[jshepherd]

Originally Posted by katkat

I am taking them toa jeweller tommorow to find out for sure

Don't do that! If you do you will never know!!! Just find a digital camera with a macro lense and post the pictures here. Most jewelers cannot tell the difference between a dyed freshwater and a Tahitian. If you have an older or special strand, not one in a thousand jewelers will be able to tell you what it is. Jewelers are not pearlers. Jewelers do not know pearls. Is this a generalization? Yes, it is. But it covers well over 99% of the jewelers in the USA.

[pattye]

Hi Katkat,
Please let us know how it goes at the jewelers. As you may know from the many posts here about visits to jewelers to find out about one's pearls, most jewelers are not very knowledgeable about pearls, and you may not get valid information. Jeremy is absolutely right about that. I was involved in fine jewelry sales for Nordstrom for about 5 years in the 90's, and got practically no training at all in pearls. Good luck!
Pattye

[jshepherd]

You also mentioned that the pearls are pointed in one direction like the picture? Is this where the pearl is drilled, and are the pearls consistent? It could be a baroque bead nucleated Akoya.
How about the graduation? The pearls near the end appear to be much smaller than those in the center. Even allowing for the distance in the photo, there appears to be several millimeters of differentiation. That would be classic, post WWII Akoya matching.

[katkat]

I will take your advice then and not go to the jewellers about them. I will try to find out more here. They are not drilled on the pointed side. thjey are not graduated. They do appear to be consistant. They are only slightly pointy and all of them have almost identical points. A few are pointier than the others if that makes sense. They appear perfectly round until you look closer and they are more of an ovoid shape. It came with some extra pearls. I looked down the drill hole and can not see a nucleus. The string is silf if this helps at all. They just seem awefully shiny to be cfw

[katkat]

I know them to be only a few years old. A freind gave them to me. She wanted to give them to her daughter, but her daughter does not like pearls, and rather thatn seeing them waste away, she gave them to me

[Rosomane]

Originally Posted by jshepherd

Don't do that! If you do you will never know!!! Just find a digital camera with a macro lense and post the pictures here. Most jewelers cannot tell the difference between a dyed freshwater and a Tahitian. If you have an older or special strand, not one in a thousand jewelers will be able to tell you what it is. Jewelers are not pearlers. Jewelers do not know pearls. Is this a generalization? Yes, it is. But it covers well over 99% of the jewelers in the USA.

Ha ha ha! There is an itty bitty jewelry store in a shopping center where I do my grocery shopping and last week as I walked by I saw a strand of what I though were Tahitian pearls. The proprietor told me emphatically that they were not and he could show me their certificate to prove it, that they were South Sea pearls and if I wanted Tahitians he could get a strand in from his other store. Price on the SS strand was $4K, the Tahitian: $2K. The strand I saw was dark gray with bronze overtones, they might have been 9mm at best, probably a little smaller in diameter.
At a store in the mall, when I was admiring a strand of 10mm pink FW, I asked what kind of pearls they were and the nice lady answered "cultured."
Thanks so much for creating this forum, there a great need for it!