Candled Natural Pearls

[GemGeek]

It looks like a mabe or blister pearl. A half-pearl would not be so tall. It's exciting to see how much you could get with a closed-back - excellent!

 

[CharmedOne]

Thanks GG! It's so much easier with this camera and a tripod is a must The back of the setting is rounded like the front. It's a pretty little pearl and I'd like to make it into a necklace.

 

[Lagoon Island Pearls]

It looks like a mabe or blister pearl. A half-pearl would not be so tall. It's exciting to see how much you could get with a closed-back - excellent!

Agreed. Mabe. The contrast is subsurface and equal.

A single image might have been deceiving, but these views are from different angles. It's easy to visualize the 3D image, so to that end... well done! Very good photos.

 

[CharmedOne]

Thank you so much Dave! This is all very informative.

At certain angles I can see whatever that is inside the pearl with the naked eye, now that I know what it looks like. So that is an implanted piece of graft tissue then? I apologize if this is a silly question. Just trying to keep a mental idea of what to look for.

I will post photos of a few different pearls later. Thanks again ~d

 

[Lagoon Island Pearls]

So that is an implanted piece of graft tissue then? I apologize if this is a silly question. Just trying to keep a mental idea of what to look for.

It's a good question. Mabe pearls are formed in the extrapallial space and do not require tissue grafting. A half round bead is fixed to the shell and the mantle does the rest.

 

[MSC]

I don't know how you see what you see, Dave, but I would love to take a seminar with you on pearl candling!

 

[MSC]

This is my Victorian snake pearl ring candled.

 

[Bodecia]

Andrea, you need to give it a salt sludge scrub and also use a tiny tooth scrubbing brush on the drill hole. That should help. Must have been set in something else at one time so it may not be a Victorian pearl, just ring. Looks like the shape of a keshi pearl to me but that is just a shape and lustre thing. Also looks natural to me Do clean it and give us more photos.

Sometimes with mine I only realise how dirty they are when I take photos so I cannot talk but yours should clean up nicely.

Should have time to put a few of my photos up tonight. Been busy with selling, sorry.

Dawn - Bodecia
http://www.ebay.com/sch/dawncee333/m.html
eBay Seller ID dawncee333 Natural pearl collector & seller. And all round pearl lover.
Dawn's Pearls - https://www.pearl-guide.com/forum/showthread.php?t=8351

 

[Bodecia]

G7 Pearl - now putting in boxes and marking with details after taking photos. No. 2 and 3 photos (if they list as I load) are very much alike taken a minute apart but number 3 seems to have a better view deeper into the pearl. The drill holes look okay to me but this is a pearl I am not sure on. I also now have a section for pearls I think I know what they are and others for Just Don't Know. They will stay in little boxes until I am sure. No way I can use them until I am sure.

Will find a more interesting one to put up next.


Dawn - Bodecia
http://www.ebay.com/sch/dawncee333/m.html
eBay Seller ID dawncee333 Natural pearl collector & seller. And all round pearl lover.
Dawn’s Pearls - https://www.pearl-guide.com/forum/showthread.php?t=8351

 

[Bodecia]

This is a blue pearl pendant which I think I took photos of before with my camera. If I remember correctly Dave said it would be worth while taking better photos with it as it just may be a river pearl. So here they are. Loads of them sorry. But I took too many and don't want to be the one to decide which photos are no good because that means I might sub-consciously pick ones that show it to be cultured and leave them out. Hope that makes sense. Just removed blurred or lousy photos. These as previous pearl G7 taken with my favourite microscope.

Meant to take photos of my new set up but forgot and now dark so better wait until tomorrow but I am using a torch 4.1/2 inches tall or app. 115mm with bigger boxes which allows me to use this microscope. The other microscope needs shorter boxes so not so keen on it now.

I will recommend this microscope as I said before unless Dave thinks my photos are not as good with it. I will push myself to use the other microscope tomorrow.


Dawn - Bodecia
http://www.ebay.com/sch/dawncee333/m.html
eBay Seller ID dawncee333 Natural pearl collector & seller. And all round pearl lover.
Dawn’s Pearls - https://www.pearl-guide.com/forum/showthread.php?t=8351

 

[Lagoon Island Pearls]

Those are great pictures and yes, it certainly looks like a river pearl just by it's colors, shape and surface. Natural freshwater pearls, especially mature ones have a degree of calcite distributed through the structure, so with that it's difficult to get the depth of the views we see from natural saltwater pearls. That said, those are points to support natural origin. This pearl has a nice glow to it.

The last image has an inclusion of conchiolin and although the prongs obscure it somewhat, it appears to be present in several layers. Also a point in favor of natural.

I'm glad we revisited that one.

G7 has similar color, but the ring and margin contrasts near the hole have me skeptical of natural origin. I'm inclined to think it's an early culture period.

How old does jewelry need to be antique as opposed to vintage? 100 years? If that's the case, we'll be adding the term to cultured pearls in the foreseeable future.

