Drop earrings and pendant, gray

[Elias]

Hello,

I'm buying this earrings and pendant set. The metal part is 18k gold the stones are colored, brownish diamonds. They are from a good jewelry here. The pearls are of a dove gray color. What kind of pearls are they? they have a beautiful shine in person, bluish colored I guess. Are they good quality pearls?

Thanks to everyone in advance.

Elias

 

[pattye]

Hi Elias,
Thank you for sharing your lovely new pearls. Is this a vintage set? What were you told about the pearls? Your eyes, seeing the luster of these pearls in real life, will tell you more about the quality than we can see in the photos.
The pearls appear baroque in shape; with no bead nucleus.
Gray color is often achieved through treatment, such as irradiation/dye, not harmful at all, or possibly your pearls are their natural color.
At this point I couldn't say whether these are salt water or freshwater pearls. My Cortez Pearls are a natural gray shade.

 

[Elias]

Dear Pattye,

Thank you for your answer. I don't think it is a vintage set. It is very recent. The earrings are black rhodium plated. I received no informations about the pearls, I just know it is made of 18k white gold. Do you need better pictures or any kind of tests I can do so you have an opinion?

Thank you again,

Elias

 

[CortezPearls]

Hello Elias, those are beautiful!

They look like natural pearls to me but could be cultured.
What does the seller tell you?

 

[Elias]

Hello CortezPearls, thank you. The seller is a lady that bought and got several jewels as a gift and she doesn't understand a lot about pearls. I'm buying some items from her and this set is the one it got me more doubts. I tried to contact the jewelry that made them, they said they will check the records of this particular set but as they are not a pearl specialized jewelry so I'm not expecting a lot of information from them. If they are natural or treated they could be the same kind of pearl? If I would guess I would say that they are cultured because of the jewelry, despite having high end creations, how would they get natural pearls? sorry but I'm guessing here haha.

 

[CortezPearls]

Well, it is a very educated guess. Really.
They look like naturals so -in my book- that is a plus! You get the looks and not pay the price

 

[Elias]

Thank you again. If they are cultured or natural besides the difference in price is it possible to say the kind of pearl? Per example, they are akoya or freshwater or south sea or tahitian, or for these kind of baroque pearls that classification isn't applicable? One thing that I do know is that, that jeweler do recycle old client pieces so maybe those pearls could come from a vintage piece, but I think it is unlikely.

 

[CortezPearls]

Hello Elias
To me they look like baroque saltwater pearls produced by black-lip pearl oyster ...either from the Tahitian species (Pinctada margaritifera) or the Panamic species (P. mazatlanica).
A bit of snooping around could prove valuable

 

[Elias]

If these are cultured tahitian baroque pearls vs natural tahitian baroque pearls is it possible to give me a range price in each scenario?

I can give you a price range for American Natural Pearls from the Mexican Black Lip (Pinctada mazatlanica) because this is one the species I am very much familiarized with. This price range depends on many factors I am not able to evaluate without actually handling and inspecting the pearls up-close. The price for natural tahitian pearls might be close...but I am not sure.

Also, the price I can offer you is that of the final or end customer. The price ranges from around $400 to $1000 dollars per carat (natural pearls are sold by carat, not diameter)...so a great looking round pearl may be worth between $1000 to $2000 dollars/carat...and a dull, spotty baroque may be worth $300-350/carat.

Yours are drop-baroques, look big and clean, very appealing...I would say $800-$950/carat, but of course: I have not analyzed them in person.

It's harder to offer an estimate value if you don't have the size of the pearls...I'm guessing 14-15 mm? Just by the photos. If they are cultured pearls they would not be of the highest quality (seem not that lustrous and with some mottling) but they are very attractive to me (I like them because they look like naturals, like I've said before)...so, drop baroques 14-15 mm in B grade maybe?
We would have to "browse around" for prices.

 

[StarryPearl]

Hi Elias, I do not know the answer to your question but I want to say your set is gorgeous. The colored raw diamond is a lovely touch, and the matching is really nice. I have a baroque Tahitian pearl pendant that has same color and similar luster, so Tahitian would be my best guess.

 

[pattye]

Yes, the 3 pearls do indeed add value to this set! I'm sure the photos don't due justice to their beauty, but you can see it in person.
It's difficult to match pearls for pairs, much less find 3 so similar. These would have been sorted out from a large lot. They appear to be blemish-free.
They are half-drilled for these type jewelry settings, rather than full-drilled for a temporary strand. Someone early on in the supply chain recognized these pearls were pretty special!

