NATURAL PEARLS with X-rays

[Caitlin]

The shapes in #12 are interesting, but the color is awful. I would want to see more photos of that one spread out. And the back of the clasp.

more pix pls

 

[Bodecia]

Hi Caitlin,

Do you mean the natural pearls with the red background. I can take a photo of them within the next couple of days and post them. I haven't set up this new computer to take my photos yet although I supposed I could go back to the old one if I have problems. I am not all that high tech but will post them asap. That strand (which is mine now) I can take plenty of photos of.

Thanks Bo

 

[Valeria101]

Have you brought in the small rounds w/o clasp or the others? If they are not priced very high... and if they are, the cost of proof starts to get reasonable.

Here's ONE that is confusing in the same way (one could say: 'too round to be true'), labeled and priced boldly outside Ebay. For their size, I don't roundness is so out of this world; besides not all are that perfect...

Your rope of small natural pearls sounds like a great plan! Maybe one day you could have them tested (DIY? ), but until then, there is reasonable doubt, IMO.

----

All of the above are based on a conviction that natural pearls below 4mm were not nearly as exceptional as round ones in any larger size, with 5mm a sort of 'tershold' of rarity. Would be surprised t find a twenty strand hank of a necklace all with really round 3mm natural pearls (like the Poe Pipi, btw! = proof that even that is feasible after all)... but in one of those 2/3 - 5/7mm graduated starter strands, not so surprised.

Caitlin, houw about your naturals? Any insider clues of the Gulf pearls production your grandparents were engaged in? [unless answering already breaches your deal with some publisher, that is! ]

 

[Raisondetre]

For those who weren't here......In response to a flurry of Pm's.
Re Zeide

Well it turns out she was pretending a lot when it came to her own life and pearls. When she was asked to provide some kind of, any kind of, provenance on her Lop Noors, her transgraft project, her pteria sternas, in particular, she could not.

Yet she had sold several strands to a forum member claiming these kinds of origin. That is fraud. So when she was confronted with an expert from the GIA, (I was taking samples of all her disputed pearls to the Gem show and I asked her for any proof) she backed down, admitted in a thread called "mea culpa", that she had made it all up about the pearls and invented a character to hide behind, and then she left. She is a suburban housewife from Fresno who has an eBay collection of CFWP and a fanciful imagination.

A bit OT here. I was lurking for a while and reading with avid interest all Zeide had to offer. It started getting a little suspicious when she talked about the transgraft project - it did not seem like she'd even set foot in China. Anyone's who's been in business in China (I did fashion for a brief period of time) would know it's hard not to get ripped off as a foreigner even if you were there in person, and for some obscure pearl farm somewhere in Xinjiang to have legitimate dealings with her over the internet seemed somewhat far-fetched.

I must say she did her research for the most part, though I did not care for her attitude either saying that some of the vendors here were promoting their own wares, which they were not. This is the only objective source for pearl-related information on the web aimed at educating consumers, and while I can't say I'm an expert I am certainly more savvy now than before I started. I wouldn't have taken the plunge and bought pearls online otherwise without getting convinced of the quality I was getting. She did have some lovely freshwaters though.