Can someone tell me about the pearls in this ring please....

[SevenOranges]

Hello
I had a natural pearl necklace (tested) which sold to a dealer a few years ago for a considerable sum. I kept a ring that was always worn with it. I am fairly certain that the two are not a set. The pearls are a yellow-white colour.
The ring is made of 22k gold (about 5.4 gms) but I don't know how to test the quality of the pearls as it is set in the ring.
If I send it off to a lab will they have to unset it to test it?
Any thoughts would be helpful. I am a little concerned that if I present it to a jeweler for sale, he will only value the gold and not bother about the pearls itself. As the necklace sold well in the five-figures, it would be a shame if these are good natural pearls, although even if they were I am not sure two pearls will be worth much today...
I have taken a couple of photographs but I am not sure how helpful they are. One pearl appears slightly darker than the other - but not as much as in the photographs which is probably due to the angle of the light and the gold reflecting on its surface. I should mention that they are both very round, I estimate about 10-11mm, and are only held by their prongs.

Thank you for your opinions...

 

[SevenOranges]

Added one additional photograph which is more of a close up. One can see where the nacre has been damaged due to the prong. It can't be seen worn of course but it is an old ring after all.....

 

[SevenOranges]

I looked at the pearls with a loupe and light and noticed that where the nacre had come off at the prong the surface under the nacre was white (as against the yellow tint to the nacre). I wondered if someone can point me to some pictures of what the surface is supposed to look like under the top most layer of nacre. Do subsequent layers just continue to look like the top exposed layer in a natural (or cultured) pearl and white in an imitation pearl? It would help me decide a route of action as I am still not sure it is worth sending this out for testing.
Thank you for your help...

 

[GemGeek]

Flaking may not reveal much information. The pearls are so perfectly round that my hunch would be cultured. If they were natural, the previous owner would most certainly be aware of it, because they would be extremely valuable based on the rarity of the roundness. You didn't say how you came to own them, so I am guessing here. They do not look like natural pearls to me. It's great that you were able to realize a good sum from the necklace.

 

[SevenOranges]

Thank you so much for some feedback. I was beginning to think I would never get a reply. Here is a link to the necklace and the ring when I posted on this forum first (2008). Since then the unfortunate turn of the economy made me sell it. I had no intention of selling it when I made the post and was in fact interested in extending it. It was sold a year later with certification in the early 5 figures to a local jeweler, who then sold it on to an Indian buyer apparently and probably made a nice profit as well on it...which is fine:

Another string of pearls...and a ring

Hello All This is my first post here. I love jewelry and began to enjoy looking at it when I inherited some antique pieces. I am not in the industry (financial analyst I'm afraid) so please excuse some naive questions or descriptions! I have always loved pearls, and in face when offered a ruby...

www.pearl-guide.com

The history of the ring is detailed there. My aunt called all her pearls natural, since the family had connections with the court. Of course all of it was not of the same quality!
Should I send it off for testing - would it be worth it please? If they were cultured it would be a colossal waste of money.

 

[pattye]

Seven Oranges,

Thank you for sharing the beautiful ring.

A quirk of this forum's format is that sometimes new posts don't show up as new and unread, so please don't think it is lack of interest on the member's part.

There is a thread on candling pearls, showing how to use a bright light behind the pearl, which can sometimes help identify a round nucleus inside, or lack of one. I'll add the link here when I find it.

 

[SevenOranges]

Thank you ! I think possibly the best way to shine a light may be through the bottom of the ring. I will try it with some LED lights that I have.

 

[KarinK]

If you are able to take a photo of the candled pearls, please post tehm. There are people here who can help interpret them.

- Karin

 

[pattye]

The prongs are far enough down you may get a good view looking through the side of the pearl. Yes, photos would be terrific. A pleasure to revisit your earlier posts about the necklace. Certainly some of the pearls in that piece were quite round and also naturals.

 

[GemGeek]

Party is right - you can never be sure just by looking. It was great to see the necklace again. So beautiful!

 

[Caitlin]

Could you get a real closeup of the chip under the prong? Maybe you could recrop that one from the original photo so it just shows the damaged area.

In a natural pearl when you get wear, it just shows more rings of nacre no matter how deep the wear or scratch goes. In a cultured pearls, you hit the mother of pearl bead and no more rings of nacre. Those pearls are quite large and very round for naturals, so if they are natural, they will be salable, too.

I am so sorry you had to sell the necklace but I am glad it was natural!

 

[SevenOranges]

Hello all.
I tried to take a photograph of the pearls with a strong back light, but it was quite difficult as I did not have a macro lens. However...I did examine it in all directions and other than the small bits of nacre on the surface that have chipped off due to the prongs I could see NOTHING within the pearl. Is it strange? No bead or core substance. It just seemed to look like a glowing slightly dull golden-yellow ball, however on closer inspection there seems to be some translucent layers - hues of green and white. This does not seem to be at the surface but pretty deep down, perhaps more than a third through. Here is the best picture that I could get. Thanks.

 

[natural]

dear all
if i see the color it's real natural pearls..because most of natural pearls was yellow white color or champagne color.

thanks
natural