 

[Elias]

Hello StarryPearl and pattye. Thank you for your compliments and information. I was very afraid that wasn't a good purchase, because sometimes you like the item but isn't a good investment, this time it looks like the investment was good, and that's a relief. Here are more pictures, hope they are clearer to get a better look at the set. I want to ask your opinions in something else. Do you think I should change those diamonds for colorless ones? The two yellowish browns I kind of like but the milky raw one not so much. What do you think?

 

[Elias]

Hello CortezPearls, sorry I didn't thanked you sooner for the prices and explanation, I just now noticed your answer because it appeared like it was a post be me, some bug, haha, and sort of out of order. Let me see if I understood. If natural they are measured and priced by carats. And if the carats are like in diamonds and the total for the three pearls is 60, so is 60 times the price per carat, right? Isn't that a lot? Because I'm almost sure they are around 60 cts. Now, if they are cultured, they would be a B grade tahitian, so priced by size. How do I measure them, the larger measure, from top to bottom or from side to side? Because if it is top to bottom, they look around 18mm or a bit over and side to side around 15mm. Not abusing your kindness do you recommend a site that a can browse those b grade baroques by size, so I can find similar ones? Thank you again.

 

[Elias]

Sorry to add another post but I was examining one of the earrings and I got very scared. In the part of the back the pearl has a lot of white stains, blemishes. Is it possible to be fake pearls? They look and feel real, cold to the touch and gritty when rubbed against each other and with a nice weight. Maybe they are dyed lower quality pearls? Not tahitian at all? I tried to take a close up picture. It is with white artificial light. Not sure if with natural light this white color appears. I'm sure that it is 18k gold and diamonds, all checked and tested.

 

[Charlotta]

I let the experts answer that, but I do know that sometimes pearls gets white spots or dull areas. The white spots, that looks like white chalk I have mostly seen on white south sea pearls of rather low quality. These spots don't look that bad and it's on the back so not to visible. They will still look great worn.

 

[KarinK]

Fake pearls usually look perfect from what pictures I've seen, almost too perfect. So a few blemishes makes them look real to me
I personally don't think they are natural pearls (but could be wrong). It would be incredibly rare that pearls this size would be natural. I am sure they are real pearls, though, but helped by man working with the oyster. It seems to me I can see the outline of the implanted bead at the bottom.

It is a very pretty set, the setting as well. That being said, I've learned that pearls are not an investment. They aren't worth much once you've bought them, other than your pleasure. Which is what you found. You got them at a much better price than the original purchaser. But the good bargains here are mostly about getting something you really like at a lower cost because it's pre-loved rather than getting something that is worth more in resale than you paid for it.

- Karin

 

[Elias]

Charlotta, thank you, yes they are in the back, not visible in the daylight and in just one of the pearls. But these are quite big earrings and I don't think she will wear it in daytime haha. The other one the back part isn't smooth, with small craters so both have problems. At least the front part is nice.

Karin, thank you too, I know I probably got the set at a nice price compared to the original buyer, but I want to be sure haha. That's why I searched a lot for a similar sized cultured baroque tahitian with those same details but couldn't find anything. I guess this large size is not the taste of everyone maybe? My mother, who is the recipient of my gift, told me she wouldn't wear the earrings with the pendant together, or one or the other. But she liked and that's good. I must say, that in the ears the earrings look like a million dollars hahahaha

 

[parfaitelumiere]

The gold mount, darkened, and gold colored diamonds are a modern fashion mostly from asia.
The color may be a dye, or natural, I don't know enough about these pearls, but white areas can appear on natural color, and cultured.
My guess is cultured freshwater, but some aspect of pinctada pearls too.

 

[Elias]

Thank you Parfaitelumiere. I am quite sure this set wasn't made in Asia, not even for the asian market, as it was made from a local jeweler not relevant internationally, but very important here. If they were freshwater, wouldn't they be dyed? And if dyed the inside shouldn't be white? And shouldn't be some dye around the drill holes? I've found a pair from a brand called Assael and the pearls look quite similar, but, for my untrained eyes, much better quality. They were the only ones that I've found. The size is similar also, 20.4x15.8, even larger than mine. I have several amethyst stones and really liked this combination.