My Great-Grandmother's Pearl Necklace....Real? Fake? Approximate Value please???

[ash41784]

Hello! My husband and I found my Great Grandma's pearl necklace. We did the "tooth test" and it is gritty feeling. There are individual knots in between each pearl. There are a total of 73 pearls with the smallest being 5mm and the largest is 10mm. It has a beautiful clasp that has 10KM on it. It is about 23 inches long from clasp to clasp. We would really like to know an approximate value of this necklace. I know that nobody can give us a true appraisal/value from just a picture, however we would like to know if it is worth our time to take it to a reputable jeweler. Thank you!

 

[Caitlin]

Gt GM? What year range would that be?

 

[ash41784]

Gt GM? What year range would that be?

I believe my Great-Grandmother would be 97 if she were alive today. So that puts her birth year at about 1916.

 

[Caitlin]

The same age as my MiL. When would she have received this necklace, about how old?

Would you mind taking a photo from the top straight down? I'd like to see the shapes of the pearls better. You might coil it up and get a real closeup from the top. The luster is yummy.

 

[ash41784]

The first two pictures were taken inside under artificial light. The rest of them were taken outside. I used a blank sheet of copy paper as the background. Also I noticed that the knots in between each pearl seem to possibly be double knotted and the pearls slide around in that space from knot to knot...there's no glue of any kind. As far as when my Great-Grandmother would have received these....well, your guess is as good as mine. I asked my Mom if she had more information but she doesn't. She did tell me that she was born in 1915....so our best guess would be that she got this strand of pearls sometime between 1935 and 1965. That would put her age between 20 and 50 years old. I know this isn't a whole lot of information to go on! If you would like me to photograph these in any other ways, please let me know! Also, are these in fact Akoya pearls or some other type of pearl? Thank you for your time!

 

[thoseriches]

I can't see the new pics yet. However, I would date the style of the clasp from 1930-1940. It looks to be milgrained platinum, which was a popular style around that era. Pearls as a wedding gift perhaps ? When did she marry ? Do you have a wedding photo and is she wearing them ?.

 

[Caitlin]

From what you have said, it must be an akoya. It has a really rich color and luster.

It could use a cleaning and restringing. If the pearls float, the silk has stretched and thus weakened.

 

[pattye]

Agree with Caitlin, cultured Akoya pearls, and high quality with thick nacre, the best kind! It will be a little shorter after being restrung, perhaps 1-1/2 inch shorter, as those knots look pretty large, too. Still a great wearable length. You are most fortunate!

 

[Pearl Dreams]

I think you may find that your strand when restrung will be as much as 2.5-3" shorter. My graduated akoya strand (with stretched out silk and gaps like your shows) was 21.5" before I restrung it and 18" after!

It's a beautiful strand-- I hope you will wear it!

 

[ash41784]

The pearls do not float at all...they sink straight to the bottom. Also, do any of you have any possible ballpark figure as to what it *may* be worth? Are we talking $100, $500 or $1,000+? I have looked and looked on eBay and other random websites to find a similar comparison, and I haven't really found one yet. Just curious! Thank you all for your input!!!

 

[Pearl Dreams]

I think Caitlin meant the pearls "float" on the silk-- slide around. Pearls would not float in water.

For current prices being paid for similar strands, you can search eBay, specifying sold items (active listings only show what the seller hopes to get for them; sold listings show what people were actually willing to pay.) You may need to repeat the search for a month or two to get a sense of what people are paying, as new items are listed all the time.

Here is a search I just ran, using search terms "vintage graduated pearls". (You could search using the work "akoya" as well, but many people call freshwater pearls "akoyas", and many others list their pearls without knowing they are akoyas.) I further limited the search to USA (to avoid the Chinese sellers) and sold listings, and eliminated "faux", "imitation" and "glass". From lowest to highest price paid (but realize that any Mikimoto pearls are going to sell higher due to the name):

http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_odk...earl,pearls)+-faux+-imitation+-glass&_sacat=0

You could click the link to run the search any time and it will bring up current results.

Here is the same search eliminating Mikimoto:

http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_odk...s)+-faux+-imitation+-glass+-mikimoto&_sacat=0

Okay, I tried running the same search but omitting the word "vintage", which will include more items:

http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?LH_S...itation+-glass+-mikimoto&LH_PrefLoc=1&_sop=15

You can run these searches anytime by clicking the link. If you want to include other countries, on the left sidebar on eBay unclick "US only".

 

[Caitlin]

Sorry for being vague. I meant float around between the knots.

 

[aradhnasingh]

Gorgeous necklace. I think it's cost would be approx $100.

 

[GemGeek]

Early Japanese akoya pearls. Definitely worth a lot more than $100 with thick nacre and strong luster.

 

[Katbran]

If you want to sell them ( I assume you do since you are concerned with the price) then get an appraisal. We can't tell you exactly how much they are worth as you can see .. it's a bit divided. On eBay it looked like 180-330 but some had diamonds in clasp. ... but those who deal with vintage would have the best idea. Very pretty though..I'd get them restrung and wear them.

 

[BWeaves]

I don't think the clasp is platinum. Well worn white gold maybe? However, I agree with everyone else. Have them restrung and enjoy wearing them.

 

[Pearl Dreams]

This thread is 3 years old.

 

[GemGeek]

Great advice. Those are some serious knots on that necklace!

 

[BWeaves]

OOps, Sorry, it popped up with a fresh comment. I didn't notice it was 3 years old.