Strand of pearls--how to test if natural? I live in Delaware.

[amagra11]

I received a gold coin when I was young. It came in a nice pouch...I was searching through pearls on Ebay, and came across a strand of pearls with a pouch identical to the one with my gold coin. So I took a chance and bought them, thinking they might be valuable, like my gold coin is, even though the listing didn't say they were natural.

I looked up how to tell if pearls are "natural" or "cultured," and it said to hold them up to a strong light source and see if there are layers. I did. There ARE layers. So there's a chance, maybe even a good chance, that my pearls are natural. But how do I tell for sure? Is the only option to send them to the GIA? It's an expensive proposition, somewhat--I have a limited budget. Plus I would hate for them to get lost in the mail. Is there any way to tell that I can utilize in the Delaware area? Someone who has the equipment to analyze them, and won't charge me $300?

 

[Pearl Dreams]

Could you please post photos of the pearls? Please use a white background, no flash, and try to get good in-focus shots of the entire strand and a few close ups.
I am curious about the pouch as well.

 

[amagra11]

 

[amagra11]

Sorry this took so long!

See above photos of the pearls. Thanks for looking!

Unfortunately, the pouch has been lost.

 

[Pearl Dreams]

Thanks for the photos!

I believe you have a stand of cultured baroque freshwater pearls from China.
These days we don't see as many with this shape; I saw more that looked like these 15-20 years ago. Nowadays the technology has improved and FW pearls are rounder.

They have nice luster. Enjoy wearing them, and don't spend money to send them to the GIA lab.

 

[Diamondsareforever]

Sorry this took so long!

See above photos of the pearls. Thanks for looking!

Unfortunately, the pouch has been lost.

They don’t look asymmetrical, to me. Which is the definition of “baroque”.
Someone would have to examine much closer to tell you if their freshwater or not.


I mean they do appear to be freshwater pearls but if I cannnot tell from this photo I doubt someone else could say for certain.

 

[Pearl Dreams]

They don’t look asymmetrical, to me. Which is the definition of “baroque”.
Someone would have to examine much closer to tell you if their freshwater or not.


I mean they do appear to be freshwater pearls but if I cannnot tell from this photo I doubt someone else could say for certain.

Freeform baroques are completely asymmetrical, true.
But the term baroque is also used more loosely to include non-round pearls that have symmetry around one axis.

 

[jshepherd]

These are Chinese freshwater pearls. They're cultured, not natural. They are mostly button shape, but I do see a few potato shapes. These shapes are not very valuable. They're mostly used in beading and designing, and often mixed with semi-precious stones.