Are these natural?

[Nacr'd]

7-8mm beads; 28"L; Aprx. 10 carats. Creamy yellow with rose overtones. 14k WG box clasp added in 1947 by my grandmother who turned 91 on the 21st. It was given to her upon graduating college by her grandmother. It was from a longer necklace. Very tiny holes. Note: there is a half of a pearl next to the clasp. It has seven irregular alternating rings. Much gratitude for your help.

 

[Pearl Dreams]

That looks like a bead at the center of that small pearl on the lamp.

I'm inclined to say they are baroque cultured akoya pearls. They have gorgeous luster! I urge you to restring them to play it safe. On older strands the thread may be weak.

We often string our own pearls-- it saves money and is easy. Check out the tutorials on the Lowly Beader's Club forum.

 

[Nacr'd]

They were restrung two weeks ago. The jeweler stated
that they needed to be "certified". The split pearl shown
in the photo with the white background (where the string ends
near top left corner) shows the rings better. He will not appraise
until the "GIA" does a "report". $2,000 to X-ray is a joke. My friend is
A dentist. Can he do it? Is it the same? I'm not paying two grand.
Plus $300 for the report. Nooooo

 

[Pearl Dreams]

They must be charging per pearl, because you can't certify a strand as natural if you haven't ascertained that each pearl in the strand is natural.

I don't know if the dentist's x-ray machine is strong enough but if he will do it, I'd try that first. If they are naturals it would be worth certifying them, but of course you don't want to pay that much and find out they aren't natural.

So I must have misunderstood what I was seeing...are you saying that is a half pearl that shows nacre all the way through, no bead?

 

[GemGeek]

Interesting. They don't just do an x-ray of each pearl to see if there is a bead. A bead-less pearl does not automatically indicate a natural pearl. They do extra evaluation of the nucleus to see if it held an expelled bead or indicates natural origin.

Reports are done when someone wants to auction or sell a piece as verification of authenticity. You could ask for a much less expensive report by having a few pearls tested. A lot of strands were mixed in order to get a good match, but knowing three pearls were natural would be a good indication that most of the strand is natural, if not all.

The split pearl doesn't prove anything, but may have been a message that it's natural. If so, that is very clever.

Very pretty pearls!

 

[CathyKeshi]

I'm a bit confused, and would request a few more photos if you are inclined, Nacr'd. I am not an expert, just curious. You indicate the strand was restrung very recently ... is that split pearl a loose pearl stored with the necklace, and was it always a split pearl, kept as part of the inheritance or was it somehow removed and split when restrung now or in the past? Can you possibly show a photo of just the split pearl, and of both ends of the necklace currently? As GemGeek said, a very pretty necklace.

 

[GemGeek]

Also, a close up photo in indirect daylight would be great.

 

[Katbran]

My sieve like brain is attempting to recall information from a lecture by the GIA on identification of natural pearls. As I recall a traditional dental X-ray isn't sufficient. However, you could try it and see what happens... it might be enough to show a bead. They use Microradiography which lets them check for natural colour as well as natural pearls.

 

[Orient]

They were restrung two weeks ago. The jeweler stated
that they needed to be "certified". The split pearl shown
in the photo with the white background (where the string ends
near top left corner) shows the rings better. He will not appraise
until the "GIA" does a "report". $2,000 to X-ray is a joke. My friend is
A dentist. Can he do it? Is it the same? I'm not paying two grand.
Plus $300 for the report. Nooooo

Did you check with GIA on the fee? That price seems totally wrong as per their website. You can download the fees here: https://www.gia.edu/gem-lab-service/pearl

I hope whoever quoted you $2000 is not trying to "pull a fast one"! From my experience dentist X-ray units are not useful for pearl ID unless the beads are very obvious. You can always try. If you get a result then great but if nothing shows you will need to find someone who knows about pearls to help you or send it for testing. Good luck.