Natural Saltwater Pearl from Andaman Sea

[perlas]

I rummaged through the stuffs of a gem trader's shop in Thailand amongst rubies and sapphires and found a pearl in a small box. I was informed that it is a natural pearl from the Andaman Sea from Phuket which they had 20 years ago. Judging from how old the looks of the box is and the willingness of the shop who has a gemologist to certify via their store certificate as natural seawater pearl, I took it., as it didn't really cost so much. It's pretty small with decent luster at 8mm X 8.64mm X 4.91mm, 2.76cts.

I am not a collector of natural pearls and have not really seen much of them in person but I know the Andaman sea could host Pteria Penguin and Pinctadas.....but anyone has a clue by the look of the pearl on possible mollusk? The shop owner pointed to me at a golden winged oyster display with some mabes still on it but the pearl is white with very little cream color.

Any thoughts? It could turn out to be a cultured keshi and could send it to a lab but thought to turn it to a ring instead.

Here are the photos. Last photo I placed a PP white Tahitian strand and a creamy Indonesian SSP strand for color comparison.

 

[Pareltje]

It could be Pteria penguin's pearl. But the one I saw on Agustus (ebay) has a bronze coloration, which is why I doubt it.
It could be a Pinctada natural pearl because it's white.
A very special find, Perlas.

 

[MSC]

Well, it's a baroque something; whether or not it's natural, you'd need to send to a lab for confirmation. It's pretty though!

 

[pattye]

A very cool acquisition and will be perfect for a ring, with a story to go with it! Color alone isn't an indication of type of mollusk ~ think of the range of colors in Tahitian, WSS, GSS, Akoya, SofC, freshwater!

 

[Lagoon Island Pearls]

Try candling it. Take a photo then post it.

I'd be curious to see what's at the nucleus.

And Pattye's correct. Color is not exclusive. Indeed, that silver blue is observed in nearly all species.

 

[perlas]

Here are the photos. Tried to candle it using a phone flashlight.

 

[Lagoon Island Pearls]

Well done!

The contrasts are varied in density and color, eccentric in position and distorted in shape.

It's reasonable to assume this pearl is natural in origin.

 

[Katbran]

Well done ! Sounds like youve got yourself quite a find ! How exciting!

 

[Pearl Dreams]

Very cool pearl you have there, perlas!

 

[CathyKeshi]

Congratulations Perlas!!! The very idea of riffling through the stuffs of a gem trader in Thailand fills my imagination with giddy delight

 

[Lagoon Island Pearls]

the Andaman sea could host Pteria Penguin and Pinctadas.

Any thoughts? It could turn out to be a cultured keshi.

With provenance taken at face value, I'd suggest a higher probability of Pinctada maxima as opposed to Pteria penguin. Genus Pteria, like their SoC cousins, P. sterna, tend to present with a more rainbow-like appearance than P. maxima.

I ruled out keshi, because I could not discern object geometry at the nucleus. In candled views of freshwater pearls, contrasts tend to be centralized, softer bi-linear tones with square(ish), rounded corners. After all, graft tissue is typically sectioned in squares.

At the nuclei of natural pearls, I'd expect to observe random positioning, extreme contrasts from streaks or inclusions and odd shapes. Or in rare cases, nothing at all.

 

[perlas]

Thanks everyone for the feedback and thanks Dave for a thorough explanation. Much appreciated! I've learned so much! It was confusing for me to candle it as I usually candle beaded cultured pearls and this pearl is different. There are some portions where the pearl seems more transluscent and the light escapes on top and it did feel at times that there was "nothing" inside and I had to position it to "see" something and make the hole smaller for the light to pass through because the light even in a very small hole seems to engulf and cover the entire pearl. There was another baroque "not so pretty" creamier pearl (as the owner describes it because it has a nick at the flattish side) but I didn't get it because it seemed to have been partially attached to shell, not a mabe but a hairline portion of the pearl and seemed to have been cut off and polished.....but then I might be wrong. I just said so because there was like a 1mm area that runs across one side of the pearl that looks like mother-of-pearl instead of the usual nacre of the pearl. I'll get it when I go to the shop and I'll post and candle it here for study purposes.

 

[perlas]

So here's the second pearl, 3.27cts., 6.78mm X 10.02mm X 5.84mm.

 

[perlas]

Candled pearl: