Gold South Sea pearls - real?

[Crabfries]

I bought a pair of gold South Sea pearl studs in Southern Philippines while on holiday. My host said this store was trustworthy, her family has bought SSPs a few times from them and they welcome returns if authentication from a geologist failed. Can anyone take a look please if they are indeed authentic? They are 11 mm.

 

[GemGeek]

Please take a photo on a white paper towel in indirect daylight. Thank you.

 

[Orient]

Please take a photo on a white paper towel in indirect daylight. Thank you.

It would also be a good idea to clarify what you are asking when posting the new images GemGeek asked about. I assume you are asking whether the colour is natural not whether the pearls themselves are natural. The latter would be extremely unlikely! They are most probably bead cultured pearls. The colour is another matter!

 

[Pearly-Pearly]

Is it two different pairs? The color looks really strange to me.

 

[Crabfries]

No it’s just 1 pair. Let me post more photos below..

 

[Crabfries]

Hi GemGeek, here’s the photos, thank you! I am actually wondering if they are SSP or FW. As for the color, I just assumed they were naturally gold?

 

[Pearl Dreams]

Even if they are SSP (and to me they look like SSP) they may be dyed. It is not always possible to tell. Light golden or yellow pearls may be dyed to look like the much more valuable deep golden color. Dyeing should be disclosed but often is not.

Please take a close look at the pitted areas in the pearl on the left. It might be just the way the light is hitting the photo but it looks like an accumulation of dye. What do you see when you look at the pearl?

 

[Katbran]

All the little fish bites look like SS markings... but the colour in the photos looks a bit off. But it could be just the lighting.

 

[Crabfries]

Definitely a pit but I don't see the color getting darker in the pit. The vendor only claimed that the pearls were genuine SSP and didn't mention anything about color so maybe you're right..

 

[Cees]

They are South Sea pearls but he strange thing is that hardly any golden pearls are bought by the vendors in the Philippines as they always pretend. From Mindanao I have heard many times when I was in Manila. But there no farms in that area.
But when I see the Filipinos shopping at the Hong Kong Fairs I always see them hanging around Kobe whole salers who are famous for dyed pearls in any colour you desire.

 

[Crabfries]

Hi Cees,

I thought gold pearls have always been sourced from the Philippines, specifically Palawan? Someone mentioned the jewelry company Jewelmer (they specialize in gold SSPs), whose farm is in the Philippines so is it possible to get the less than perfect pearls in that region anyway..?

I'm on the fence about them now. I'm glad they're SSPs but I don't want to wear them and then have people think they're fake because the color is off...

Thank you to everyone who responded!

 

[amti]

The color could be real but it is so hard to tell with photos because everyone's computer colors are not calibrated the same. But from your photos, the color looks a bit off to me too. After going to Ruckus last month, we all saw a lot of beautiful naturally golden ssps and the colors were very dark. I bought some too and the colors differ depending on the lighting. You should wear the earrings and be proud of them. So many pearls are dyed these days, so don't worry about what others think. Wear them because they make you happy.