mum now buys her own presents and get Dad to wrap them for her:rotfl::rotfl::rotfl: She's never disappointed now. The final straw was a few years ago when she asked for a new hairdryer and ended up with this.

.........:rotfl:lol..........