Does anyone know anything about pearls ... starting out with "how do I tell if they're even real"? A dear old aunty has headed upward (bless her lovely heart R.I.P.) She left a string of pearls (very tiny necklace) and a couple of little oddments including a 1947 penny. Should I stop wasting time and just head to the nearest converters?
Real pearls have a rough texture when rubbed over your teeth. Don't bother with cash convertors, take them to a jeweller to get them checked out then put them on here to sell or swap.
Yes! Take them to a jeweler to have them evaluated. Value of pearls vary greatly with regards to colour, luster of nacre, weight, size, natural v cultured, roundness, keshi v cultured, freshwater v saltwater ones, & so on When I was a commercial diver in Broome, diving for them I was given the opportunity to see a perfect round 20mm cultured worth $50,000. One like this would be the centre pearl for one very expensive strand of them. Unfortunately when the financial crises hit in 2008 the market for these plummeted, so have the prices.
This, rub them on your teeth and if it has a rough sandy like texture they are real. Mikimoto are the brand to look out for, a nice strand of vintage Mikimoto's will still fetch a price $500 - $1500 depending on size.
You need to look into the hole where they are strung to see the nacre layer... Or you can send it to switzerland for an xray!! My granny loved pearls... Especially the plastic ones. Dear old thing, loved her to bits but never put any of her pension money into jewellery... But boy she could make cakes!!!!!
If you're spending less than a few good thousand and want a perfectly round pearl, you will only find cultured pearls. ...cultured pearls are sort of natural, but if they are X-rayed you will see they are not pearl all the way through.
Yes! The nucleus Or (Bead) is made from fresh water clam from the Mississippi River in the US. The size of the bead to be used by the operator/technician depends on the size of a shell & its gonad. They cut the gonad open, insert a bead with a small cut piece of mantle from another shell, this grafts to the gonad & starts to coat the bead with the nacre. 2 years later they pull the pearl from the shell, then replace the pearl with the same size bead to trick the Maximus Oyster that nothing has changed. If part of the grafting dies it gets coated too, and becomes what is known as a Keshi. These are generally deformed & quite small. Keshi pearls are a big winner in the jewelry market, because of their odd shapes & luster. To me they are the nicest of any pearl.
