Opinions on Pearl (is this real)

[iggy]

@ Pattye. This is the only Melo I've ever seen let alone handled in real life so although I cant see any indications of it being fake I also don't have much to compare it with.

@ Dizzie. No the auction took place but the Melo was held at a rather high reserve (not as high as typical auction results, but high compared to the usual bidders that turn up). Its a government auction that's held about once a month so what happens if nobody bids is that it usually gets re-listed with a lower reserve next time.

@ Caitlin. I really tried and to look but could not find any indications of foul play, but again its difficult for me as I've never handled a Melo in real life before. Besides that there are other articles there that are genuine and I think come from the same person or collection, like this art nouveau piece:

 

[KarinK]

Those are not jewelry. They're work of art! Don't you just wish you could buy the whole collection... I wonder who owned those treassures.

- Karin

 

[Caitlin]

I hope you get all of these for a good price. It is fantastic to have a record of them here. Who knows, maybe some scholar someday will recognize the maker or owner of any of those pieces.

What an unusual finding- worthy of the best of "Storage Wars" or something like that. In fact, they should go straight to Antiques Road Show, LOL. They deserve to be seen - in person!- by world experts. The world experts here are all drooling.

 

[GemGeek]

Yikes! What a lovely necklace!

 

[iggy]

If all goes to plan I will be buying them in the upcomming auction (1 and a 1/2 weeks away). I'll be sure to pust the results and/or some better foto's.
Was great having you guys share your views on the items !

@GemGeek. I did not get to see the necklace in real life but it is listed as broken. I do like the way the 'egg' pearl was done (see pic) for the rest I found the cut Opal intresting. I also can't place it very well.


Unlike the design of say this necklace of which I have seen variations before (I love the translucent wings)

 

[GemGeek]

Plique a jour wings!!!

 

[pattye]

Iggy, wonderful photos! I hope you win some or all!

 

[aprilpearl]

If all goes to plan I will be buying them in the upcomming auction (1 and a 1/2 weeks away). I'll be sure to pust the results and/or some better foto's.
Was great having you guys share your views on the items !

@GemGeek. I did not get to see the necklace in real life but it is listed as broken. I do like the way the 'egg' pearl was done (see pic) for the rest I found the cut Opal intresting. I also can't place it very well.
View attachment 22824 View attachment 22825

Unlike the design of say this necklace of which I have seen variations before (I love the translucent wings)


View attachment 22826

Hello Iggy, this is my first post on the forum. Needless to say, I adore pearls. I was told that the only way to test a pearl is to rub it against your teeth. If it feels gritty the pearl is real, if it feels smooth, it's fake. You can use a similar test wih opals. If you run a finger nail gently over the surface and it feels gritty, the opal is whole. If the surface is smooth, it's a triplet.

 

[Caitlin]

Hi aprilpearl! welcome.
Thanks for mentioning the tooth test in relation to these types of pearls. I have never tooth tested a melo melo or a conch pearl, so I am wondering........ Do they also have that slight grittiness nacre has? I wonder, because they are so porcelaneous I figure they are smooth. I am not sure I have ever even touched one. One way to tell if these kind of pearls are good ones, is the chatoyance instead of luster. Chatoyance is that under the surface kind of cat's eye effect. Some conch, clam, and melo type pearls have better chatoyance than others have.

Experts? Please opine.

 

[aprilpearl]

Hi aprilpearl! welcome.
Thanks for mentioning the tooth test in relation to these types of pearls. I have never tooth tested a melo melo or a conch pearl, so I am wondering........ Do they also have that slight grittiness nacre has? I wonder, because they are so porcelaneous I figure they are smooth. I am not sure I have ever even touched one. One way to tell if these kind of pearls are good ones, is the chatoyance instead of luster. Chatoyance is that under the surface kind of cat's eye effect. Some conch, clam, and melo type pearls have better chatoyance than others have.

Experts? Please opine.

Caitlin, I suspect you are correct. Perhaps they are the pearl equivalent of cabouchon. I had never previously heard of melo pearls but I can now recognise that I've seen their use in Art Nouveau jewellery/works of art. Along with baroque pearls, they seem to be showcased perfectly in this way. My own favourite strand, which I wear every day is made of 12/13mm baroques. I waited two years to find them and when I did, to my absolute joy, I could afford them!!! I team them with with 15mm baroque drops which are actually Majoricas but my late partner bought them for me so I would never part with them. They hang from shepherd's hook posts and I recently had some small diamond studs made to wear with them and it looks as if they form part of the earring. I also have some keishi pearls which I twist with rice pearls to wear in the summer, but as I'm 5'8" and junoesque, whatever I wear, the larger pearls never look out of place.

 

[Caitlin]

OMG Aprilpearl! How you you say that without putting up some photos!!!! I am DYING to see them! And baroque Majoricas? I would love to see those too. If you can post them, please start your own thread in Show us your pearls. I would love to see how you combine them. Really Coco Chanel!

 

[aprilpearl]

Caitlin, it's confession time. I have NO idea how to do piccies BUT as soon as I can persuade my lovely Godson to visit me I promise you will see some. The Art Nouveau pieces in the pictures are to die for. Don't you think that baroques and melos were created to be part of that gloriously unrestrained era in jewellery design. When I visited Musee D'Orsay I had to be peeled away from the jewellery cases where they show Art Nouveau pieces of the finest quality.

 

[iggy]

The tooth test wont be possible as the vieuwing possibility has passed, besides that sticking that big Melo berry in my mouth wil most likely get me thown out of the building

The surface seems to be very smooth and hard (like porcelain is stil the best description) but from what I've read that is what its supposed to be like as with the conch the flame texture had a deapth to it, the original foto's are bigger but the site reduces the size.

Its also diffcult to photograph the flame stucture as to much light seems to blank it out in pictures (its visible but just doesnt seem to appear in the pics).

 

[Caitlin]

They don't get that flame structure if they are not real. Good luck!!!

 

[Dizzie]

OMG, the pieces are getting more and more exquisite along the way! I absolutely love the necklace - it is a great art nouveau example. Wish you lot of luck bidding for it. A piece like that should find an owner who is able to admire the beauty of it.

 

[dmj]

to give you guys the information we all want what are the prices haha

think the conch pearl sold for 5000 euro ex tax and auction money so no fun in buying that for that price ok its worth it but no steal

melo is still there and will probable be lowered to around 10 000 they started at 16000 ex tax and auction money then went around 11000 ex and now ????? not sure but think its still there the moment it hits the 1000 i will go for it haha

 

[dmj]

there are quite some pieces like this being offered at the moment today i also got notice of a 30 ct loose conch pearl etc think the european market is cleaning up a little after the crisis and because people go bankrupt etc some good jewellery pieces are entering the market

 

[GemGeek]

Thanks for the report, Daniel. Very interesting and fun to see all the goodies going out into the world.

 

[CeciliaW]

Daniel, I clicked on your .com site and got a strange warning message. It would not let me cut and paste the error.

It had the https slashed out and said something like

SSL Error

This is probably not the site you're looking for. You attempted to reach www.danielmoesker.com , but instead you've actually reached a server identifying itself as *.sohosted,com . This may be caused by a misconfiguration on the server or by something more serious.. and it goes on a bit more.

The second paragraph seems to say stuff about the SSL Certificate and possible hackers.

If you need more info please email me. It might show up on your side if you just click on the link.

Cecilia

 

[dmj]

hey cecillia

it should be working at the moment we are working on a new site so there can be some mistakes showing up in the old one its a flash site so ipads etc will most of the time not even open on it, i hope to show a new one soon and this time no flash site

thanks for letting me know!
daniel