[Jones]

Dear colleagues,

Finally I am back from my six months in the field (south East Asia)
During my work I encountered several pearls; of course I could not resist taking them home. I made some (bad quality) pictures and I was hoping on some feedback concerning the pearl types and oyster species.

Kalimantan 1 & 2: 18 mm long (silver)
Philippines 1: 8 mm (white)
Philippines 2: 11 mm (grey)
West Malaysia: average 6 mm (whitish yellow)

The ones from West Malaysia I got from a fisherman who was fishing for the last 40 years and these were the pearls he collected in that time. The one from Kalimantan is also from the ocean side and the ones from the Philippines I bought from some kids in the south of the Philippines.

Looking forward to your replies!

Greetings & have a good weekend

Jones

[Valeria101]

Geez!

All but the Phillipinese look natural to me. And the first would be quite a find: supremely wearable shape, wonderful size, perfect skin... what more to ask for!

I have seen this type in antique settings... and while I cannot show those, a certain listing on a recent auction helps: see the large pin posted HERE.

Sure enough, I am no expert and now even the usual amount of reason might have went through the window (partially) at the sight!


Was your travel entirely pearl-related, or did these just happen along the way?

[jshepherd]

I agree that the Philippine pearls definitely look cultured.

The West Malaysia would either be natural or early Chinese Cristaria plicata (Cockscomb), as they classically resemble those.

The pearl from Borneo could be natural or a cultured baroque, or even a large keshi (P. maxima). This is my favorite of the bunch. There is a lot of potential with that piece.

[pernula]

Just curious, what makes you think the Philippine pearls look cultured? Is it because they are quite round? What types of cultured pearls would they be?

The Kalimantan pearl looks very nice.

Thanks,
pernula

[jshepherd]

The shape is the first clue. Natural pearls are rarely ever round, and two round pearls almost always indicate cultured - especially coming from a country where like pearls are cultured but naturals are not fished.

The second clue is the color of the pearl on the left. It is a slight cream to yellow (if I am seeing it right), which is very common in gold South Sea pearl producing areas - it is what the farmers do NOT want, and what is most often sold by locals. You could compare it to the circles selling on every corner in Papeete.

I would mistake the pearl on the right, however, as Australian.

[Jones]

Thanks for the comments everybody.

To valeria: I was in the region to work as a biologist (conservation), mainly with reptiles and amphibians

To everybody:
The pearls from West Malaysia are according the fisherman from a small species of oyster which the locals eat there. These oysters live next to the corals reefs at a depth of around 15 meters. The man told me that nowadays they dont find these anymore (rarely). But I find many of them really round, too round to be natural. Or is this possible (on a large scale) with naturals?

Is it common that australian looking pearls are sold in the Philippines?

And how can I know for certain which species the one from Kalimantan is?

[Valeria101]

I am going to take a stab at these, until better informed answers come along...

Originally Posted by Jones

To valeria: I was in the region to work as a biologist (conservation), mainly with reptiles and amphibians

Sounds great! Pretty enviable, really...

Originally Posted by Jones

The pearls from West Malaysia ...I find many of them really round, too round to be natural. Or is this possible (on a large scale) with naturals?

Small ones are definitely much more often round. Where 'small' would be up to 3mm or so, depending on how large the shell is. There was a thread here about 'pipi' pearls (thread by 'smetzer') - small, cream to deep gold mostly round-ish.

Intuitively, these tiny concretions simply have more room to rotate freely and get an even coat of nacre... intuition could be dead wrong.

A bit on the side: with bead nucleated pearls, 'round' came to be understood very strictly. That is not very realistic for natural pearls of any size. 'Round' for them is more leisurely taken... and that is what I am referring to here, since we are talking about potentially natural pearls.

Originally Posted by Jones

Is it common that Australian looking pearls are sold in the Philippines?

Sorry, no idea at all how common.

Originally Posted by Jones

And how can I know for certain which species the one from Kalimantan is?

To the best of my knowledge - and I have been looking as much as an amateur can into this - there is no cast-in-stone, recognized method to attribute pearls to mollusk species other than guessing based on personal knowledge of pearls with known origin. Basically, detective work taking into account all natural and economic circumstances that might bring shell to shore and pearl to you (instead of straight to the height of the jewelry market). IMO, at least. It sounds like your background is precisely what's needed for the job.

There may be gemology articles describing the more usual pearl types, sometimes down to nacre structure and eventually useful identification characteristics. Possible sources: G&G (www.gia.org), The Australian Gemologist (www.australiangemmologist.com.au)... The Conchology Journal (www.conchsoc.org). This sort of thing. There must be quite a few more sources listed around this forum and for gemology in general on another (www.GemologyOnline.com). Still, such information is not systematic and quite infrequent. Not much surprise there, considering that most pearls are cultured in a small range of species, or otherwise come from known natural concentrations of a single specie (case: the Gulf and American pearls etc.)

Have fun!

I am already holding fingers crossed for the large pearl. It seems destined for something special indeed.

[CortezPearls]

I saw at least a couple of natural pearls on your "West Malaysia 1" photo...these are the typical "Hinge Pearls". You can easily identify because of their "typical" shape: somewhat flat on one side, dome shaped, but irregular (unlike a true simmetrical button pearl). The flat side usually has a special "fingerprint" surface. Their surface nacre is mostly light colored and their nacre structure is "hammered".

They are very common pearls...but natural nonetheless. They grow in the hinge area, where the two shells meet. I have some photos of some we obtained from a Rainbow Lipped Oyster and they look very much like yours.