| The blisters appear much to round to be natural. Natural blisters are typically random growths with no clear formation.
The pearl is a blister, however. A mabe pearl is simply a blister that has been removed, fillled and capped.
About the shell... my first instinct was that the jeweler was possible confusing Saccostrea echinata and Pinctada mazatlanica. Both of these shells share the popular name Black-Lip with Pinctada Margaritifera. But as far as I know only the latter has ever been used in perliculture.
But the picture does not look like Mazatlanica, but rather Pteria - which is used in blister pearl production. It looks to me that this is a cultured blister pearl either from Mexico or Asia. But I do not believe it is some new shell and I think the jeweler was misinformed. |