[dasha]

Hello everyone,
first of all, I would like to say that I love this forum, I have learned so much here. Like many people on the forum, I need some help with a necklace I have. My mom received it as a gift sometime in the 80s and it was probably purchased in the 60s or 70s.
I had an appraisal done at a jeweler (I know, I know...) and he wrote the following: one strand of pearls measuring 31'' in length accompanied by a 14k yellow gold clasp. The strand contains: seventy eight roundish cultured pearls measuring approximately 9.0 mm to 9.3 mm in width. Creamy white body colour, slightly blemished with good luster.

I included some photos, will try to take better ones tomorrow. Any opinions about the necklace will be greatly appreciated.

Dasha

[salem]

Hi Dasha,

Well, I am not one of the resident expert when it comes to photographs, but you are right, You will need to take better ones. At this point all I could venture is they might be Akoyas. Try to get a close up of just a couple pearls and a close up of the entire strand. You may want to change the background to either white or black to give us a better idea. On my screen at least, the background looks light colored, ut it makes it hard to compare the true color of the pearl.

Good luck!
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hmm, I looked again and maybe your background was white, but appears rather pinkish. And the last photo looks very yellowy. I think if you search this forum, you can find a lot of advice on photographing pearls.

[jshepherd]

Hi Dasha,

Welcome to the forum.

If your camera has a macro setting (the little flower), it would be best for a close shot of a few pearls. It is really difficult to discern anything from the current photos.

[dasha]

Thank you both for your replies. I used a white background, but guess it did not come out well. I am attaching another photo, cropped one, but not sure how it will come out. I will try to take some better pictures tomorrow, I have actually read the threads about how to take a good photo, so I will keep trying.

[knotty panda]

The size of those pearls (9.0-9.3) is quite amazing. Did the jeweler give you an appraisal amount and was it retail replacement or for insurance purposes?

Oh wait, I just read your jeweler's description again. He doesn't say they are Akoya, does he.

[jshepherd]

That photo is actually quite a bit better. I would guess akoya if genuine, but the size is not right. For the era it is too large, and the graduation is wrong. Did you see the jeweler measure it? Do you know what he used?

[dasha]

He initially guessed about $10,000 CAN, but then lowered it to $5,500 as the estimated replacement value. Apparently something to do with them not being all perfectly round and also the colour. I wonder whether he is right, it seemed he had to call somewhere else to figure this out...so I do not have much faith in his appraisal-one of the reasons I posted here, to see what other people would say.

[knotty panda]

A jeweler who conferred with someone? Sounds pretty reputable to me.

[dasha]

yeah, no kidding, knotty panda

I did not see him measure them, unfortunately. I had other people confirm they are genuine, but I am no expert. Knowing who it belong to though, I have no doubt they are. I am not sure when they were bought exactly, it was just a guess...

[dasha]

one more picture

[purepearls]

They do appear to be Akoya based on your second photo. You might want to consider getting a second opinion. Also, you could run into a jewelry store and kindly ask them to measure them with a caliper (will most likely do for free) so you can see how far off he is. The size/graduation sounds off.

[dasha]

Thanks for the advice, I will do that. Could you tell me what it means that the graduation sounds off? Is this size variation not common?