Species Certification

[hbyrne]

Hello there Pearlfriends!

This may well have been asked a few times before, but does anyone know which of the labs now show species ID on their certificates? I was assuming the Swiss lab did, but apparently not now.....

Thank you in anticipation.

 

[MSC]

I've seen some lab reports from GIA with genus and species, but I'm not sure in what instances they're able to provide species information. Most bivalve species identification is done by the shell and short of having the shell the pearl was harvested from, I'm not sure how they could confirm species ID. Perhaps sacrifice a pearl and perform mass spec? Have species signatures been developed from pearls for mass spec? Or perhaps genetic work, but again, unsure how they could obtain genetic material for PCR from a pearl...

 

[hbyrne]

Hi MSC!

Thank you, yes it's very true that this information would be difficult to verify without the shell to confirm. I've only used small labs in the UK before, and they usually state Salt or FW but very little else. I've just googled, and it appears IGL labs state mollusk, shape, size, body colour, overtone, surface, lustre, kind, origin, water and nacre. I think I'll send them a message, and I'll let you know how I get on