Help identifying freshwater pearls?

[Cecaelia]

Hi all! Nice to meet you Newbie here, so warning for mistaken use of terminology!

I have this string of pearls that I were told were vintage 1970's stock Lake Biwa pearls. They're baroque, cream to light peach colored, and have a rainbow iridescence which I think is on the body (overtone?) rather than the soap bubble effect (orient?). They had an old yellowed label tag that read "Products of Japan" attached to the string, but unfortunately that's gone missing. The odd thing about them is I think they are bead-nucleated, despite being baroque. One pearl has a bit of nacre chipped off and underneath is a chalky white substance. Some others, the area near the drill hole is a little broken and I can see inside the hole. There's almost like a space of air between the outer nacre and the interior sphere of...chalk? Lake Biwa only produced tissue-nucleated beads, right? What are these, then. Fakes? They do pass the tooth test.

Thanks for the help in advance!

 

[Pearl Dreams]

Hi and welcome to Pearl-Guide!

You have baroque cultured akoya (saltwater) pearls. (Lake Biwa produced freshwater pearls.)

They are bead nucleated but the nacre was deposited unevenly. I like baroque pearls personally-- they often have nice orient-- that soap bubble effect you described. The overtones are seen in the dark central part of the pearl when you shine a single light source on the pearl-- like a small flashlight. The more lustrous the pearl, the more contrast there will be between that dark central area and the periphery when you shine the light.

Will you string and wear them? If so check out our Lowly Beaders Club forum where there are tutorial threads on how to string them. Many of us string our own pearls.

 

[Cecaelia]

Thank you Pearl Dreams!

Baroque Akoya!!!! That makes SO much more sense now. Thank you! I love baroque anything as well, though uniform rounds are impressive too. I just received a pair of real kasumis from kojima that I don't know what I'll do with -- just had to have em!

Thanks for the guide tip! I'll definitely be checking out the Lowly Beader's club. I had intended on making a mala if they were actually biwa pearls, but the akoya's are beautiful regardless and deserve to be strung up♡ I find it endearing that a pearl renown for its round uniformity is showing its rebellious side here and refusing to conform! I have some parachute cord on hand so I'll get started on that soon!

But alas, my hunt for actual Lake Biwa pearls continue!

 

[lilliefuzzysocks]

Cecaelia, Have you asked Sarah at Kojima pearl company? She has carried Lake Biwa pearls in the past. She bought them to the ruckus the year we went to the Malibu mansion. I took a photo of them and they are posted on page three of this thread.

https://www.pearl-guide.com/forum/s...overs-perspective&highlight=(newberry+ruckus)

 

[Cecaelia]

Lil' Fuzzy Socks, thank you! I am REELING from that picture!! Whaaa? Those are Lake Biwa pearls? I've never seen such a uniform strand! I'm surprised they can do that without a bead nucleus! I'll definitely ask her, but I'm gonna have to definitely save up my moolah, which I just spent on pearl paradise after getting bitten by the pearl bug.

There also seems to be one pearl farm currently on Lake Biwa as well, which came to me as a shock because I thought they were all extinct! They unfortunately don't list their stock on their website and they seem to utilize both nucleated and non-nucleated methods.

 

[Pearl Dreams]

This post, I assume, from 2012:
https://www.pearl-guide.com/forum/s...vers-perspective&p=94822&viewfull=1#post94822

Those are remarkable!