Natural?

[Supernova]

Hellloo. I was going to restring these pearls and noticed they don’t seem to have a bead nuclei….



Edit; as I’m stringing then I notice some do have the bead….. these pearls are stellar. But I’m wondering if they natural or not?

 

[Pearl Dreams]

They look like akoyas but some have badly eroded drill holes.

When I have to string a necklace that has variably sized drill holes due to damage, I use tiny silicone bead bumpers / bead huggers to fill the eroded area so the knot doesn't slip into the hole. These are like tiny donuts made of silicone and come in different colors. But you might want to eliminate the worst of the pearls from the strand (if that still leaves you with enough pearls.)

Beadalon's website used to carry these, but these days you might want to buy from firemountaingems:

Wholesale Beads and Jewelry Making Supplies | Fire Mountain Gems and Beads

Jewelry Making Supplies at Low Wholesale Prices - Fast Shipping on All Orders. Free Catalog. Quantity Discounts. Live Friendly Customer Service. Thousands of design Ideas and 100,000 products!

www.firemountaingems.com

You could also just use a tiny seed bead for the same purpose.

 

[Pearl Dreams]

Another option you may wish to explore-- but it would involve learning wire wrapping-- is to make a station necklace with the best of the pearls.
Station necklaces are also called "tin cup" pearl necklaces, so named because Rene Russo wore a pearl station necklace in the movie, Tin Cup.

I just counted the pearls in the photos-- I see 37. Are those all the pearls of this quality that you have? It doesn't look like enough to make a regular 18" knotted necklace. Maybe a 16" one. Or maybe a bracelet or a station necklace, then?

 

[Pearl Dreams]

Just checked, Art Beads sells the original silicone Beadalon bumpers: https://artbeads.com/jewelry-supplies/beadalon-bead-bumpers-1-5mm-clear-oval-find-2132/

 

[Pearl Dreams]

I just counted the number of 8mm pearls in a 16 inch necklace I own: it has 44 pearls.

One way to stretch the pearls out to make a full necklace is to incorporate some other kinds of beads in between the pearls. If you do that you could even make it longer than 18". Many women find 18" pearl necklaces too tight and prefer 20" or even longer.

 

[pearlescence]

D you mean natural as in not fake/manufactured? Because to pearl people natural means wild, unfarmed, no human activity. No pearl with a bead is a natural pearl.
Hard to tell from the photos. Those could be low end thin nacre akoyas or shell pearls . Probably the former as there are flaws. Some look as if they have decent luster. Keep those and follow Pearl Dream's suggestions.

 

[Supernova]

They look like akoyas but some have badly eroded drill holes.

When I have to string a necklace that has variably sized drill holes due to damage, I use tiny silicone bead bumpers / bead huggers to fill the eroded area so the knot doesn't slip into the hole. These are like tiny donuts made of silicone and come in different colors. But you might want to eliminate the worst of the pearls from the strand (if that still leaves you with enough pearls.)

Beadalon's website used to carry these, but these days you might want to buy from firemountaingems:

Wholesale Beads and Jewelry Making Supplies | Fire Mountain Gems and Beads

Jewelry Making Supplies at Low Wholesale Prices - Fast Shipping on All Orders. Free Catalog. Quantity Discounts. Live Friendly Customer Service. Thousands of design Ideas and 100,000 products!

www.firemountaingems.com

You could also just use a tiny seed bead for the same purpose.

The holes aren’t eroded per say. These are older and we’re not drilled using machinery. Their drill holes make them quite unique.

 

[CortezPearls]

They look like "old" (today we say "vintage", right?) baroque Akoya pearls...nice luster, some "hammering/mottling" (I like this on pearls, gives them an "opalescent" look) on their surface, some drill holes seem quite "weathered". But really nice overall!

 

[pearlescence]

How do you know they were not drilled with a machine?

 

[Lagoon Island Pearls]

These score 10:0 cultured v natural. Not one point (even remotely) suggest natural origin.

 

[Supernova]

They look like "old" (today we say "vintage", right?) baroque Akoya pearls...nice luster, some "hammering/mottling" (I like this on pearls, gives them an "opalescent" look) on their surface, some drill holes seem quite "weathered". But really nice overall!

When next to my other Akoya pearls (that I thought were beautiful) these make those look pitiful. So perhaps, cultured Akoya pearls use to be much more beautiful? They are quite large for akoyas so maybe that is the cause for distinction among the two. Lol vintage means 10 years or older but perhaps could these be closer to antique?
They are special. I will probably keep these ones for myself. If you look in the images with the weathered drill holes, you can see inside and there is no bead…. I desire your knowledge the most.

 

[Supernova]

D you mean natural as in not fake/manufactured? Because to pearl people natural means wild, unfarmed, no human activity. No pearl with a bead is a natural pearl.
Hard to tell from the photos. Those could be low end thin nacre akoyas or shell pearls . Probably the former as there are flaws. Some look as if they have decent luster. Keep those and follow Pearl Dream's suggestions.

I have handled a TON of pearls, namely Akoyas. These are the most beautiful by a very long shot. & do not resemble any Akoya I have seen

 

[Supernova]

How do you know they were not drilled with a machine?

Lack of symmetry

 

[Supernova]

I just counted the number of 8mm pearls in a 16 inch necklace I own: it has 44 pearls.

One way to stretch the pearls out to make a full necklace is to incorporate some other kinds of beads in between the pearls. If you do that you could even make it longer than 18". Many women find 18" pearl necklaces too tight and prefer 20" or even longer.

Thanks so much for all your helpful suggestions, pearl dreams.
I am very strict with my pearls, must be silk, gold and pearls only.
The strand was only 14”, which is why I decided to cut it and do my own thing.
Thinking a bracelet for myself.

 

[pearlescence]

Lack of symmetry

Could just be unskilled drilling

 

[Pearl Dreams]

I like the idea of a bracelet for yourself.

 

[CortezPearls]

Lack of symmetry

It's common to do this with baroque pearls...but we do use machine to drill: just half-drill, then half-drill again at an angle.