y'all are BETTER THAN APPRAISERS! - i was told when asking online about pearls

[analilia]

i found these beautiful pearls when I was hired to empty the house of a horder who had passed away. i was told I could keep, donate, toss whatever as long as I emptied the place. (4 separate strands but 2 of them seem to be a set) they did pass the tooth test. The woman was a stewardess that flew with TWA from the early 50's married to a twa pilot. She lived in Saudi, china and ethiopia as well as the states. (she really seemed neat to me). I did see some yellowed old paper about special pearls from china but tossed it as i was getting pretty tired and hadn't seen any jewelry at the time. Anyway, would anybody know anything by looking at pictures? Thank you so much. I posted yesterday but haven't heard a thing is it too hard to tell online? would really appreciate any ideas y'all might have.
Please Help thank you!

 

[Pearl Dreams]

The peach colored strand with rings is Chinese cultured freshwater pearls. These are very wearable as they are nacre clear through, but they are not valuable.

I think the same is true of the lacy necklace with the pink beads.

As to the double strand [Edit: I see now they are separate strands, sorry, but they do seem nested and meant to be a set], my first thought was imitation due to their great uniformity, but it is also possible they are older, somewhat yellowed akoya cultured pearls. They do appear to have been worn a lot based on the condition of the knots between the pearls. The clasp reads 14K, which if real (and if original to the strand) would argue for genuine pearls. Also, they seem to be of graduated size, so again that makes me think they may be akoyas. Graduated strands may cost less than uniform size strands since pearls are sold by weight (but imitation strands may also be graduated.)

Please wipe the double strand necklace with a damp, clean, soft cloth to remove surface grime, and then gently rub two of the pearls against each other-- do you feel a slight resistance, or are they very smooth and slippery? Imitation pearls feel smooth, while real pearls offer a slight bit of resistance when rubbed this way. There are other tests as well, but start with that one.

 

[analilia]

Thank you so much for responding. I did as you asked and wiped them clean and rubbed them together. It seemed as if the two were scratching each other, kind of gritty. I'm not sure exactly how to describe it but it was very irritating to me, like fingernails on a chalkboard but with the sense of touch rather than sound. Does that make any sense?

When you say that the other two are not valuable do you mean worth 40 or 50 bucks? I'm excited to have them anyway. They are so pretty! Thanks again for your time.

 

[pattye]

Analilia,

Welcome. Occasionally a new post doesn't show up as unread, so it gets missed, just a quirk of the computer program I guess. Very sorry.

Thank you for the good photos. I'd agree with Pearl Dreams evaluation. Please let us know what you think after you do the cleaning and test with the double strand. It is difficult to tell whether this necklace is imitation pearl, or Akoya.

The necklace with the seed beads and pearls represents many hours of beading work! How fun to find some pretty pieces among all the mess.

 

[Pearl Dreams]

Thank you so much for responding. I did as you asked and wiped them clean and rubbed them together. It seemed as if the two were scratching each other, kind of gritty. I'm not sure exactly how to describe it but it was very irritating to me, like fingernails on a chalkboard but with the sense of touch rather than sound. Does that make any sense?

When you say that the other two are not valuable do you mean worth 40 or 50 bucks? I'm excited to have them anyway. They are so pretty! Thanks again for your time.

Sounds to me like you may have 2 akoya stands, then. If you get a chance to look at them under a 10x loupe you should see the surface is very smooth, like the surface of those freshwaters. If you compare by looking with the loupe at a known-imitation strand, you'll see the imitation has a coarser appearing surface.

As to the value of the first 2 strands, you might indeed pay $40 or $50 for such items new at a craft show, or on Etsy, but if reselling them you would not get as much; pearls generally don't hold their value for resale. However, since you like them, wear them and enjoy them!

 

[analilia]

Thank you both for responding. I suppose I will investigate the strands a little further. I found so many treasures including letters from a nurse missionary to the states during the 1920's, wwii ration books with coupons still inside, a "Great War" allied victory medal, iranian samovars, weller hudson pottery, several books from the 1880's!! And so much more! I'm so glad I was hired and these treasures weren't tossed. I'm donating as much as possible to appropriate causes including education. I think I will keep the pearls for me, though.

What a wonderful group.

 

[Pearl Dreams]

analilia, a few suggestions for the akoyas:

1. To see them at their best, give the akoyas a good bath (soak 5-10 minutes in warm water with a bit of mild soap-- not detergent-- then wipe gently with a microfiber cloth, rinse and wrap in a towel to allow them to dry slowly. The silk inside the pearls takes longer to dry than the silk between the pearls.

2. Have them restrung-- or restring them yourself! It is not hard, many of us do it, and it saves a lot of money. If you look at the Lowly Beaders Forum you'll see stickied discussion threads with instructions for stringing pearls. Anyone can learn how to do it and the materials are not costly.
Why restring? Because if the silk breaks while you are wearing them, you risk losing the pearls. And silk breaks more easily if it is old, frayed, dirty (pollution, skin oils etc. take their toll), wet, etc.

 

[analilia]

i'll certainly give them a bath. That's a nice idea to restring them. I'm not much of a choker wearer and these two wear up high. Maybe I could make one longer strand? Lowly beaders... sounds good. Thank you!

 

[Pearl Dreams]

Great idea, make a single longer strand!


You can even save a couple of the largest center pearls to make dangle earrings or earring jackets that match. If you like, stack two pearls on top of each other (the larger on the bottom), to make a longer dangle earring.

I'm just going to go ahead and give you a few ideas for making the earrings, if it interests you. And if not, maybe it will inspire some other P-G reader to give it a try.

