Featured Vintage Natural pearls, any thoughts?

Hi,
I wonder if anyone can identify the pearls name in this necklace and how old they may be.
The clasp is 18 carat yellow gold, not hallmarked, hopefully the clasp can give away the age.
I am new to pearls, have some of my own, but cultured. I wonder if anyone can share a reliable website I could read how to recognise pearls by lustre, size, origins etc. Unfortunately, the only way I learn is by buying in auctions, I don’t go to shops, museums or antiques fairs, and so I am not able to compare and understand differences unless I buy the items.
Last week I meet @MaJa in London, I am very grateful for sharing his knowledge, and for the very enjoyable conversation. My hobby is not understood in my office, so very rare I have the opportunity to talk to someone about antiques and jewellery, the people on this forum being my best friends ❤️.
Thank you all.
Please copy anyone that may be Intrested.
@Any Jewelry @Bronwen
@Fid @KSW
@Ownedbybear

 

I struggle with pearls too and agree that the best way is to have them in your hand.
I have looked at a lot of Pearl necklaces (all bought cheap in job lots) to try to learn. I’ve found I need a really good loupe to look at the surface to see if they are real or faux, knotted makes me pay attention but it’s not always guaranteed that knotted means real or vice versa.
A gentle nibble with my teeth can tell me if real or faux although I recently learned about Shell pearls which are interesting.
The safety latch on the clasp is good news but doesn’t always mean it’s fine metal.
Have you looked at the hook part of the clasp as sometimes that is the bit that’s marked?
Freshwater usually have those ridges around them. As far as identifying the salt water ones I’m clueless.
You probably know all that already but that’s about the limit of my knowledge!

 

Just wondering, how do you know the pearls are natural and not cultured?
Stylewise it looks 1930s-40s to me, but let's wait for the others.

Only cerclé pearls have ridges around them. Cultured pearls come in all shapes and sizes (within reason).
The coveted Mikimoto pearls are also cultured. Mikimoto was the the first who managed to master the culture of pearls, in the late 19th century.

Many cultured pearls look pretty much like natural ones, although there are slight differences. The best way to tell the difference between the two is to have them looked at by a jeweler specialised in pearls, or to 'candle' the pearls.
This is a link the amazing @kyratango posted about candling:

https://www.pearl-guide.com/forum/p...arl-questions?12078-Candling-pearl-questions=

Real v. faux and natural v. cultured pearl general info:

https://en.silvexcraft.eu/blog/how-to-tell-if-pearls-are-real/

 

Thank you for quoting me and for giving again the link to pearl-guide
This site is a mine of informations!

@Simona Buhus I feel these pearls are cultured saltwater, natural being produced by wild oysters without human intervention, hence extremely rare to get row of matching color and shape... The lack of knots between them can be due to the fact the restringer was not a professional
Though not perfectly round, they are nice, but no older than 1930s (if the clasp is original to them).

 

Credit where credit is due (and my avatar takes a bow).

 

As others have said they will be cultured, natural pearls are rarer and can be more expensive than diamonds. A string of natural pearls like this would cost more than a car, and you don't find them on generic unbranded clasps unless very early. Even AAA cultured pearl necklaces can cost 1000's though.

Imo the clasp looks later, this is the type I would expect to see from a good quality set from the 80's and 90's. The style of the clasp does look inter-war but the way it is constructed looks later.

Pearl standard classification is Lustre, from excellent to dull - Colour, which speaks for itself, but there are standard terms (like for diamonds) - Surface appearance, from clean to heavily spotted - Shape, there are many classifications (yours look closest to partial round) - Weight & Size, again speaks for itself.

For location, currently 98% of pearls come from China, and China has produced the majority since the 1990's, initially of low quality but getting better over time. Prior to the 80's most pearls came from elsewhere and the quality was variable but generally better than today on average.

Candling for pearls doesn't really work at home, the accepted method for GIA cert etc is x-ray phase contrast imaging. Some can also be determined using professional light sources and a microscope and drilled pearls can sometimes be imaged through the holes. What you can do with candling at home is pretty easily spot the really cheap Chinese ones with thin nacre layers over a bead, it's quite fun to do and you can do it in the field with a bit of practice.

Identifying origin for white pearls is again very difficult, a bit like trying to identify the origin of a ruby or sapphire, sophisticated equipment is needed.

That was longer than intended!

 

T

Thank you so much for the shared knowledge, really appreciate it.
Would like to give more information on them, I have bought them with the original receipt, please see attached. The seller seemed genuine. Can natural pearls mean cultured? Sorry, this may sound dumb.
I had a closer look with a loupe and where the string goes in the Pearl surface seemed slightly flatten, not completely round.
I will take a photo later today.
The clasp in 18 carat gold, tested.
I have paid allot more than what the receipt says.
Thank you all.

