Akoyas!

ok, so yes it works for determining nacre thickness, but not for photographing it, it took me forever to get it to work for this one. actually, a 1MW would probably work better for figuring out nacre thickness for SW pearls if you are going to try to photograph it. I had to adjust light levels and everything just to show the bead. The necklace is a very cheap one (less than $4) that I have.
it is a 5mm pearl strand with v. thin nacre, you can very clearly see the bead with this laser, but photographing it is something else entirely because all you see is a mass of green.
http://www.undrilledpearls.net/images/LL2.jpg

Thanks for telling us, it sounds very interesting, doing the test on the pearls and let us know what the appraiser has to say...

[DrTKStern]

Originally Posted by gemologist

Akoyas!

ok, so yes it works for determining nacre thickness, but not for photographing it, it took me forever to get it to work for this one. actually, a 1MW would probably work better for figuring out nacre thickness for SW pearls if you are going to try to photograph it. I had to adjust light levels and everything just to show the bead. The necklace is a very cheap one (less than $4) that I have.
it is a 5mm pearl strand with v. thin nacre, you can very clearly see the bead with this laser, but photographing it is something else entirely because all you see is a mass of green.
http://www.undrilledpearls.net/images/LL2.jpg

Hey, thanks for those photos. I'm pacing the floor waiting for FEDEX to deliver my 10MW. If you have more photos, please post.

Best regards,
Tom Stern,MD