Old pearl necklace with small irregular pearls

[Lelie]

Hello, ladies and gentlemen...
It's my first post and I have no idea how to describe these pearls.
It's a necklace in where the clasp is removed, it came into my possession exactly 10 years ago now (my mother received them from my grandmother, and on my 21st birthday my mother gave them to me).

I am not seeking to know the value, but I would love to find out how these pearls are called!
They are irregular, not big at all but rather very small.
I haven't had time yet to measure them but will do so if needed!

I hope these 2 pictures, both in different lightings, will be enough for someone to tell me what these are?

 

[Pearl Dreams]

Hi Lelie and welcome to Pearl-Guide!

You have a strand of "rice krispie" cultured freshwater pearls from China. I had a bracelet like this in the mid-1980s.

While the pearls do not have a high value for resale, they are interesting because they represent earlier freshwater culturing techniques. Also, the beads in between are probably 14K gold-- the price of gold was lower back when these pearls were popular. Baroque shapes like those are lustrous, and they are solid nacre-- no bead inside.

If I were you, I would wash and restring them, and wear them-- either as a necklace or bracelet. Many of us restring our own pearls-- it's actually easy. For tutorials, see stickied threads on the Lowly Beaders Club forum here.

 

[Lelie]

Hi Lelie and welcome to Pearl-Guide!

You have a strand of "rice krispie" cultured freshwater pearls from China.

Thank you so much for the reply!
You are 100% right, the balls are indeed 14 carat yellow gold.
I would love to be able to restring the pearls myself, but I am so scared of damaging them.
I did expect them not to have a high resale value, but as it is a piece that went from my grandmother to my mother and then up to me, I absolutely find it important to "keep them alive" (lol).
Once again a big thank you! Your answer made my day. I am so happy to know what they are!

 

[Pearl Dreams]

You can't damage them by restringing them! The thread is softer than the nacre.

 

[Lelie]

You can't damage them by restringing them! The thread is softer than the nacre.

Believe me, I don't know how I always manage to do it, but I can damage everything haha.
But I sure would love to give it a try.
I live in a small village, and there is no one in the neighbourhood offering any pearl restringing services.

 

[Pearl Dreams]

You really have nothing to lose! You don't even need fancy equipment. All you actually need is thread (I recommend Serafil or Beaders Secret, a silky synthetic thread that you can knot without tools), a flexible wire needle, a clasp, and if you would like to give it a nice professional finished look, a bit of gimp (French wire) to cover the thread where it attaches to the clasp.

Actually, if the strand is more than 22-23" long-- long enough to slip it over your head-- you can even do without the clasp and the gimp, and make it an endless strand.

Have a read (and remember, there was a first time for all of us):
https://www.pearl-guide.com/forum/s...-Stringing-Pearls-on-Power-Pro-Beaders-Secret

 

[SunSeeker]

Welcome to P-G, Lelie! How nice to have a treasure like this from your grandmother. Re-stringing is easy (you'll get lots of info on this forum if you want) and you'll enjoy them more once the thread is replaced and the pearls are cleaned up.

 

[Katbran]

You can't damage them. If you are worried..get a really cheap necklace and some Beaders Secret thread and watch a video on how to string pearls..there are lots out there. It's not hard..just a bit of practice and you'll be on your way!

 

[Lelie]

You can't damage them. If you are worried..get a really cheap necklace and some Beaders Secret thread and watch a video on how to string pearls..there are lots out there. It's not hard..just a bit of practice and you'll be on your way!

Thank you to everybody for replying and helping me!
I found it a very good idea to first try restringing a cheap necklace, so yesterday I went from store to store here in my village, but most stores didn't have anything that could help me. Or they did have a beautiful pearl necklace but then it was so expensive.

In the last store, I showed my Grandmother's necklace and explained what my plan was and how I wanted to learn to restring the pearls.
The store owner said: I have a very similar neclace to yours, this is exactly what you need to get started.
In the store, it was quite dark and I thought: Ok, the shape is the same, so it could be a good "study object".
But once I got out and checked it in daylight, I knew this was not at all going to help me.
Not sure what I bought though, but I learned another lesson haha.



So this morning, I browsed the local classifieds website, and someone offered loose drilled pearls for sale, which I am planning on buying now. Is this a good idea? To learn how to string loose pearls without having seen it as a necklace first?

 

[Marianne]

You could always cut the green ones apart and practice with them

 

[Pearl Dreams]

Oh I'd go ahead and practice with the green ones! Use a craft knife (razor knife) to cut them apart.

But if I may say so, I don't think you really need to practice before stringing your grandmother's pearls. If you decide you don't like the first result, you could cut it apart and try again. Thread is cheap.

 

[battah]

Those green ones will be great to practice with! Since they're similar in size and shape, you can play around with layouts, too.

 

[Lelie]

The problem is that I cannot get them removed from the thread, it seems like they are glued to it or something like that

 

[Pearl Dreams]

Ah, glued, not knotted. I've seen inexpensive necklaces like that. Too bad, but I trust you didn't pay too much for them.

I recommend just knotting the actual strand. If you do want to practice, knot up just 20 pearls or so of your grandmother's strand, without the clasp-- just for practice knotting them-- then cut apart and begin for real.

You might consider using smaller (fine) size thread-- either the "Fine" Serafil or Beaders Secret (https://www.etsy.com/listing/248736391/fine-032mm-beaders-secret-silk-like?ref=shop_home_active_19) or 10# Power Pro (which is a fishing line.) If that is too fine and the knots slip into the holes, then go to the normal size.

 

[Lelie]

Ah, glued, not knotted. I've seen inexpensive necklaces like that. Too bad, but I trust you didn't pay too much for them.

I recommend just knotting the actual strand. If you do want to practice, knot up just 20 pearls or so of your grandmother's strand, without the clasp-- just for practice knotting them-- then cut apart and begin for real.

You might consider using smaller (fine) size thread-- either the "Fine" Beaders Secret (https://www.etsy.com/listing/248736391/fine-032mm-beaders-secret-silk-like?ref=shop_home_active_19) or 10# Power Pro (which is a fishing line.) If that is too fine and the knots slip into the holes, then go to the normal size.

Thank you so much once again for the tip and the link!

 

[CathyKeshi]

Welcome Lelie; your rice pearls are so pretty ... I have a similar strand that was a gift from my mother. Hope you try restringing yourself. Beaders' Secret thread is easy to use, very inexpensive, and there are lots of instructions and even videos here in the Beaders thread. If I can do it, anyone can lol!