are these pearls?

[ecurie]

I'm so glad i found this forum. I've always been about pearls, even though what i know about them fits on the head of a pin. real, not real, pink, black, white, golden, i just feel good wearing them. I used to get teased about wearing pearls with my jeans and a t-shirt. but pearls go with eveything!
now, my mom told me about a double strand of pearls that my great aunt had when she lived in Manhattan. Her sister (my grandmother) was to IMMEDIATELY get them if she passed away because her husband would throw them away as she had told him they were costume jewelry. Supposedly they were beautiful and not costume at all. When my grandmother passed away the necklace was taken apart and two of her daughters got a strand of the pearls. one was given to my favorite aunt and one was given to my mother. AFter my mother passed away we found several strings of pearls tucked away in jewelry cases. There is one with no clasp, just tied together and i'm wondering if anyone can tell me if they might be the "fabled" actual pearls or not. I've asked some of my family members about the pearls and one of my aunts said... "of course I remember the pearls. They are Mikimotos." I'm trying to post a couple pictues of them here And educated ideas would be so wonderful. They are 3/8" round. and there are 130 of them in the strand. That would be sooooo much like my aunt Irene. .
thanks very much
mary

 

[Caitlin]

While there is no way to prove pearls are from Mikimoto without a clasp, they do look like cultured pearls, though. They really need cleaning and restringing and will come out even prettier than they are now.

PS Thnks for the paper towel!!! You've been reading!!! I have a feeling you will love it here...... an advanced case of pearl fever, indeed!

 

[Mary Montpezat]

I'll have to demur and say they may not be - they look to have cotton knots, and look almost identical to my (very lovely!) string of artificial pearls from Japan. I have a few artificial pearl necklaces and they are actually very beautiful - and their "nacre" is quite convincing! Mind you, I'll be very happy for your sake if my assessment is incorrect!

 

[Pearl Dreams]

They do have some surface blemishes typical of real cultured pearls. As Caitlin says, they will look better cleaned and restrung.

 

[pearlescence]

What are cotton knots?

 

[Caitlin]

Those are just knots that have spread out over time. That look is from wear. I am entirely unaware of cotton ever being used to string pearls. It is a very weak thread and rots faster than silk. I personally have tried anything to string bead, pearls, that pretends to be thread for the last 40+ years, but cotton was never among the choices.

I never saw a fake pearl with a dent in it. That flaw is typical of cultured pearls.

ecurie, are you aware of the tooth test? Fake pearls are smooth, but cultured (and real) pearls have a slight grit to them the edge of the tooth picks up easily.

 

[ecurie]

thanks from mary/ecurie and another bit of information on the mystery pearls?

thanks from mary/ecurie and another bit of information on the mystery pearls?

You people are amazing! The things you know about pearls just by looking at my poor photos! I can't wait until i know 1/100th of what you know.
I have tried the tooth test. I compared them to a string of pearls i know are just glass beads and then to one i know are cultured pearls ... to my untrained teeth, they seem slightly gritty. But i wouldn't buy ANYTHING based on my tooth test.

I've also put them over an LED flashlight comparing them to my cultured pearls and the string of glass beads. They look different from both. The cultured pearls have a rather dark center with slightly milky almost see through around the dark center. The glass beads are opaque. These don't have a defined dark center. They look more like dark strata lines or really more like clouds floating inside and on the pearls???

I have washed them very gently in soap flakes and let them dry. But heaven knows, they need more cleaning. If the are pearls, i don't want to hurt them. So I look to you for advice on cleaning them?? If they turn out not to be pearls of any sort, they are just lovely and finding this site is great fun.

And my mother, little pearl hoarder, had another strand in a bag at the back of her dresser. I think these could do with cleaning and restringing also. picture posted here. She also gave me a peal ring made back in the 40s by the same aunt who had the mikimotos. The poor pearl fell out several times and the last time, mom just super glued it back in. I think it should probably be replaced?. picture attached.


I don't want to be disappointed when i get these restrung. I've seen some strands that have big spaces between the pearls and that's not a look i like. I'm looking to you - again-for advice on how to interview people who say they can restring pearls so that they are nice and close together and done with good quality "string"/"silk"? I'm such a novice, sorry.

 

[Pearl Dreams]

Have you considered taking them to a neighborhood jeweler to ask to borrow their loupe (10x magnifier) o look at them? That magnification would show a very smooth surface (apart from the blemishes) if they are natural or cultured and a rougher surface if they are fake. You could take along your known cultured and fake pearls for comparison.

