Baby Akoyas

[Jaye]

They are adorable, lovely set, Amti. I can’t bring myself to change all the pearls from my mother either. So I know what you mean that you don’t want to cut them up.

 

[lilliefuzzysocks]

Helen, I made a shadow box with the pearls and my mother's photo wearing them.

 

[Katbran]

LFS - What a wonderful idea !!

 

[Jaye]

Here are the other two akoya strands. One with golden southsea drop. Natural light, but very cloudy day. Sorry, not a great photo.

 

[jshepherd]

Those are really pretty. Hisano loves small akoya pearls.The smallest Hisano works with are 2.5-3 mm.

Did you measure these with a digital caliper? They look about the same as Hisano's. Those don't appear to be 1.5 mm. In that size, they are typically drilled by hand in India and strung as torsades - they are too small for single strands. These looks to be at least two and a half.

 

[Jaye]

No, the first strand is 1.5mm.
I had it restrung 2 weeks ago and the jeweler that did it for me said they are 1.5.
These 2 strands are larger. They are from my grandmother and are much, much older akoyas. The clasp are diamonds.
It;s cloudy here in Bkk, when we get some sun, i will take better with photo with all three strands.

 

[Jaye]

Jeremy I mean the first strand of the opening thread that is 1.5mm.

 

[Jaye]

Two more photos.

 

[baby nurse]

These are gorgeous Jaye! Thank you for sharing!

 

[pattye]

Jaye,

The math just doesn't seem to work out for your pearls to be 1.5mm. I think this is what Jeremy means also. I count 150 pearls. If they are lined up next to each other that would be approx 22 1/2 centimeters, or just under 9 inches of pearls. Then add about 3/4 inch for the clasp and maybe 1/2 inch for knots at most, which would make your necklace about 10 1/4 inches long. If the pearls were each approx 2mm, the necklace would be approx 13 inches long. Having an accurate measurement doesn't take anything away from the beauty or value of your necklace, which of course, is priceless!! I love the smaller pearls layered and used as chains!

So pretty Jeg!! And the little pendant, perfection!

p.s. Jaye, I totally apologize if my math isn't correct. How many inches long is your necklace?

 

[jshepherd]

No, the first strand is 1.5mm.
I had it restrung 2 weeks ago and the jeweler that did it for me said they are 1.5.
These 2 strands are larger. They are from my grandmother and are much, much older akoyas. The clasp are diamonds.
It;s cloudy here in Bkk, when we get some sun, i will take better with photo with all three strands.

The jeweler was a bit off on size. They're about double that, which is a really good thing for akoya pearls. They're hard to grow and almost always more valuable than strands slightly larger.

 

[Jaye]

Whoa, my husband just measured them using a mm ruler, not calipers, and he said that they are not all one size. Some are 1.75 mm, some are slighlty less, and some are 2mm. They are mixed and not graduated. When it’s worn, it’s look similarly size.
Pattye, the necklace from pearl to pearl with knots are 14 1/2 inch. I count the pearls at 129.
I will take them in and have them caliper measured.

 

[pattye]

Gosh, of course, Jaye, anything that tiny will be difficult to see size variation! Thank you so much for the additional measurements. Did the jeweler knot between some of the pearls, or just toward the ends? I may have been counting knots as pearls, lol.

 

[jshepherd]

Whoa, my husband just measured them using a mm ruler, not calipers, and he said that they are not all one size. Some are 1.75 mm, some are slighlty less, and some are 2mm. They are mixed and not graduated. When it’s worn, it’s look similarly size.
Pattye, the necklace from pearl to pearl with knots are 14 1/2 inch. I count the pearls at 129.
I will take them in and have them caliper measured.

You will need a digital caliper to get an accurate measurement. Using an mm ruler is nearly impossible because of the shape, even in larger sizes.

The pearls are closer 3 mm in size. I counted 15 inches of Hisano's 2.5-3 mm strand and there were 164 pearls. If the pearls were two millimeters and slightly under, there would be around 250 of them.

 

[Jaye]

Jeweler knotted between each pearl, Pattye
At this point he will have to measure every pearl.
I am not an expert Jeremy, but i still don’t think that these are 3mm.
When we study them closely now, we see variant in pearls sizes. Sorry to be stubborn.

 

[jshepherd]

Jeweler knotted between each pearl, Pattye
At this point he will have to measure every pearl.
I am not an expert Jeremy, but i still don’t think that these are 3mm.
When we study them closely now, we see variant in pearls sizes. Sorry to be stubborn.

I think it's possible you actually have a strand of natural pearls and not cultured akoya. This is a very old strand of natural seed pearls in a popular style before cultured pearls took over the market. The strand is 14.5 inches, common for these necklaces a century ago, and they range in size from 2.65 to 2.92 mm. There are 130 pearls in this strand.

The last photo shows the pearls against a little h piece showing 1.5 mm pearls - those are the sizes she uses in her designs. I am not perfect at this math (Pearl Dreams is, by the way), but the smaller you go, the larger the disparity between the cubic millimeters, so there is a significant visual different between the two sizes.

 

[SunSeeker]

jeg, love your tiny layers, and that pendant is darling!

Helen, how sweet to have those treasures and memories! I love LFS's shadow box idea.

Jaye, I love the antique clasp on your necklaces.

 

[Jaye]

That would be amusing if they are natural pearls. I truly don’t know. My mother left a lot of pearls and they’ve been stored in different deposit boxes in two countries.
I took this strand to this particular jeweler because he could restring with no appointments. I took his word that they are 1.5 akoyas. He did not measure.
I started this thread because I was curious how rare tiny akoyas are, and because the Japanese pearl dealer that I know hadn’t responded to my questions at that time.
Thanks for spending time on this.

 

[SunSeeker]

I pulled 2) 16" freshwater strands from my stash for comparison. The smaller pearls are 1.5-1.9mm, measured with a digital caliper. I didn't measure every pearl, but I did a bunch. There are 256 pearls in this 16" strand, just as Jeremy estimated there would be. The other strand is 2.5-3.0mm and it has 154 pearls. You can see from the image, what a huge visual different there is between such a tiny number.

 

[Katbran]

Jeremy - thanks for the photo - and the explanation !

SunSeeker - what a great photo. That really helps to put the sizes in perspective. 3mm sounds so small but they look enormous next to the 1.9 pearls. And what a difference in the pearl count !