On their way...

Loads of pearly goodness coming our way, as the last of these are making their way to Lily this coming week. I couldn't resist them, and I have to admit to being very foolish when it comes to pearls, especially old stock pearls from Japan, and even more so when it comes to Haskell pearls. When I get a phone call about pearls, all reason flies out the window, caution is thrown to the winds, and my checking account is left tattered and wheezing as a result.

I can remember the first boxes I received from my Haskell contact. We'd talked several times on the phone, and she was hedging on taking pictures and all that nonsense, finally paring the initial transaction down to a succinct, "You send me $500, and I'll send you some pearls." As ridiculous as that may sound, that is exactly what I did. Sight unseen, I sent my money off into the void and hoped for the best.

Everything arrived in flat rate boxes, which held not only pearls, but glass beads, chain and findings. Everything was beautiful, but the most wonderful things were in the last box that held stampings and filigrees. I turned one of the filigrees over in my hand, and saw the small oval cartouche with Miriam Haskell's name on it. They were authentic.

Authenticity is rare. Everything has a story, a story of it's own. So I guess part of my job is being a story teller. I think I like that.