Hi All,

This is my Biwa ring, purchased in Hawaii in the early 80's.


It is in a 14k gold custom ribbon mounting. The colors were described by the appraiser as multicolor copper, silver, yellow and white, good lustre orient and measuring 25mm x 6.4mm x 8mm.

My ring color and shape differs greatly from the Biwa ring Heidi and I saw at the recent Jewelry Show. It was a lovely rosey lavender color with some teal blue iridescent, as I recall, without the extreme changes in color my ring had. Also the pearl was irregular shaped, not the long bar shape, It more squarish, like a smaller double bar shape.

Strack says on page 416, "The colors range from white, cream, silver white and grey to light pink, pinkish violet, violet, red, yellow, orange, gold, brown and to bluish and greenish hues." She describes them as coming in many fancy baroque shapes.

I don't know if there is a definitive way without provenance to know if it is truly a Biwa ring or not.

Dfrey, you were indeed fortunate to see the real pearls, I look forward to your photos.

Pattye
so many pearls, so little time