Kathy, there is also really beautiful mother-of-pearl jewellery available. With the beautiful coal-colour of the pearls. Not quite the same thing, but lovely. I will be certainly looking for more of that sort of thing--I have a pair of earrings, and a hair clip that I love.

Oh, and if your heart is set on pearls, you should be able to get a pair of small but nice ones for something in the $500 range. They won't be perfect (mine are not), but they will be stunningly beautiful, and you can turn them into earrings when you come home.