Recent content by A Breaker

You have great photos!!!! Near the biggest pearl, you can see that there is some paint build up around the "drill" holes. I will bet if you look at the surface with your phone 10X...you will see what looks like spray paint. Often those vintage glass pearls do have really gold clasps and tend...

Yes! It is a similar shell to Mikimoto, but with a T inside.

If the other jeweler can't test for diamonds...Ennui is right about the diamond testers...but I have never seen a diamond in a silver clasp...unless the clasp is very new (lab-grown diamonds in silver is from the last 15-20 years). I have to caution you about jewelers and pearls. I...

What a great example!!!! Are these freshwater or saltwater? Does that make any difference? I know that someone (might have been BWeaves) that blue akoyas can fade too. Is that the same reason?

Pearls As One course gives you a really good idea why there were so many very, very high quality Faux Pearls. Until Mikimoto perfected his culturing tech. ... Pearls were "found". To match and get a string was very, very hard and $$$$! Add to that Pearls came mostly from Saltwater oysters...

I am just the opposite to Bweaves..my fingers feel more than my eyes see...but The feel (2 pearls rubbed for grit) +10x the surface (can use a phone to get 10x) + looking at the drill holes...(Paint build up or loss for faux)....Then I can tell. I need all 3 to feel 100% sure. Freshwater...

How did you do this????

Many "Big Box" or mall jewelers will clean any ring for free. In fact, when they first started doing that...they had people standing out front asking to clean rings. It was to get people in the store, but it was nice for my grandmother, because as they cleaned her rings, she would ask them to...

Those Mikimoto pearls are AMAZING! The Flintstone ones just make me laugh...more Pearl-like spheres!

Yes, I think a once a year check is just good service..and they always took a while to clean and inspect it...& pointed out new things and what might go nicely with my rings. But my problem is taking pearls in just for cleaning. Maybe if you just needed them cleaned only once a year, but I tend...

Neki...you can get pearl stringing kits (Etsy USA & other countries) and restring with a better clasp to wear them until you can get analysis. That clasp is just a base metal....which makes me think they might also be chinese freshwater when they were first trying to get a more rounded shape...

BWeaves...I have some woven Rice Pearl Collar necklaces...I think all the weaving is amazing with real gems or pearls!!!!!! BTW my Great Grandmother wove a necklace similar with glass beads...in the 1910-1930's. Such great work!!! So love yours!

So if that were true...even getting a date on the ring & brooch would help. Any one have any idea WHEN they were set in the brooch or ring? Post a photo of the back of the brooch to help date it. Then you would have an idea if further research would be worth the $

Great job on "guessing" they were pearls. I agree with Pearl Dreams and will add. Faux pearls are very uniform. Yours show the variation on each pearl from wrinkles to divits. They also have a nice general roundness...but some are not as round...that helps since Faux are usually exactly the...

I wonder if it is a fossilized egg?