Another Necklace and Another Question

[Gail5]

So I took this other necklace (gifted by my mother) to a local gemmologist for an appraisal. I already had a gemmological description from the 1980s stating that the necklace contains 296 off round lightly spotted 2-2.5 mm natural pearls.
I was also hoping the gemmologist could refer me to a stringer experienced with small natural pearls to take care of my other antique natural pearl necklace.

I was surprised by the following things the gemmologist said and I wondered what other people think of them.

1) The gemmologist said that she was 100% sure the pearls in the necklace were natural but they were not unusual, not hard to obtain today, and not worth much.

2) She said the pearls were keshi pearls. She even wrote that they are keshi pearls in the report that she signed and stamped.

I thought that natural pearls were rare and that keshi pearls were by-products of culturing whereas these older natural pearls were not. Was I wrong?

On a separate note, she said her mom could restring my triple graduated natural pearl necklace I pictured in the other thread and she could match the "keshi" pearls to lengthen it without any problems.

Thanks for any insights.

 

[BWeaves]

That's a gorgeous necklace. Very Art Deco. I think you need to ask another gemologist. They don't look like keshi to me.

 

[Katbran]

Beautiful necklace. You may want to get, as BWeaves suggested, another source. Maybe contact one of our natural pearl people like Kari and get her suggestions.

 

[pattye]

Gail5, Just to verify, the gemologist said this about your 3 strand necklace? My reply to your questions and remarks are referencing that necklace.

I was surprised by the following things the gemmologist said and I wondered what other people think of them.

1) The gemmologist said that she was 100% sure the pearls in the necklace were natural but they were not unusual, not hard to obtain today, and not worth much.
To me, your 3-strand looks similar to the Basra pearls sold on KariPearls.com HERE. They have a distinctly rich creamy color. Your pearls would be considered baroque not keshi, because of their asymmetrical shape. You can roughly estimate value based on the necklaces on that site. It's just my opinion, but the 3-strand with the diamond clasp would be in the thousands. To an uneducated eye, Basra (natural) pearls might look similar to tissue cultured freshwater pearls because of the varied, unmatched shapes.

2) She said the pearls were keshi pearls. She even wrote that they are keshi pearls in the report that she signed and stamped.

I thought that natural pearls were rare and that keshi pearls were by-products of culturing whereas these older natural pearls were not. Was I wrong? I think you are correct, Gail.

On a separate note, she said her mom could restring my triple graduated natural pearl necklace I pictured in the other thread and she could match the "keshi" pearls to lengthen it without any problems.[/QUOTE]

She's probably thinking she can match with inexpensive Chinese cultured pearls; in my experience that would not be easy. Personally, I wouldn't let her mother restring your pearls; they aren't respectful of what they really are.

This 2nd necklace is really a work of art!

 

[pattye]

ThePearlCollector.com is another website with natural pearls. Although this necklace has been sold, the clasp is similar to yours with 3 diamonds.

 

[Gail5]

Gail5, Just to verify, the gemologist said this about your 3 strand necklace? My reply to your questions and remarks are referencing that necklace.

Sorry I wasn't clear. I took the SECOND necklace to the gemologist for an appraisal -- the pendant one, not the triple strand. The gemologist said the pearls in that necklace were natural keshi pearls but not rare and not worth much. She valued the whole necklace as follows:
she said the intrinsic value of the materials (metal, diamonds, and pearls) was €1,200-€2,500. There are 296 natural seed pearls, 3 larger pearls which she said are probably cultured, a total of about 1.5 cts of about 100 very small diamonds except one that is .25 ct). According to her the metal is 18k white gold but my other report says it is platinum and 14k white gold, which she disputed.) She said the diamonds weren't worth much either because they are small, old cut, and not white.

She also gave what they here call the "window value", meaning the price a jewelry shop would put on it in the window, at €4,200.Probably this would be called the insurance value in the US., but I am not sure about that. I thought this was on the low side but then again I don't know much about the local market in Italy compared to the US market.

As for the triple strand, I just showed her photos of it to find out if she could restring it. I didn't ask her what she thought it was worth. She said she could match the pearls in the triple strand with natural pearls and that these are not expensive or hard to find. So this information was also contrary to what I had thought. I also thought they looked like Basra pearls and that they would be very hard to find or match. Even my regular jeweler thought it would be hard to find a match for them.

Regarding the use of the term "keshi", I did some internet research and it looks like the word is used different ways in different times and by different people. According to the link below, in the early 20th century, keshi meant completely natural pearls. Later it was used to mean all-nacre by-products of culturing, and now it is also applied by some to Chinese second harvest pearls.
https://kojimapearl.com/pages/keshi-pearls

I would assume the gemologist was using the first meaning when applied to my necklace but I am not sure which meaning she was using when she said it was easy to find keshi pearls. Maybe the second or even third?

 

[Orient]

Sorry I wasn't clear. I took the SECOND necklace to the gemologist for an appraisal -- the pendant one, not the triple strand. The gemologist said the pearls in that necklace were natural keshi pearls but not rare and not worth much. She valued the whole necklace as follows:

I don't know about the values but I would suggest you find another jeweller with a better knowledge of pearls. There is no such thing as "natural keshi pearls". They are either natural or keshi (latter are beadless cultured pearls formed accidentally during the culturing process by mollusks). What you state in the 2nd paragraph from the bottom is correct. Keshi were originally natural pearls (keshi means poppy seed, so very small ones!) but today the wording is used for beadless cultured pearls only and they don't have to be poppy seed sized. The term is used for much larger ones as well.

 

[barbaradilek]

Don’t know if this has any bearing,but a few years ago I bought an antique string of natural pearls,with lab report and xrays,in Milan,for half of what I could have paid in the U.K.Possibly Italian appraisers/ gemologists don’t attach the same value to natural pearls as other countries?