I Believe these to be Naturals. :)

[Bodecia]

Maybe I should have put this under "Show Us Your Beads" but I have some for that later. And I do think they are naturals. I have had them for about a year now and still haven't done anything with them. A few of the smaller pearls that must have had contact with perfumes etc. have had a hard life but these are the ones that really make me think I have the real thing.

Please let me know what you think and also what type of naturals they might be.

Bodecia

 

[GemGeek]

Can we see a large photo with a close-up of a few pearls, maybe some of the smaller ones you're talking about? It's not clear from the photo.

Thanks

 

[Bodecia]

Hi GemCreek,

It's a lousy photo for sure. I cut down the wrong one. I have been trying to reduce a better photo but my software is very limited or maybe it is me who is limited, not sure on that. During recent renovations I seem to have lost my Adobe and other software that was just perfect for me (or put them somewhere too safe). The software I am using just wants to crop and keep cropping. I will try it again but we might end up with just a few pearls on the photo. Stupid software - or is it me...

If all else fails I will boot up my old PC (am using a mac now) and hope the screen stays clear long enough for me to send a photo. Touch and go with that PC though. It has all the photos, pig of a machine and the software .. crying.

I will just keep trying. Feel like tearing my hair out. Will try a photo and see if it goes thru. Don't think it went thru. Found another program thou so will try again.

Bodecia

 

[Valeria101]

That is just a small, not terribly clear picture, but I think you have a point... there is a chance...

If they are old cutures akoya, you should see some nacre worn out around the holes by now. Short of enlisting a lab for help, you could sacrifice one of the smallest, damaged pearls to see what's inside. And a strong light - the kind used for estimating nacre thickness - could also reaveal the nucleus.

At least, the fellows deserve being cleaned and restrung!

If the small-graduated-strand look is not your piece of pie, these small pearls are very good for mixing with gold and gemstone beads... Gurhan, Robert Lee Morris have some styles that could fit the bill. And your version would be an order of magnitude finer because of the materials!

 

[Bodecia]

Okay, think this is better than last time. Not a great shot but better. I haven't slept for over 24 hours now and I think I -- well I don't think I am thinking I have cut out all the edges (larger, better pearls) and have left what I think might give you an idea. This photo is a truer colour of them too.

Bodecia

 

[Bodecia]

Valeria101 & Gemgeek (did I call you GemCreek before ) anyway last time I looked closing at them a couple of the smaller ones were very mangled and I could actually see inside them and looks like all nacre to me. Pretty positive in fact.

I have been meaning to clean them up and pick them over for the best but I am due in a month for an eye operation and have been putting it off. Still might get to it before that though. Just can't wait. Then I will totally smash a couple of the mangled ones and try and get some really good photos to post. I do have more photos of them but I have to burn them from my PC, get them over to my Mac and wait (maybe a week) for my Adobe etc to get her from the US of A.

Actually I might have another strand or two of naturals as well. Just have to find them. ...

 

[GemGeek]

It's very pretty just as it is, I think. There's lots of personality in the pearls and I love the clasp, too.

The small pearls close to the clasp that look dull, are typical of pearls that have had their nacre coating worn off. Natural pearls may wear to a layer of conchiolin that isn't especially shiny. It doesn't usually look blank, though, because it doesn't wear evenly through the layers, leaving some aragonite to show through.

Roll those small pearls around and see if they are dull over the entire surface area. Put on some high-power reading glasses or get a magnifying glass or a loupe and bend the strand between two good looking pearls until you can see into a drill hole. If they are cultured Akoyas, you should see a line just inside the drill hole that defines where the bead ends and the first (and sometimes dark) conchiolin ring begins. Look at a few pearls to get an idea. If you don't see any signs of a bead coated with nacre, they might be naturals.

Either way, they are very cool. I find myself liking graduated pearl strands more and more each time I see lovely examples like these. Congratulations on finding them.

 

[GemGeek]

Oops, I was writing while you were posting. Look at some of the good pearl's drill holes before you go too far with crushing anything. You could just be crushing a mother of pearl bead. I have seen a lot of antique pearls over the last year and it can be hard to tell.

The photo is excellent, by the way!

 

[Caitlin]

Do you think these look similar? I do. I see all kinds of peeled nacre on your strand of pearls. This strand, one of my mo-in-law's, is not in good shape either.