 

[Bodecia]

Thank you Dave, just what I was hoping for. As for G7 I thought it might be cultured as I didn't see a lot of depth to it. Jewellery is supposed to be 100 years old to be antique but the term is used loosely these days and even looser on eBay. Vintage is a harder one as it is sort of like saying circa 1950 or so. I think it really means items at least 50 or 60 years old but people call even 1980s things vintage and the younger one is the later they think vintage means. Unlike most of us.

Sorry I started typing this out ages ago but had to do something else. Will add more photos later or tomorrow. I do have many pearls candled. I will find some interesting ones.

Dawn - Bodecia
http://www.ebay.com/sch/dawncee333/m.html
eBay Seller ID dawncee333 Natural pearl collector & seller. And all round pearl lover.

 

[CharmedOne]

Thank you so much for clarifying that for me Dave. Thank you too GG

These photo are of a pendant that I think I posted about this one before but I remember Dave saying he needed to see better photos.

 

[CharmedOne]

I have three pink and gold pearls that came in a pearl lot I purchased on ebay. I only candled the biggest one but I can do the smaller ones too if needed.

There are quite a few black pearls which you can't candle. Any suggestions on how to go about identifying them? I know a few have to be Tahitians but I have a few that look black but under a loupe they look more brown than black. Would that suggested that they are dyed freshwater pearls? Any suggestions would be appreciated.

 

[Bodecia]

Hello, they very well could be Pteria penguin. Common name, Winged pearl oyster. They come in those colours and are small.
I have uploaded some that I have bought to show the colours which you have shown and are describing. I think they are the same.

Dawn - Bodecia
http://www.ebay.com/sch/dawncee333/m.html
eBay Seller ID dawncee333 Natural pearl collector & seller. And all round pearl lover.
Dawn?s Pearls - https://www.pearl-guide.com/forum/showthread.php?t=8351

 

[Bodecia]

Sorry meant to add this for last photo. They do look similar but need an expert's opinion to be sure. The dark and pink pearls of my photos are pearls of Modiolus barbarous. Hope this helps you.

Nice candling.

Dawn - Bodecia
http://www.ebay.com/sch/dawncee333/m.html
eBay Seller ID dawncee333 Natural pearl collector & seller. And all round pearl lover.
Dawn?s Pearls - https://www.pearl-guide.com/forum/showthread.php?t=8351

 

[Lagoon Island Pearls]

I have three pink and gold pearls that came in a pearl lot I purchased on ebay. I only candled the biggest one but I can do the smaller ones too if needed.

The pink ones are CFWP.

The pendant may be natural. The color and density look right, but there's too much stray light and not enough contrast detail.

There are quite a few black pearls which you can't candle. Any suggestions on how to go about identifying them? I know a few have to be Tahitians but I have a few that look black but under a loupe they look more brown than black. Would that suggested that they are dyed freshwater pearls? Any suggestions would be appreciated.

How do you know they are Tahitian? No less Tahitian natural?

 

[CharmedOne]

No not natural Tahitians, just Tahitians. I posted them before a bit ago and was told a few were Tahitians but the brown ones don't look like the Tahitians. So I was just looking for suggestions is all. Thank you for your help.

 

[Lagoon Island Pearls]

No not natural Tahitians, just Tahitians. I posted them before a bit ago and was told a few were Tahitians but the brown ones don't look like the Tahitians. So I was just looking for suggestions is all. Thank you for your help.

Pinctada m. pearls are rich in protein. The ratio of conchiolin to aragonite is higher than most species or similar in Pteria. The natural color of conchiolin is brown, and as we've seen here gives rise to contrasts in candled views.

 

[Bodecia]

Hi All,

Have been working on consignment pieces for 3 weeks so absolutely no time for uploading photos although I wanted to. Finally have a little time to play again. Also all last week we had a horrific heat wave. Temps were up to 47 deg C which is 116.6 deg F once when we checked but mostly we stayed indoors. To go out was like walking into a furnace. It is hot out here in summer. Adelaide had it bad too but not quite as bad as out in the bush. One fire got too close for comfort. It was about 10 or so kilometres from us so I checked a fire map much of the time. We were ready to grab all our animals and just drive. I would have grabbed some pearls too if time allowed. I stayed up most of one night just to keep a watch on things. That was one of the worse days with fires all over South Australia. Up to 500 at one time.

I have candled photos of 2 pearls in rings. Would love opinions on them.

This one is of a large pearl and very hard to take photos of. Really need opinions on this one. Some of the photos look really good to me and others I am not so sure of.

Love to hear from all and especially Dave and GemGeek.

More photos coming.

Dawn - Bodecia
http://www.ebay.com/sch/dawncee333/m.html
eBay Seller ID dawncee333 Natural pearl collector & seller. And all round pearl lover.
Dawn?s Pearls - https://www.pearl-guide.com/forum/showthread.php?t=8351