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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;Ce BCA, post: 4467092, member: 18716&quot;]As others have said they will be cultured, natural pearls are rarer and can be more expensive than diamonds.&nbsp; A string of natural pearls like this would cost more than a car, and you don&#039;t find them on generic unbranded clasps unless very early.&nbsp; Even AAA cultured pearl necklaces can cost 1000&#039;s though.</p><p><br /></p><p>Imo the clasp looks later, this is the type I would expect to see from a good quality set from the 80&#039;s and 90&#039;s.&nbsp; The style of the clasp does look inter-war but the way it is constructed looks later.</p><p><br /></p><p>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 &amp; Size, again speaks for itself.</p><p><br /></p><p>For location, currently 98% of pearls come from China, and China has produced the majority since the 1990&#039;s, initially of low quality but getting better over time.&nbsp; Prior to the 80&#039;s most pearls came from elsewhere and the quality was variable but generally better than today on average.</p><p><br /></p><p>Candling for pearls doesn&#039;t really work at home, the accepted method for GIA cert etc is x-ray phase contrast imaging.&nbsp; Some can also be determined using professional light sources and a microscope and drilled pearls can sometimes be imaged through the holes.&nbsp; 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&#039;s quite fun to do and you can do it in the field with a bit of practice.</p><p><br /></p><p>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. </p><p><br /></p><p>That was longer than intended![/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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