10mm natural pearls?

[ashley.dubin]

I'm not sure if these pictures downloaded properly, but...

I have a double strand of what have always been assued to be natural pearls.

They are 10mm, the longer strand is approximately 30" and the shorter is 28". There are 82greesh and 74 pearls respectively. They are gritty, off-round. Each pearl is different, some being distinctly more round than others. Some are nearly smooth, others have dimples, some have wrinkles, and some have what look that small blemishes.

The clasp is 14kthe yellow gold with 8 5pt diamonds and 1 10p diamond, strung on knotted silk. The strands are in desparate need of cleaning and restringing.

These pearls belonged to my great-grandmother and were purchased in the 1920s. At the time, they were a "small fortune." What that was, I am not sure.

Thank you for you expert eyes!

Ashley

 

[la_corsetiere]

Early cultured Akoyas, perhaps? Looking forward to hearing how the experts weigh in.

 

[pattye]

Welcome,

Very lovely double strand of pearls. Where was your Great-Grandmother living when these were purchased? Do you know what country they were purchased in? Do you have the original box they came in?

 

[KAC]

sorry but they don't look like natural pearls to me, seeing as they were purchased in 1920 I'm thinking they are Akoya pearls. Looking down the drill hole you you might be able to see a nucleus inside the pearl?

For reference Christies is auctioning off a single strand for natural grey pearls for around 4.0million dollars - so.... unless your grandmother was royalty its unlikely they are natural.

 

[Lagoon Island Pearls]

I agree. Thick nacre and reasonably well matched.

Definitely not natural.

 

[ashley.dubin]

My great-grandmother may have purchased them in New York, although she wasn't royalty, she has an incredible jewelry collection including a 22week carat alexandrite ring and the largest cut garnet in history. We have a single strand of pink pearls that were appraised in the 1970s for over three million that my great, great grandmother purchased (12mm pink natural pearls, single 34 in strand.)

What would the value of the early cultured strands?

 

[Caitlin]

May we please see a photo of the pink pearls? Wow!12mm! They must be South Sea pearls.....

I too immediately thought the necklace above is cultured baroque akoya. A vintage, long, double strand like that might command $3-4k or more,(depending of the value of the clasp) at a high end auction, less on eBay. But that is not an official guess, I am not an appraiser, though I keep track of pearls from auction houses and ebay.

 

[Bacca]

Lots of people who aren't as familiar with pearls as the folks here call cultured pearls "natural." To them, it simply means "grown in the ocean" as opposed to "manufactured." I think this is the context for your pearls and that they're early akoya cultured pearls. I'm seeing pearls with that little bit of odd nacre often seen in cultured pearls. In the last picture, a pearl on the right in the second from the top row has it. In the third picture, it looks like some of the pearls in the outside row on the bottom might have similar "drips." If you look at those pearls closely, you might even be able to make out the shape of the nucleus underneath the nacre.

The fact that they're not wild pearls doesn't mean you don't have a treasure. These pearls are large for akoyas and the necklace is long. The maker considered them high enough quality to deserve a clasp with diamonds. I enjoyed just seeing them in pictures, so I imagine they're very lovely in person. I hope you go ahead and have them cleaned and restrung and then enjoy them for the uncommon beauties they are.

 

[KAC]

May we please see a photo of the pink pearls? Wow!12mm! They must be South Sea pearls.....

Yes please, I'd like to see those!

 

[pattye]

yes, I want to see 12mm pink pearls too!