Ab pearl info

Trolled this from Coastside about the supposed value of abalone pearls:

http://www.coastsidefishingclub.com/forums/showflat.php?Cat=0&Board=general&Number=419643&Searchpage=1&Main=419643&Words=&topic=1&Search=true#Post419643

Wow that's unbelievable I hope this doesn't become common knowledge.

I wonder if that is what fuels some of the poaching? 

Still not sure this information is accurate.

Poaching is mostly for meat.
I've thrown away a couple of small and not that good looking pearls.
Next time I will check the gonards more carefully!

Anyone know the ratio between abs that have pearls and those that do not?

Im sure the ratio is very small I have been collecting the pearls for many years now and I have enough to fill a medicine bottle to the 1/4 full mark, I dont know why I keep them they are not pretty pearls I alsohope this dosent get out probebly 1 in 50 have noticeable pearls I would hate to see the ab population decline anymore. personally I have reduced my intake 2 6 abs a year and that is hard to justify for the price of the punchcard

Talk to a jeweler - they're only as valuable as they are marketable.  A friend of mine who I cleaned 10"er's for had some really nice pearls - one about 7/8" long that looked like a shark's tooth and had beautiful color.  I took it to a couple of jewelers and they acted uninterested.  Finally one advised that it's only as valuable as what someone would pay to have it mounted...  it makes sense.  I'd say the ratio is probably a bit better than 1 in 50, but, as has been pointed out here, they're not often spectacular color/shape...  Selling abalone shell is illegal outside of documented farm stock, so I don't know how people get away with selling ab pearls - if they do...

Abalone pearls can be quite valuable.I have set them for customers who have collected or have been gifted with them.The value like other precious stones is based on beauty,size,symmetry,rareness.Most pearls have flaws that lower value ,brown and black areas where the pearls were at sometime attached.Most of the pearls I've handled formed around the shell boring clams that attach to the shells and eventually bore into the ab.Although some were formed because of trauma ,bits of shell,rocks,in a storm surge.The legality of selling sport caught abalone pearls is questionable,the nacre(mother of pearl]is from the abalone.Remember when there were ads for abalone shells in the paper?