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Originally Posted by Zeide Erskine ....it looks like one of those multi-strands that were enormously popular in the late 1940s and early 1950s that were assembled from heirloom naturals and filled up with cultured pearls. |
Really! Didn't know that bit... but sure do have a funny story about them
Now, imagine a seven (maybe eight?) years old budding gemologist with he aunt's prized five-strand 'natural' pearl necklace acquired a bit before WW II. She knew the pearls to be natural, and had tried them out by destroying one of the smallest seed pearls of the strand to see if it was nucleated or not. It wasn't. Unfortunately, I didn't know any better and repeated the experiment with one of the largest pearls!
The experiment nearly got my aunt killed by heart attack: first at the sight of her beloved pearls unstrung and 'experimented' on, second while seeing an ominous thin layer peel away from the beady nucleus of her 'natural' pearls... Not a chance to forget that one. Now that I know better, I don't even think those were nucleated pearls but straight out fakes mixed with older sead pearls and finished with a glorious clasp.
This is the first time I hear that such strands were a common thing. I don't have the pearls anymore. After the discovery, all were labeled sorry fakes and banished to the toy box (sans diamond clasp).
.... end of story.
Thanks Zeide !
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