Please tell me about this necklace!

[Emskies]

Hi,

These were a gift from my now deceased grandmother-in-law (Australia).
She & her husband were wealthy, antique owners. The main jewels went to the granddaughters.

Each pearl is 2mm. As far as i can tell there is nothing written on the clasp. Because of their size it’s hard to say whether they are smooth or not. There does seem to be some grittiness.

 

[Pearl Dreams]

It's hard to say from the photos, but based on the way the pearls are attached to the clasp (with gimp/French wire), they could be cultured akoyas, in which case the black ones are dyed. Do you have any other pearls to do the following test with? This could be pearls you know to be real -- or that you know to be fake.

This is the temperature test. Real pearls are cooler than fake pearls. Place this necklace and the other pearls to compare with in the same room for half an hour or so (to eliminate the variable of ambient temperature.) Then touch them briefly to your lips, which are very sensitive to temperature. Do the same with the other pearls. What do you feel?

If you have a 10x jeweler's loupe, look at the surface of these pearls, and do the same with the other pearls that you know are real or fake. Real pearls appear very smooth under 10x magnification. Imitation pearls look a bit more coarse. If necessary, visit a jeweler and ask to use their loupe, and compare with pearls they are selling.

The metal mark, if it is silver, may have worn off. You could test to see if the clasp is silver, but that will not tell you if the pearls are real, as many imitation pearls have silver clasps.

 

[CortezPearls]

Since the pearls belonged to an Australian couple and are from some time ago, and antique dealers...there is a chance those are actually natural pearls.

 

[Pearl Dreams]

What about the black ones?

 

[CortezPearls]

What about the black ones?

The color looks dyed. Jet black.