Price of replacing seed pearl on antique piece

[SnowWhite]

I have what I suspect is an antique pendant. It is missing about 15 of the seed pearls, which are otherwise apparently stuck on a single prong each. What is a reasonable price for replacing them? I really have no idea. I left it at a nice jeweler for an estimate, but i'm a little scared about what they are going to tell me. Any ideas? Should the smelling salts be handy?

 

[GemGeek]

It can be a tall order just to find appropriate small undrilled pearls. Matching them to the piece for size, shape and color is another order of difficulty and can involve replacing all of the pearls at once. Sometimes it is better to buy a different pendant. I have no experience with the cost. Good luck.

 

[lilliefuzzysocks]

Snow White, Were they going to replace them with antique seed pearls? You don't say how many are in your piece but I would be inclined to look for a piece on the secondary market that has enough of the seed pearls to harvest to replace them all. It may be cheaper than having your jeweler find them.

 

[SnowWhite]

Snow White, Were they going to replace them with antique seed pearls? You don't say how many are in your piece but I would be inclined to look for a piece on the secondary market that has enough of the seed pearls to harvest to replace them all. It may be cheaper than having your jeweler find them.

its about 60 seed pearls (15 missing) surrounding a set of small stones surrounding one big one. Looking for another piece is a good idea. Thanks for the suggestion!

 

[SnowWhite]

interesting, are the seed pearls usually drilled all the way through or just attached on the one prong? i'd never seen them like this before.

 

[Parrot Lady]

I have ordered from https://www.jansjewells.com/item.php?item_id=1466#.W6iGbpH3af0 to get seed pearls to replace on some antique family pieces. They carry both full and half pearls.

 

[pearlescence]

Depends if you have a jeweller with good contacts with a pearl supplier. Tiny half drilled seeds are becoming hard to find wholesale. Everyone wants to grow big pearls and who wants to drill a 1.5mm pearl?

 

[suchi]

My aunt passed me an antique gold bracelet with seed pearls. I noticed one or two are missing. I had purchased 10 seed pearls from Wen and will try to glue it to the piece.