posted on October 20, 2006 05:29:57 PM new
I am sure some of you have some "pearls of wisdom". I recently bought a tin of odd items, and there was a bag with 2 2 strand pearl necklaces. Quite a dark color, very even in shape. Is there a way to find if they are real or cultured?
posted on October 20, 2006 05:36:35 PM new
run them against your teeth. If they feel sandy, they are real. Look really closely and see if any of the color has chipped off. Is it threaded on a cotton cord/thick thread? or plastic fish line ? The findings? Any marks on those? Are they gold? gold plated? silver? stainless steel?
[ edited by paloma91 on Oct 20, 2006 05:38 PM ]
posted on October 20, 2006 05:50:59 PM new
You're asking the wrong question.
Cultured pearls *are* real pearls; they are farmed (cultured) rather than relying on the finds of pearl fisherman.
Wild pearls are very expensive and you might run across them, but not likely. Cultured are more reasonable but still not cheap. (I have a 24 inch strand of 6mm cultured pearls with 14k gold clasp that set an ex-boyfriend back $600...20 years ago.)
I think what you really want to know is:
"How do I tell real pearls from faux (fake) pearls?"
The answer is: It's harder than ever. Some faux pearls have a gritty finish, and if you rub them over your teeth, it will feel like sand.
So the teeth test no longer works, and besides, it's disgusting.
fLufF
--
P.S. Many of the pearl products today are so-called freshwater pearls, which really don't have much value at all.
posted on October 20, 2006 05:59:03 PM new
fluffy: They are both quite old, possibly from 1930's. I forgot to say that they are both partly unthreaded. One clasp has a couple of jewels, maybe glass, hard to tell. They are on what looks like a waxy thread that has green discoloration at the clasps. No flaking, one set is quite dark, the other not so much.
posted on October 20, 2006 06:42:17 PM newThey are on what looks like a waxy thread that has green discoloration at the clasps.
Sorry. That's bad news. Most likely the clasps are brass, then, especially if they are not marked.
In jewelry, as in life, like tends to hang out with like. Real pearls means a precious metal clasp.
I have some of my mother's faux pearl jewelry from the Forties and Fifties. I expect that if you prod one or more of the pearls with a fingernail near the drilled hole, it will flake.
posted on October 20, 2006 08:15:11 PM new
Just out of curiosity, Fluff - what is the price range of natural pearl necklaces purchased WWII era in Japan?
Edited to add: Hwa, Hwa - I thought Chinese people had great respect for their elders - so much for that!
[ edited by pixiamom on Oct 20, 2006 08:18 PM ]
posted on October 21, 2006 04:34:12 AM new
fluff: Thanks for the help, they are fake. Oh well, I guess I won't make my fortune after all. I had bought a tin of lace at a rummage sale for my daughter, and these were in the bottom. I thought maybe I had a great find!
posted on October 21, 2006 07:41:06 AM new
Ah, well. It's always good to check, though. You never know.
Years ago I bought five pieces of sterling silver ballerina jewelry at a thrift store. It had been sitting there for a long, long time. It was a weird set: one pair of earrings, two small brooches and one large brooch. I didn't much care for the style, either. I paid $35 for all five pieces and that seemed like a lot of money.
Took them to a flea market, thought "Hey, if I could just make $20 on this, wouldn't that be great."
You are looking at the idiot who, that day, sold five pieces of Margot de Taxco jewelry for $55.
posted on October 22, 2006 06:30:39 AM new
I read somewhere that the cultured pearls we see on the market are no longer raised in natural shells,they are plastic balls coated with natural pearl lustre,thats why they are all so uniform in shape and size.
Is that true??
posted on October 22, 2006 02:59:13 PM new
Hwahwa - I am certain that is not correct. Pearls are cultured by placing a tiny bead inside the oyster. That irritates the oyster and it produces a pearl. If the coating is applied artificially, it is not a cultured pearl. Cultured pearls can be sorted so that the strand is more or less uniform in shape and the pearl size desired. The cheaper strands are more irregular in shape than the more expensive ones. I am not taking about freshwater pearls which look different.
buyhigh
posted on October 22, 2006 04:37:39 PM new
Mine are exactly what hwahwa described. I scraped the coating off, and they were just a coating of a pearlized material on a white bead. I guess "faux" is the term for them.
