Natural pearls? Basra?

[Amira]

This string dates to early 1900s and has been handed down the family. I was always told that these are natural pearls, perhaps from Basra. It last belonged to my mother who has passed away. It is broken and needs to be restrung. Got my father to pull it out and photograph it so I can check on the forum.

 

[CortezPearls]

Welcome to our pearl loving forum Amira.
Lovely necklace...a true heirloom or family treasure. Restringing should not be an issue but be sure to find a trusted person for this job, else they swap pearls out (I've heard stories).
Due to their shape and color they could be natural pearls...but they could also be cultured.
Do you have more data? What is the size of the smallest & largest pearls???
You would have to send your necklace to a Gem Lab for evaluation and to really know if it is a Natural pearl necklace.

 

[Amira]

Thanks Douglas, the necklace is currently in India and swap of pearls has been the fear each time we think of giving them for restringing. Someone suggested that it should be done in front of us but we haven’t been able to get it done as yet.
For testing, do we have to send the full necklace or just a pearl or two from the broken one? Regarding the size, I will get my father to photograph them again with a scale. He will take a couple of days to get around to doing it, so pls bear with me…

 

[CortezPearls]

It would be best to send the whole necklace. Sometimes they find that some of the pearls are cultured and you will be able to know if they have been swapped before.
You could measure, weigh and photograph each pearl in the necklace to have a "before & after" comparison to tell if they have been swapped. Best you send it as is to the lab. They could probably offer you the restringing service.

 

[pearlescence]

'Lovely necklace...a true heirloom or family treasure. Restringing should not be an issue but be sure to find a trusted person for this job, else they swap pearls out (I've heard stories).'


Has anyone actual proof that this has ever happened? Or is this some nasty myth, very possibly started by someone who's broken or very stretched necklace came back from stringing a bit shorter.
What would be the point of swapping out one or two pearls? Even if they are naturals, unless they are very high value one or two naturals wouldn't be worth much.
repeating this statement just throws suspicion needlessly on everyone who does re-stringing.

 

[CortezPearls]

Good point pearlescence
Is this a just a myth or does this really happen? At least here in Mexico I can say this has happened to people I know, but I mean: just two people out of a 100???
Still, best to play it safe...than sorry.
In Mexico we have a saying: "A person should have a priest, a lawyer and a jeweler that are totally trustworthy". I would add a "mechanic" to this lot (I've had mechanics swap out parts from my car).

I still would advice to know your jeweler/stringer and hopefully even start a long, beautiful relationship with him/her.

 

[echo]

I have certainly seen a few stories of people taking their diamond rings to get repaired end up having their diamonds unknowingly swapped to lower quality ones. While pearls seem to be a lot less valuable than diamonds they also do run the risk of falling prey to similar scams.

 

[Amira]

CortezPearls Hi Douglas, I managed to get pics with a scale to show the size of the pearls.

 

[KarinK]

Many of us here restring our own pearls. That would be an option.

 

[CortezPearls]

That is a great suggestion KarinK
Do we have a re-stringing post? I don't recall one

 

[CathyKeshi]

We have a number of stringing and re-stringing posts ... including tutorials by some very helpful members, even some by our dearly missed friend Caitlin. Most are under the topic "The Lowly Beaders Club".

 

[CortezPearls]

Excellent suggestion CathyKeshi ​​​​​​
Happy new year!