Oddly, imitation pearls feel smooth (to the tooth) but look rough under magnification, while natural or cultured pearls feel gritty but look smooth.

As to cleaning, I know Jeremy (Pearl Paradise) recommends this pearl cleaner: https://thepearldoctor.com/Home_Page.html

 

[jshepherd]

I am with Mary on this one. I don't think the first strand is a strand of cultured pearls. From the photo, it looks faux. The last strand posted, however, definitely looks like a strand of cultured pearls.

 

[Lagoon Island Pearls]

I agree with Mary and Jeremy as well. The colors are simply too identical and not typical of middle-of-the-road pearls. Likewise, faux pearls can and often have flaws like these.

The second strand appears to be akoya and lastly the ring seems to have a pearl, although the type and grade would need further investigation. There seems to be some streaks and inclusions. The pearl could be remounted properly, but if it's holding, I'd leave it in place.

 

[Mary Montpezat]

They do have some surface blemishes typical of real cultured pearls.

One of my strings of artificial pearls has a couple of similar blemishes - tiny dents in the underlying glass. But I still hope I'm wrong and they are real!

 

[ecurie]

they could be artificial

they could be artificial

The first strand could be artifiical!!! My mom and her sisters sang with the USO and they spent 6 mos in Japan during the 1940s. The strand was in the back of the drawer with pictures and articles from their tour with the USO. I'm taking it to the jeweler today to look through their loop. Real or artificial, they sure are pretty. The hunt and the research is almost as much fun as wearing them.

Thanks for all the fun and all the input. I'll keep you "in the loop. tee hee.
xoxo
mary

 

[pattye]

Mary,

Looking forward to your report! Do some of the pics show your Mom wearing the pearls? Nice to know you are enjoying them!

 

[Caitlin]

The dent threw me off. Actually the ends of the string are wrong for cultured pearls, though I see the same on fakes in piles of broken beads in my friends' jewelry discard boxes.

 

[pattye]

You asked about restringing pearls so the knots are small and tight. Ask to see some of the work the knotter has previously done. The thread should be properly matched to the pearls. The thread in the photo looks much darker than the pearls and stretched. You will be amazed at how much prettier the necklace will appear after restringing.

The drill hole size in the pearl makes a difference in the size of thread used, which affects the size of the knot, as the knot needs to be large enough so the pearl stays in place.

Caitlin, I recently restrung a strand of Tahitians that had been finished with gold filled bead tip knot covers we generally associate with costume jewelry, unusual, for sure!

 

[ecurie]

update from ecurie/mary

update from ecurie/mary

i couldn't get to the jeweler yesterday, Closed for holiday. I borrowed our 10x loop from the shop.. auto mechanics, not very good glass so not too easy to see.
I took some pictures through the loop and some through the loop over a flashlight. I'm putting them up here because i'll bet a dollar, you people will be able to tell me more than most jewelers. Most of the pictures show a hole through the outside of the pearl? and it looks for all the world like the same substance underneath. Definately not a glass bead. could be????? Now that they have been cleaned and cleaned again, they feel rough on and between the teeth..... and the are MUCH prettier. Very soft and satiny finish. I will get them to a jeweler in a day or so.
There are pictures of a number of family members sporting the pearls. I'll just have to find them and i'll put them up.

Thanks for all the fun. I saw the video on pearl peeling.. omgoodness! There's soooo much to learn
xoxo
mary

 

[pattye]

Hmmm, if there really was a hole in the side of the pearl that large, you could see it with the naked eye, so perhaps it is a reflection of the loupe????? Or a spot where the nacre has worn off to the mop bead beneath???

 

[ecurie]

you are exactly right. you can see the hole just by looking at the necklace. i was trying to get a grasp on what was beneath the hole. There was some serious smudge on that particular pearl, so we put the string next to it and cleaned it. when the smudge came off, that hole was there. i guess i need to go research mop bead?
thanks again
mary

 

[pattye]

~the nucleus of a cultured akoya pearl is a mother of pearl bead, and the nacre forms around it.

 

[Pearl Dreams]

But note that "shell pearls" (one type of imitation pearl) also have a m.o.p. bead inside (rather than glass or plastic.) So the presence of a m.o.p. bead is not a guarantee that the pearls are cultured.