What's the deal?

[Rosomane]

Please help me educate my eyes to photographs. I'm seeing such a variation in size and shapes in this 4 strand necklace - is this typical in a cultured akoya pearl necklace? Different "colors" too, i.e. the pearls are not uniform and it doesn't look (to my eye) that this is just from some wearing out. Thanks in advance, here is the eBay link:

http://cgi.ebay.com/4-STRAND-PEARL-...6QQihZ017QQcategoryZ45403QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

It is item# 270035407046.

 

[Zeide Erskine]

Hi Rosomane,

The really interesting pearl is the second one on the third row on the left to the clasp in image 2 (close-up with upside of the clasp showing). That pearl deviates from the round in a squishy way that is inconsistent with bead nucleation. Overall, it looks like one of those multi-strands that were enormously popular in the late 1940s and early 1950s that were assembled from heirloom naturals and filled up with cultured pearls. I do not think that this one has mostly naturals in it but a few sure do look like they could be, including the entire inner strand.

Zeide

 

[Rosomane]

Thanks Zeide. That makes sense, I'm learning on this forum everyday.

 

[Rosomane]

Mississippi pearl ring

Mississippi pearl ring

Look at this - expensive though:

item# 180035123991

http://cgi.ebay.com/Art-Nouveau-Nat...1QQihZ008QQcategoryZ52574QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

Comments?

 

[Valeria101]

....it looks like one of those multi-strands that were enormously popular in the late 1940s and early 1950s that were assembled from heirloom naturals and filled up with cultured pearls.

Really! Didn't know that bit... but sure do have a funny story about them

Now, imagine a seven (maybe eight?) years old budding gemologist with he aunt's prized five-strand 'natural' pearl necklace acquired a bit before WW II. She knew the pearls to be natural, and had tried them out by destroying one of the smallest seed pearls of the strand to see if it was nucleated or not. It wasn't. Unfortunately, I didn't know any better and repeated the experiment with one of the largest pearls! The experiment nearly got my aunt killed by heart attack: first at the sight of her beloved pearls unstrung and 'experimented' on, second while seeing an ominous thin layer peel away from the beady nucleus of her 'natural' pearls... Not a chance to forget that one. Now that I know better, I don't even think those were nucleated pearls but straight out fakes mixed with older sead pearls and finished with a glorious clasp.

This is the first time I hear that such strands were a common thing. I don't have the pearls anymore. After the discovery, all were labeled sorry fakes and banished to the toy box (sans diamond clasp).

.... end of story.


Thanks Zeide !

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