What type of pearls do i have

[samavi]

It's a 24 inch long rope. no clasp. looks like peach, cream white, light pink and a metallic purple. they are button shaped. the have a grit when rubbed on the teeth. I found these thrown out by the trash at a previous residence of mine in california. Tahitian, fresh water and south sea combined? i don't know i know very little...

 

[Pearl Dreams]

Congrats on finding a free pearl necklace!

The pearls are cultured freshwater pearls from China. The cream/ white /peach/ pink pearls are natural colors, but the dark /metallic purple ones are dyed.
While the necklace is not valuable, the pearls are solid nacre (no bead inside to make them round) and the colors are permanent and will go with many outfits. They are durable pearls-- wear and enjoy them!

 

[Andrew M]

I agree with Pearl Dreams, just for the sake of concurrence.

They are chinese freshwater pearls. The necklace is not of significant monetary value, but certainly wouldn't have been thrown in the trash, if it had been me!

Enjoy your find! They're certainly very wearable.

 

[samavi]

ahhh darn, didn't get lucky this time. i would probably never wear it, it feels so heavy so i'll just throw them on ebay. How invaluable are they does $30 sound like too much to ask? what does cultured mean? man made?

 

[Pearl Dreams]

When trying to price an item for eBay, it helps to look at listings of similar SOLD items. I ran a search:

https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_fr...&LH_PrefLoc=1&LH_Complete=1&LH_Sold=1&_sop=15

Based on these sold listings I think $30 is a bit high, but you could try and lower the price if it doesn't sell. Probably $19.99 is more like it.

The pearls are not imitation / man made. Cultured means "farmed" (as opposed to natural pearls which are wild pearls that form without any involvement of humans.) The pearl market today is a cultured market; natural pearls are very rare.

The way your freshwater pearls were cultured is as follows. Small pieces of mantle tissue were taken from a donor mussel that was sacrificed for the purpose. The bits of tissue were implanted in the mantle tissue of a host mussel, a great many at a time on both sides of the shell. The mussel was returned to the water. The bits of mantle tissue grew into pearl sacs, which secreted nacre. Over time a pearl formed in each pearl sac. After a few years the mussel was harvested and the pearls were removed and processed in factories in China. The white ones were bleached, the dark ones were dyed, and the natural colors left as they were.