Single pearl(?) find

[narwal]

Hello, all.

My friend stumbled upon what appears to be a very large white pearl while we were clamming/oystering in the Puget Sound this past weekend. We were wondering if anyone had any input on what kind of (obviously large) mollusk it may have come from...or even if it is actually a pearl or not!

Some notes:

Definitely has lustre and iridescense
Accretion lines are visible
Darkened chip/peel in the nacre
"Gritty against the teeth"

I'm attaching some photos, but they don't quite represent it very well...sorry. Hopefully it's enough to get an ID! I can try and take more in different light conditions if it would help.

Thanks!

 

[Bodecia]

Looks like you are using a flash which is making it hard to see. Put it on some white kitchen paper or similar in light from a window and use Macro on your camera if possible and take a close up photo. Not so close it blurs though.

It could very well be a pearl from the mussels so try to get those photos right. Looks like a pearl but too much glare.

Also what size is it??

Dawn - Bodecia
http://www.ebay.com/sch/dawncee333/m.html
eBay Seller ID dawncee333 and natural pearl collector and all round pearl lover.

 

[narwal]

Looks like you are using a flash which is making it hard to see. Put it on some white kitchen paper or similar in light from a window and use Macro on your camera if possible and take a close up photo. Not so close it blurs though.

Hi, Bodecia!

Thanks for the tip! I'll try that later...although, no flash was used in this photo. The glare is just from the abundance of sunlight in my space (lots and lots of windows and exposure). I will try again later and attempt to get my phone to macro mode, as well

It could very well be a pearl from the mussels so try to get those photos right. Looks like a pearl but too much glare.

Also what size is it??

I don't have an exact size at the moment, but it is slightly smaller than a dime. It's quite big. I've attached another photo from that set that more accurately demonstrates the size...

 

[Lagoon Island Pearls]

It's definitely not from a mussel. What did this come from, a clam or an oyster? Or was it merely found on the ground?

Finding shiny pearls on the ground just doesn't happen. Not even rarely or remotely. If this is the case, then it's likely a bead or decorative stone or something like that.

We'll need alot more information to identify this, otherwise we're just guessing. Type of species, location within the tissues, any photos etc.

 

[narwal]

Finding shiny pearls on the ground just doesn't happen. Not even rarely or remotely. If this is the case, then it's likely a bead or decorative stone or something like that.

That's just it -- it was indeed found on the ground. Well, in the water, actually, at a low tide of about ~0.2ft in a protected bay. The beach is very popular for shellfishing and is just littered with shells and teeming with live shellfish (I pulled several horsenecks, 4lbs of mussels and some cockle clams). I have no idea what type of mollusk it originated from. I do understand that it would be extremely rare for such a thing to just appear sans shellfish in the tidal zone...but seals, eagles and humans all frequent this area, meaning the chance for a pearl to be removed from a shell is non-zero.

I certainly agree that an ID based off my photos will be difficult, so I will attempt to get better ones asap. Again, I can't say it is 100% a pearl, but it certainly does seem to present itself as such. Are there any other techniques that would help me identify it?

Thanks again for your help! More photos soon...

 

[narwal]

Hello, again.

Here are some more photos... I was able to figure out my camera's macro mode and had a better lighting situation. It isn't perfectly round, but it is quite close. I also had an opportunity to weigh it and it came in at 5 grams/25 carat.

 

[Lagoon Island Pearls]

We had someone a year or so ago with similar story although they had more than one piece. I suspected alabaster, onyx or similar material.

Natural pearl ID and grading are largely based on a differential diagnosis, meaning a process of eliminating unlikely possibilities.

Instead of basing upon something that is, we usually discuss what it is not, afterall we only have a few images at this point.

Okay so lets start picking this apart. First, natural pearls are almost never perfectly round. They are also scarcely millimeters in size.

Anyone who collects shellfish can easily notice a marked difference between shells of living animals and those which are cast up the beach. Shells from mortalities become demineralized and broken down over time. The same would apply to a pearl. The ebb and flow of tides, exposure to UV, wetting and drying etc will affect pearls in short order. In theory, one might think that a millenium of shellfish living in an area, would actually accumulate pearls in the substrate, but besides a needle in the haystack scenario, I've never seen a single verifiable case where a natural pearl was found in plain sight.

For certain, this bead is shiny. It's big. It's near-round. My heart of hearts tells me it's a ceramic, marble or some kind of mineral bead. They didn't call marbles, marbles for no reason I suppose.

I can see some minor points that present as natural pearls would, but not without serious concerns.

My only suggestion at this time would be to candle it. Cut a hole in a piece of cardboard, about 1/2 to 3/4 the size of the bead and place it over a very bright light.

A natural pearl will very often be noticeably translucent, with irregular features within. Occluded light would eliminate another possibility.

 

[pearlescence]

can you photograph it with a known cultured pearl (or even a fake pearl) for comparison? It doesn't look like a pearl to me in the photos.