A pearl of a friend

My dear friend Kerstin came over this week. While in Washington, Kerstin and I bonded while watching our respective sons grow during their first year of life. She is one of those persons with whom I instantly found affinities beyond the mummy business.  

As Kerstin has been coming in Beijing for work several times a year, she was our informal guide when we came in June for our pre-assignment trip. To have her stay with us in Beijing was such a wonderful Xmas gift for me. 

Noam also enjoyed her company. Note that we unintentionally coordinated ourselves with stripes; sweater, socks and shirt. 

Kerstin was not only in town for a forestry conference, but also was mandated by her mom to find a pearl necklace for her aunt. Together we went on mission to find her aunt the perfect treasure. We went to the Silk Market, a huge battleground of a market, where even veteran hagglers like myself get tired. 

A friend had recommended Marie's shop, on the top floor of the market, so we headed straight up, avoiding the crowd and its hustle bustle. Once in the shop, we started looking at the pearls. After mentioning my friend's name, the price of a string of pearls went down by ... 95%! This steep drop in price made us feel that maybe there was something to be weary of. Or how much they really abuse the poor shoppers. Since Kerstin remembered how much she paid last year for a similar necklace, we estimated that the owner would be offering us a decent price. 

So as we were shown threads after threads of pearls, from hues of white to hues of pink, we inspected them, trying to find defects and imperfections. In the end we settled for a string of slightly pink ones, of a larger size. A lady prepared the necklace for us, her magical hands knotting 16 inches of pearls on a string in less than 15 minutes. 

Once back home we looked at them again, not sure if our deal was good, or if the pearls were like most things in the Silk Market, fakes. I guess the only way to know will be to bring them for an evaluation. And maybe I could also find out the store owner's value of her friendship.

That said, with my limited knowledge of pearls (I received a Mikimoto pearl last year from my mother in law), I feel somewhat confident that we bought something of a reasonably good quality for the price paid.