Buying for fun on eBay

[Taylor]

Hi,
You have me hooked now. I've been reading all the books I can find on pearls. One thing I read said that early in the 20th century many, many little cultured pearl necklaces were given to young girls. Are these the ones I see on eBay with silver clasps and 5mm and less pearls? One thing I'd like to do is buy some to compare quality. Maybe cut some open to see what the books describe. Is there a way to do this without shattering the pearl? If these are very early - the 30's - would the nacre be thicker? Other than a cheap price, is there anything I should look for? What about buying these for replacement pearls for other jewelry or to re-string into one longer strand or as a hobby?
Thanks, this is so much fun.
Taylor

 

[Caitlin]

Hi Taylor
I am sure someone else will answer your questions, i just wanted to say I know that hooked feeling- and I can feel your enthusiasm. I can't think of anything more fun than looking at and playing with pearls.
I think they cut larger pearls open to use as half pearls, don't they? It is possible, just a matter of the correct tools and technique.

Hi Zeide
On Taylor's other thread you mentioned you had a new venture regarding padparadsha pearls in a picture you posted. Can you talk about it? How is it going? Is it possible that this operation will stay in business?

 

[Zeide Erskine]

Hi Caitlin,

The padparadscha pearl culturing project is making good progress and has already had its first harvest. I got some samples in tissue-only nucleated ones but the group of researchers has already switched to bead nucleation to make their pearls look more akoyaesque. So far, that seems to pale the color substantially and I don't want pearl plated beads.

To Taylor,

I recommend you look very carefully at the pictures, do not pay more than you can afford to lose and then you can have great fun doing it. Most of the old strands of 3.5 momme graduations (typically 3-7mm) are rather worn down. There is one proviso, though, quite a few have some larger keshi rounds as end pearls. The pearls can be cut in half, but while this is already tricky for pearls larger than 10mm, it is truely infuriating work for pearls smaller than that. Since you hopefully do not intend to pay mysteriquery tax on your eBay purchases, you will probably have plenty of material to practice on at prices that make wasting one no tragedy. The resulting half pearls can be used as rim decorations for cameos and cabochons and the larger ones can be glued to metal post backs for round cabochons and used as half pearl earrings.

Zeide

 

[Taylor]

Boy are you right. My first venture on eBay arrived today and was a big loss. These were advertised as late 1800's, real baroque pearls with a sterling clasp. They looked baroque in the picture. They are tiny, hollow imitation pearls. The only thing interesting about them is that I had never seen a hollow faux pearl. According to the pearl book, the essence of orient is put inside the glass ball rather than outside. So the glaze doesn't scratch off like a solid glazed bead. When I cracked one open, I had two glass halves and a little ball that looked like a smaller pearl that was filled with wax. The "pearls" that appeared baroque in the eBay picture, where simply ones that had lost their glass housing and were slightly squished.
An interesting lesson, but not worth what I paid even if it wasn't much. Maybe you really need to be there to touch and examine. Also any picture really needs a size reference like a coin. They look much bigger in the pictures.

 

[Caitlin]

Hi Taylor
I made a few buy mistakes when I first started studying pearls. I set a sum of money aside and I called it my "pearl education" money. If it is my pearl education money, it is just as educating to make mistakes. I used it to buy strands, From eBay and from others. I bought 2 from Jeremy, 1 of which I used to compare luster when looking at pearls in person.
Zeide saw a necklace that was described as cultured, but from the Edwardian clasp and looking at the pearls in the photos, she thought it could be a natural with maybe just a few cultured pearls. Starting price was 2k, but no one bid on it. Learn to know pearls from lousy photos like Zeide can and it will help you see stuff others miss.