Ms. Cheap's pearls of great wisdom ... go get the cheap pearls!
By MARY HANCE - Staff Columnist

You may remember my story about the American Pearl Farm, an aqua farm on Kentucky Lake in West Tennessee, where they ''grow'' pearls.

Well, the pearly fruits of that unique process will be available right here in Nashville today and tomorrow at a wholesale cultured pearl trunk show in Green Hills.

The sale will include not only the unique American cultured pearls, which are harvested at the Camden, Tenn., farm, but also a large assortment of imported cultured pearls from around the world.

There are natural white and pink pearls and there are colored pearls that are dyed red, purple, black and green. There are earrings, strands, pendants and bracelets. And there are mother of pearl pieces, as well.

And the prices are about half of the suggested retail price, with some pieces going for as little as $7 while others will be priced at $3,000.

For years, American Pearl president Gina Latendresse has had what she called an annual ''friends and family'' sale in her home. She and her employees invited family and friends to shop at wholesale prices.

But today, she is opening it up to the public and having a special sale at Lou Gray and Jeff Bates' Jewelry Design and Repair shop in Green Hills. So this is your big chance.

Gina's father, John Latendresse, who died three years ago, started American Pearl in 1961, importing from Japan for sale in the United States. Intrigued by the fact that virtually every Japanese pearl was started by using an American mussel shell as the implant, he and his wife, Chessy, took the challenge of finding a way to re-create the cultivation process on American soil — or in American waters, as in the Tennessee River.

''With a lot of luck and perseverance, he and my mother were successful,'' said Gina, who said that 1985 was the year that they marked their success with the first commercial harvest of blister pearls in the waters of the Tennessee River, where her father had entered into a joint venture with Birdsong Marina to launch Tennessee Freshwater Pearl Farm.

''He decided to focus on the fancy shapes of pearls — the coin pearls, the rectangular ones, the tear-drop shaped ones — instead of the round ones that the Japanese produce.''

''He was known as the Pablo Picasso of the pearl industry,'' she said, adding that her dad liked to say, ''These are not your mother's pearls.''

The American pearls are unique in their shape and settings, but don't think that they are necessarily the cheaper option. In fact, many of them are pricier than the traditional pearls.

The least expensive pearls are the Chinese imports, which can be $35-$50 a strand, compared to American pearl strands, which almost all run into the hundreds.

These days, American Pearl Company imports and sells pearls loose and in signature settings to more than 8,000 clients (including E.J. Sain Jewelers here) in all 50 states as well as in 25-30 foreign countries.

Gina Latendresse, a graduate gemologist and jewelry designer, shares the company ownership and management with her sister Renee and their mother, Chessy. You probably want to know which pearls caught Ms. Cheap's eye.

Wouldn't you know it: the least expensive item in the mix, a $7 ribbon of pearls. It actually is a ribbon necklace, studded with a dozen cultured pearls, the Chinese imports. You can tie it around your neck for a casual but cool looking necklace, double it around your wrist for a bracelet, or wear it in your hair as a ribbon. Wow!

You have your choice of ribbon color, including a pink one they're selling as a fund-raiser for the fight against breast cancer. Stay cheap!

Go buy 'em

The American Pearl Company Sale will be 10 a.m.-6 p.m. today and tomorrow at Jewelry Design and Repair, 2120 Crestmoor Road, Suite 2006. Cash, Mastercard, Visa only. 383-8322.

Ms. Cheap is published Thursdays and Fridays in The Tennessean's Living section and Sundays in Life. She also appears on WTVF-Channel 5's Talk of the Town at 12:30 p.m. on Thursdays and is the author of Ms. Cheap's Guide to Getting More for Less. Reach her at 259-8282 or at mscheap@tennessean.com .