Dyed black freshwater or Tahitian pearls? Could you please help me out?

[Nice]

Dear All,

first, Merry Christmas and a happy New Year to all!

Thank you for creating a great forum. I am really happy to be here!

Love pearls, even have several necklaces and pendants with them, but know very, very little. It is a shame really.

Usually I bought pearls from reputable stores knowing exactly*what they are and relying on experts. However, a week ago found a necklace in a thrifty*store among plastic*accessories.
I immediately noticed it and thought that it is real pearls. I'll tell you the price if anyone is interested..

The necklace is black baroque type, grey, kind of metallic grey color.*
The pearls are big, each nearly or over 1 cm, most are 12-13 mm long.*
Each pearls is different in shape and shade.
The shades are various and very pronounced, from red and brown to green.*
The pearls feel gritty and cool on touch. I tried to look at them with a magnifying glass. What a laugh!
They appear to have a consistent color throughout.*
The clasp is sterling silver (silver 925).
There are no knots between pearls, but it is normal for older necklaces, even expensive ones, in this country.
The necklace is beautiful, much better than on photos.

Of course, I wondered whether they are real... However, they look so to me. So I decided to show them to you!
I tried to learn about them, I really did. I have dyed freshwater pearls, but they are darker, and the shape is different. I have a real Tahitian one too. The pearls there look very similar to this necklace, but they are round.
So could you please-please-please help me out with this one? Thank you!
I really appreciate if someone replies.



Have a great day all!!

The price of this necklace was... 1USD.

 

[CortezPearls]

Hello Nice and Welcome to our pearl loving forum!
We have experts in the field that love to see what new members share with us and that will give you sound advice always
Happy holidays and Welcome again!

 

[CortezPearls]

And then....JUST $1 AMERICAN DOLLAR!!!!!
That is just FANTASTIC!
To me it looks like a 1980's circlé Tahitian black pearls strand...so, very much REAL in any way possible.
Hey family! What do you think of this amazing find

 

[pearlescence]

I think you have real tahitian pearls there, and the clasp alone is worth more than £1. But the pearls, from the photos, are not very good in quality, in shape, lustre or colour.

 

[Pearl Dreams]

Interesting...I immediately thought they were dyed fwp. They look like so many dyed fwp I've seen.

 

[pearlescence]

Interesting...I immediately thought they were dyed fwp. They look like so many dyed fwp I've seen.

Yes, I suppose they could be. Either way, they're pretty horrible.

 

[Pearl Dreams]

I'm afraid I have to agree there....the bands of low luster in the middle are particularly bad. If it were me I'd eliminate those and make a bracelet from the rest.

 

[lisa c]

Hi Nice, welcome aboard! I wonder if your pearls could be photographed in more indirect light? I think the colors will be more visible that way. Judging by the strong shadows in the photos, the subtleties of the colors are being blasted away.

The white towel is good; if you put the necklace on the white towel in a shallow box, and put yourself between the light source and your necklace, you might be able to capture the colors you see, for us to appreciate.

 

[lisa c]

Good, keep trying, I’m seeing more color!, but I’d get them back on the white towel and put something between the strong light and the pearls. The surface you’ve got is reflecting too much light for the camera to balance.

 

[Nice]

Thank you very much! More photos under a natural light

Thank you very much! More photos under a natural light

Dear all,

I appreciate your answers very much! It is so wonderful to know that you wish to help!

To be fair, the necklace is not horrible considering the price. It even looks good for a person who doesn't know much about pearls.
And the imperfections don't stand out that much under a natural light, when you just wear it. At least that is what I think.
Tried to take some more photos under a natural light using your advice. Thank you!! Am I getting any better?

Guys you are great!
I bought them in Japan in a shop that accepts any junk. Sometimes there are precious things though.
However, the staff is sometimes part-time people who have no idea. For example, I bought a real Zuni Native American needle-point bracelet for 5USD. So there was this necklace for 100 Japanese Yen, i.e. 90 cents.

 

[lisa c]

These pictures are getting to more of what you love about them, the color!
I think it’d be a hard-sell to get most of us to consider the imperfections as negligible. A lot of those pearls are really dicey, probably not going to wear well, ie not hardy. The nature of the imperfections, the holes in the nacre, make them weaker.

What a lot of us also experience, is the urge to perfect, to upgrade. The more you wear it, the more the nice pearls are going to make the bad pearls look inadequate, but for a single usd? Wear the heck out of them, enjoy them and thanks for sharing the joy of finding them with us! I’d be hopping around with happiness at that find too.

Lovely clasp, and I think a bracelet is the best idea offered.

 

[Nice]

Dear Lisa, thank you for the kind reply!
I have some really nice pearls, but this is a find,so it is more fun, I guess.
I will think about a bracelet. It is a great suggestion.
Have a great day!

 

[lisa c]

Seriously, tell me about it! The Adventure of The Hunt, and the Find...or the thrill of a complete surprise! Happy stuff! Well again, welcome aboard

 

[CortezPearls]

Totally agree with Lisa C. You simply can't beat this $1 dollar deal...and if some of the pearls are dicey...the ones that are not will give you lots of satisfaction, well worth more than $1 dollar!

Stay Safe and Enjoy Pearls!

 

[BeadersSecret]

Hello Nice, I have viewed your pearls a few times, good chance they are dyed fresh water pearls.

Going back 15/20 years ago, I used to see similar large dyed fresh water pearls coming in unknotted like these, and with a similar clasp.

 

[Nice]

Dear all,

Thank you for replies, opinions and suggestions!
I appreciate them very much.

 

[CortezPearls]

Sure thing Nice!
That is what the forum is all about: sharing our love and knowledge about PEARLS with other pearl-minded individuals
Please come back to the forum with more unique pearl finds!
Happy 2021 to All.

 

[lisa c]

Hey, Bernadette! (That’s Southern USA Hello; I’m a mutt, up and down the eastern region. I can’t shed some of my regional verbal habits).

I’m trying to see what you’re seeing - what clues? Is it because the bands of color aren’t stark bands? Is it because even the smaller, rounder pearls at the clasps, seem to have a dark glaze over the color bands? I’m trying to see what...maybe it’s the same ‘tone’ to the oil-slick colors?

 

[BeadersSecret]

Hi Lisa, all the above ;-)

As I said in my first post, I have worked on very similar dyed fresh water pearls years back, the posted images being quite familiar in their characteristics to what I saw crossing my bench.

 

[lisa c]

Oh, I trust all of you and your experience! I think you all exactly have seen so much that the recognition goes to work really fast, clicks through the circuits and says Yes, this is cfw..
and big thank you Bernadette, for your patience and the wink ;-).

I’ll never see that volume, and I’m just struggling to ‘see’. My impressions are like unsure toddler steps. I’ve read the books, but it’s slow going in my brain.

Can I venture one more question? By dyedFW, could you mean that I’m looking at early Chinese larger-bead-seeded experiments that are actually more successful? Looking more like the Tahitians than before, re shape and distinctive color bands?

I actually wish that one of the changes that might come up on PG this year would be that I could dump that ‘Expert’ designation under my user name. I’ve worried that new posters might take it literally.