Need help...Great Grandmother's Pearls Conch or Melo?

[seaky75]

I need help identifying what type of pearls this necklace is made. I've been told it is a type of natural conch pearl. They belonged to my great grandmother and is dated from late 1800s to early 1900s.

Can anyone help identify?

Thanks!

 

[Caitlin]

Do you have any more photos from other directions? That view looks like some kind of stone and not like any pearl I have ever seen, but maybe it is the view.

 

[Ash]

Would you be able to take pictures in natural light? This photo seems a bit dark to me. It is hard to tell what it is looks like some kind of possibly marble, agate or Mother of pearl beads. Again the photo looks "dark" to me. Poor lighting certainly can lead one thing to look like another by masking what we see, versus what is actually in the photo, compared what you see with the item sitting in front of you.

Thanks.
Ash

 

[jshepherd]

They aren't conch pearls, but I don't know what they are.

 

[GemGeek]

Carved shell would have that kind of banding, but it's very hard to see.

 

[jshepherd]

Agreed. Something cut. Those aren't any sort of pearl.

 

[lilliefuzzysocks]

Does your necklace look like this one from ebay? http://www.ebay.com/itm/VINTAGE-CRY...t=Vintage_Costume_Jewelry&hash=item2eb64f64d0

 

[Caitlin]

I think you are onto something LFS.

Though we can't see it in the photo, if the necklace has that mother of pearl sheen, it is probably very beautiful. It would be made out of MoP shell, rather than pearls, but the MoP shell is very beautiful, imo. Like my little strawberry "pearl", which is actually MoP, the look can fool you since it is so intensely lustrous.