It's really easy to make an earring dangle that you can wear on a hoop earring. You will need a pair of round nose pliers, a pair of wire cutters and one head pin for each earring. Pass the head pin through the pearl(s), and make a simple loop large enough to fit over your hoop earrings with the round nose pliers, then trim excess wire.

If instead you want to make an earring jacket, to be worn with a stud earring, then leave a longer length of head pin before forming a very small simple loop at the very top. Then just pass the stud post through the loop before putting the post through your ear lobe. I have also make earring jackets using a bit of gold filled Rolo chain and a jump ring.

Or if you want to attach the dangle to an earring finding-- maybe a leverback finding or a French Hook-- I recommend making a wrapped loop, for more security. You'll need a second pair of pliers to open the little loop in the finding so as to connect it to the loop of your dangle, and to close the finding again. (I recommend getting bent nose pliers, or chain nose pliers for your second pair).
You can even make your own French hook using a head pin and a dowel (or anything round of the right size, I've even used a ball point pen) to wrap the head pin over and form the hook. This also works to make the hook for a hook and eye clasp.

You can find YouTube videos showing all these techniques.

To save money when learning techniques, use less expensive metal wire or head pins. But I will say this: steel head pins tend to be considerably stiffer than the gold filled and sterling ones. And brass tends to be softer.

The pliers and wire cutters are just basic, good tools to have on hand to repair your jewelry, and they pay for themselves the first time you don't have to pay a jeweler to do a simple repair, like replacing a clasp. You can get them from beading supply stores, brick and mortar or online, or even at your local craft stores in inexpensive sets. I like Beadsmith brand, personally. Of course there are more expensive ones, but you don't have to spend a lot to get started.

 

[analilia]

Thanks for the advice - i'm nervous to try but i think i will. i'll post when i do. (might be a year )

 

[analilia]

Hi again. Actually I'm still going through things and just came across these earrings. I think they might go with the necklaces. The backs are mismatched. What do you think?

 

[Pearl Dreams]

Oh, yes!

Those earring backs are actually good for preventing earrings from sagging.

 

[analilia]

Hi there,
I don't really know how to reply to both of you, but after reading some other posts and information on here I would like to try posting some better pictures to see if you can tell better what kind of pearls these are and if they are real. I hope you don't mind. Thank you so much.

These are the clasps. I tried to play with the contrast and brightness to see it clearer. but it seemed like a 31 14K and ? 14K - is it possibly referring to size? Lot number? I have no idea.



Here i played with the light and contrast to see it better.



When you say they are so uniform it implies that they are fake, does that mean uniform in shape? I put some circles on the pearls to see if they were perfectly round here.



and here are some as close up as my camera can do. (because I don't have a loop ) Not sure if that is helpful.



and last because they look so pink to me, I took some pictures out side to see the true color.



Does any of this help to determine what they are? I know they are old as they were in a box that hadn't been unpacked for years. And I assume they are older because I found old papers referring to them. But that is all the information I have.

Can Pearl Dreams see this post as a reply to yours? Is there a way to tag her if not? sorry I'm such a beginner.


Thanks again!

 

[analilia]

I thought I replied to pattye but i have no idea what i'm doing

 

[Pearl Dreams]

They look like akoyas to me, the surface seems to have characteristics typical of akoyas. And they don't have a lot of blemishes, so they are nice, if a little yellowed and in need of a bath.

I see some grime and there could also be some fine scratches, acquired over time from how they were stored. Pearls are soft and ought to be stored away from other jewelry and stones that could scratch them. Their own clasps could scratch them, too. They need careful storage.

Imitations are usually made round to look like akoyas, which are round-- round because of the bead inside, over which the oyster lays down nacre.

 

[analilia]

I just saw the "what kind of pearls are these" forum
no wonder it took a while to respond the first time! I didn't scroll down and only saw the first few topics Thanks - I could be partly responsible for the scratches. Are blemishes the dimples? Should I keep them? I think they are beautiful but I especially like the beaded necklace. I seldom wear any jewelry due to the nature of my job (stay at home mother of 9).

 

[analilia]

Here they are

 

[Pearl Dreams]

Nine! You are blessed indeed!

If you have not yet given them a good bath, I would do so. That will show them at their best. Then go from there. You'd be surprised what a nice cleaning up can do for a strand of pearls.

If when they are cleaned up you still don't desire them, there is always time to sell them, if that is what you prefer. You can see eBay "sold" listings for an idea of what you might get for them. On the other hand you may decide to get them restrung. Clean them up and then you can decide. There are vendors who are members on P-G who offer restringing services -- I understand Kojima Pearls is one.

To wash them, use a mild soap and a bit of warm water. (Note-- if you have hard water from a well, as we have, don't use soap, which combines with hard water to form a scum-- use a bit of baby wash instead.) Let them sit for 5 or 10 minutes in the soap and water solution. Using a clean microfiber type cloth (which you can get at the dollar store), gently wipe the grime away, pearl by pearl. Grime accumulates between the pearls, too, near the drill holes. Then rinse in clean water. Lay the strands straight out, unclasped, each on one small towel. Roll the towel + pearls up together and set them aside for a day or so to dry. Silk is weakened and will stretch when wet, so don't wear them until they are fully dry.

 

[analilia]

Also, I did do the 10 min soak and wiped them with a microfiber. Do I need to clean them a little better? I Just wiped them dry. I didn't do any vigorous rubbing at all. I can see several dirty spots on the string (silk?) as well.

 

[analilia]

Ok - that sounds good. Sounds like I may need to do a better job cleaning. Also we have particularly hard water so I will use the baby wash. Thank you so much - again!