 

Well you couldn't buy natural pearls for that price in 1984. It is one of those areas which is tricky - cultured pearls are real pearls, just with man made intervention and farming. Same as lab grown rubies are real rubies, just made in a different way. They may have meant real pearls rather than simulated (ie glass), which I suspect is the most likely explanation. Could also be bad business practice - go into many high street jewellers today and lots of the rubies and sapphires will be lab grown, but they don't tell you that anywhere.

At that time pearls were relatively more expensive than they are today, the Chinese take over of the pearl business has driven prices into the ground and that has a knock on effect on the vintage market too - why pay a lot for higher quality when you can get cheap Chinese which look pretty much identical to the regular person. Pearls are also out of fashion, but it is about time they came back, just needs something to kick start it again.

The only way to ensure getting natural pearls is to buy them with a GIA, BGI or AGL cert, or from a high end auction house which has had them certified. This will cost 1000's of course.

Looks like you have a good quality vintage set which will last your lifetime (they are not going to be bead center pearls), so unless you paid 1000's I don't think you need to worry. If you are in London one day and Sotheby's/Bonham's are having an open valuation day for jewellery then pop in, there is always the chance you have got very lucky and have a natural set.

 

Natural was used back in the day to mean cultured. Very reputable jeweller in an expensive part of London. That's the year they closed down. They also made their own pieces, I remember them.

 

Thank you so much for your in depth knowledge.
I will call the Sotheby's/Bonham's auction houses, I work in central London, it would be easy to reach. You probably already gathered that I did not know about the open valuation days, that’s so helpful. It would be nice to know.
I already ware them twice, hopefully start the fashion lol.
I have taken two photos, hopefully you will be able to see that where the string hole is , the Pearl is slightly flatten. Only the biggest ones at the front are completely round.
@Ownedbybear you are right, I bought them in Hampstead, a very affluent area in London, the seller seemed genuine. I normally buy in auctions, but this seemed too good to miss.
Thank you for your reply, it’s nice to put an approximate year on them.

 

Yep, pearls are rarely fully round, and fully round ones are much more expensive. These are partial round which is usual, and used further around the strand where they aren't so obvious. They have used more expensive ones for the feature pearls at the front, which of course makes sense.

 

Hi there, I am not a member of this forum, just a pearl lover, but thought I would throw in my two cents. I have a number of years of experience buying pearls, and I particularly look for natural pearls, and from my own experience I would say there's a good chance that they are in fact natural uncultured pearls. There's a LOT of confusion about pearls in particular. I hate to disagree with someone who posted but a strand of natural pearls of your size and quality would not cost the same as a car. OK maybe a really cheap car. But probably worth a couple thousand dollars if natural. The 18k gold clasp and the teeny tiny pearls at the back are all good signs of a natural strand, since they didn't waste the large pearls on the back of a necklace. Now it can be very difficult to tell the difference between early cultured pearls and natural, and you can only really be sure with an xray from a reputable laboratory, but I wouldn't be surprised to find out they are natural.

 

Only members can post here......so....yer now a member !!!

There's a Pearl of wisdom for ya !!

 

I wrote that, and then it wouldn't post unless I joined sooo... there you go!

 

Welcome @Treasurefixation !

 

There's such an easy way to recognize if pearls are real. Dig into that i would say

Very nice looking. Looks like cultive pearls (which most are).

 

Thank you @Treasurefixation , much appreciated knowledge.
I did manage to ware them twice at work, a good start.
I know that some other members have advised to test them, I just have to find the time one day.
And
Wellcome to the forum! There are some amazing members here, I am sure you will enjoy it!
Kind regards,
Simona

 

Welcome @Treasurefixation. Better stay with us since there are lots of pearl pieces that come up.

 

Cheaper than a pair of GUCCI loafers in 1986 (for comparison.)

Debora

 

Living in an amazing city like London,you have a superb gem collection nearby-the V&A Jewelry Collection.Now this is a big long-shot,but you might see if a pearl expert curator might (they won't but ?) look at yr pearls.There must be a plethora of high end jewelers in London-show them to 5-6 respected reputable dealers.London's got to be one of the jewelry capitols of the world...heck,they've got hat shops that are 250 years old !
*Speaking if GUCCI-my love passed-up a Tom Ford jacket for $40 yesterday,I mentioned Postmark-she said 'you're retired-stop with the posting & selling !'.The picking itch never leaves,just goes dormant.