I am willing to state categorically that yours are not naturals. I saw a strand of naturals at Kojima pearls during the gem show. They were not a full strand. They were not matched at all in color or shape, although most were creamy shades and they did more or less go from small to smaller. The keystone price was $6k. Once you have seen naturals you would not think those pearls are naturals. Sorry to disappoint you.

I have a piece that is about a bracelet's worth of matched naturals from Bahrain. The largest is about 5-6mm, the smallest about 1mm. I have owned and worn them for 58 years and they are still beautiful. Nacre peeling has shaped them a little around the holes, but it only reveals another layer of nacre. I have a photo of them after I took them apart and washed them. I'll look for it and post it.

 

[GemGeek]

Those are faboo!

 

[Caitlin]

Here is a hugely magnified picture of one of the 5mm pearls- before washing. You can see the peeled nacre and more nacre underneath. All it took was washing to make them look fabulous.

 

[Caitlin]

Here they are washed. And you know what a lousy photographer I am.

 

[Caitlin]

Here is a crop of your strand Bo.

The one of my Mo-in-law's is 1940's baroque akoya, many of them peeling at the holes and a lousy string job too. (NOT mine)

 

[Caitlin]

Here is another strand of baroque akoyas I just restrung for a friend. She thought they were naturals too.

 

[Valeria101]

Hm... the plot thickens. There are a few details in the larger photo that make me think 'cultured' too: the wrinkles in the nacre of a few pearls are more typical to bead nucleated pearls, then a couple show dull areas as if the nacre was wearing off, and the smallest cultured tend to wear and peel fastest, so that would explain why the wear in uneven, and more prominent on the small pearls. And one or two have incipient 'tails' - a form typical to bead nucleated too.

Just a thought.

Also, on a strand of small naturals I would expect several different types of variation from the round shape: barrels and buttons... Here the pearls are not perfectly round, but the variation of the shapes is more in line with defects of cultured nucleated pearls.

 

[Caitlin]

Here is a strand Wes and Trish Rankin had. 10k keystone and it took them years to put together.

Natural pearls will have a fine clasp. The clasp on your necklace would not belong on a strand of naturals.

Natural pearls would just about have to be a hundred years old at least and the people who could afford them were very rich people. No average house wife would ever have a strand of naturals unless her family had a pearling dhow plying the waters of the Persian gulf. (As mine did)

The matched pearls like mine and the ones that make the auction houses are worth far more than Sarah's and Wes' naturals because they are old and well matched.

 

[Bodecia]

Ohh well. Not that strand then but maybe another. I am an eternal optimist. Gave the pearls a wash with Hagerty's. That first double strand was broken. I did get another strand from the same woman. They are still in a strand but I will break them later and inspect them properly, when I can see properly.

I can see why your friend thought her's were naturals too. They have the right kind of look to me. That photo came thru okay. Your washed ones didn't unfortunately. I will try to download it later. I get broadband (don't know if you call it that in the US) as in not dial-up and that will help with down and uploads.

Have other strands to put in Show Me Your Beads so will do that as soon as I can. Too tied at the moment. Think I have now been up 26 or so hours and I can't think straight.

Night, night and thanks for all the info even if it was bad I always live in hope.

 

[Caitlin]

I just have to end this lesson in naturals by putting up a picture of my bracelet. I used the paper towel trick and an Ott lite, but still not good.

 

[Valeria101]

Here is a strand Wes and Trish Rankin had. 10k keystone and it took them years to put together.

[...]

The matched pearls like mine and the ones that make the auction houses are worth far more than Sarah's and Wes' naturals because they are old and well matched.

Sometimes new naturals are more expensive then the old (speaking of comparable pearls)... 'Guess there's good reason for that, as the effort to gather the scarce natural pearls now is not assisted by the slave labour of old, fortunately. 'Bet there are other reasons too. Found that surprising, frankly.

At 10k, the choker of baroque black would get into competition with something like THIS from among the vintage. Those got me crazy...

The days of 1-2k for small graduated strands seem well gone, and that was just a couple of years ago. Now...

 

[GemGeek]

I just have to end this lesson in naturals by putting up a picture of my bracelet. I used the paper towel trick and an Ott lite, but still not good.

Caitlin is lucky to have such a lovely rarity. I can vouch for its subtle, but lustrous beauty, having seen it last Saturday.