Grey... something?

[CrazyMissy]

hello pearl people!

a friend lent me this necklace as part of my research (still working on what strand length i should go for). not sure what it is though, she said they are akoyas. it is pretty heavy and has grit to it, so yeah, they're real. the buttons, color and some spots throw me off guard though.

any ideas on what these are?

 

[pattye]

CM,

Well, they do look more like dyed freshwater to me based on the eggy shapes. Fun research! What length is this necklace?

 

[amti]

I agree with Pattye.

 

[Katbran]

Freshwater - not bad quality dyed pearls . Freshwater pearls don't come in natural grey - they are dyed grey or black or blue etc . The natural colours are lavender and white and pale pink/peach/salmon shades. But they do have a reasonable surface and lustre. Akoya are super shiny and smallish in that they can get up to 10mm but more often strands are less than 9mm.

 

[CrazyMissy]

thanks everyone. the grey color confused me, hahaha! she was sure it were akoyas, though. or at least her seller was, she picked them up in greenhills on a biz trip. another friend thought they were grey ssps.

this is a 35-in rope, I'm giving it a shot. I have a desk job literally, so it was a pain wearing a 53-in strand. (which is why I missed the gssp harvest strand bus... again!). the 35-in seems ok but it still hits the desk. will try nesting it next week. a single 16-in is too short, an 18-in is an odd ball for most of my clothes (most of my dresses have high necklines), time to enter the realm of double strands.

thank heavens for friends who joined the pearl party much earlier than me!