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"Seed pearls" are tiny, the size of seeds, and usually quite round. I would call these "rice pearls" because they are bigger, more rice shaped. Freshwater is my guess. Looks like a current clasp from any number of countries or islands. Could be Sterling Silver, you would have to test. The...

Wow!!! That is lovely!!! The blue sets off the pearls!

I think that I prefer knots between each on pearls.

Thanks Pattye! Would you re-string and knot between each or keep with the original amount/knot placement?

I found these vintage pearl necklace for very little, when I got them home to restring & knot, I looked at the clasp, I noticed the M with the shell around it. I have a Mikimoto brooch and recognized the mark. But the there are so few knots...is it really a Mikimoto? It is vintage. Why so...

Perfect! I was looking at a little drill...but the round diamond file seems like what I need, when I just need them a touch bigger. Hemostats are the best...if only I could figure out where I stashed them. (My ER nurse mother and the other staff would give away the UNUSED metal "disposable"...

Love it!!! Made my day to see it!! I need a reamer...can you a post a photo of yours please?

Thanks Shenshen...It is really strange to see the knotting only on a few pearls on a Mikimoto...I'll get the photo posted after coffee. There might be smaller knots in between, but they are sure hard to see, if they are there.

I am reading this thread, because I have a similar clasp to shenshen. The clasp looks right, the pearls are nice, but there are only knots in between some of the pearls near the neck. Did Mikimoto only knot some on newer pearls, to save $ on the silver clasped ones? Could these be lower...

This is a pretty typical way to do vintage stands. String was put thru the "end caps" and knots held it in place. That actually works very well, but it is not the modern way to do it. I have strung many necklaces the Vintage way and they last as well as modern. You do need all those knots...

That is a stunning job!!!!! Bet they look lovely on you!!!

Thank you! It is pretty gritty. (Not as gritty as the freshwater I have, more like the Akoya.) I'll try to get closer.

Thank you so much!!! I wanted this as a "clasp" to lengthen pearls...but wanted a gut feeling from experts....I haven't done much testing on this...it is an old looking C clasp....but that is sometimes used to faux. Thanks again

This seems bigger than many pearls I have, could it be a salt water pearl? Would it be a southsea pearl? Or freshwater?

On thing to think about is that you might be able to sell the pearls and the box seperately. You could look into selling them both ways. But I would carefully open the clasp to make sure it does work...I have opened 100+ year old jewelry in silver and gold without any trouble...I am...

Give it your best guess...what is this? Would this really be a river pearl or is it part of the shell or does that make it a pearl still on the shell? I think it is really interesting, but I just don't know enough.

Interesting BWeaves!!! I knew that Mikimoto mostly used Sterling for Brooches.

I have a small pile of pearls to sort and I am not familiar with all the pearl shapes and rings and whatnot to be able to tell what is damage and what isn't Is there a place where I can see lots of pictures of damage or can we make a collection here? (I thought it might be helpful for others...

That silver clasp is interesting...first is looks a little Edwardian to 1915. (It might have been Victorian when gold was hard to get?). So I would guess that it might be a restring...as Someone said Mikimoto was doing the culturing thing but the end of WWI, but they would have still been...

I was really shocked at the difference in grit between my vintage mikimoto brooch and all my freshwater pearls...the Mikimoto felt like fine sand paper and the freshwater coarse grit....WOW! Maybe that is quality vs not, or sea vs fresh