Can anyone give me info on my pearl necklace?

[rdurand]

Hello,

I know nothing about pearls. Was recently given this necklace from my grandmother for my infant daughter. After a bit of time researching, they appear to be real. Have a 14k gold clasp with some small Asian characters on them. She was pretty well off and traveled extensively around the world, so no idea where they may have been from. Any info would be appreciated. Planning on also taking them to a local jeweler, but I live in a small town so no clue what there level of knowledge may be.

Thank you.

 

[KAC]

definitely real pearls

 

[Caitlin]

Pearls from her gt grandmother! How special!

They are beautiful pearls. The baroque akoyas have a lot of orient or rainbow iridescence in the uneven areas.They Look like my mother-in-law's (b. 1914) baroque akoyas. She traveled broadly starting in the 1930-1950's and bought pearls in Japan and Japanese outlets in Europe and the US.

I tried to measure yours onscreen because a couple of them seem really long and narrow. On my screen, the long narrow one was 3mm x 5mm. The rest I measured were more or less 3mmx3mm (on my screen - not in real life!) Allowing for the baroque nacre, they all seem to have the same size MoP bead in there. They are real pearls, but not wild grown and gathered natural pearls. They are probably the product of the Mikimoto culturing process, but from a competitor.

Maybe someone can tell you what the Asian characters are. My guess would be they are Japanese.

I am guessing. I was really wrong the other day, so let's get a consensus...

 

[Ramona]

I agree with Caitlin on the pearls. Is the tape measure cm or inches?

 

[Lagoon Island Pearls]

They appear to be baroque Akoyas in good condition. Not much evidence of scratches, cracks or peeling.

Given their age, you might do well to have them restrung.

A lovely gift, worthy of handing down to generations of daughters.

 

[rdurand]

Scale is in cm. They are roughly 7mm long, by 6 wide. Seem to be more or less consistent. 83 in total on the strand, and it is roughly 60cm in length. Attached photos of the clasp at 30x magnification showing the only marking I can see, as well as a 30x close up of one pearl. Colour is not very accurate accurate on the close-up; image taken with a digital USB microscope under LED lighting.