Hello everybody,

Somebody sent me a picture of a biwa necklace and bracelet, he claimed having bought about 20 years ago in Japan.
Necklace is 60 cm, 3mm pearls, bracelet 20 cm.
21 karat clasp.
Does anybody know if it's worth something, and if they are really pearls from lake Biwa?
Thanks,
Marjan

Hi Marjan,

If they were harvested 20 years ago that would put the time frame in the second half of the 1980s. I see a problem there. In the 1980s Lake Biwa was not producing much anymore and many Chinese pearls grown in hyriopsis cumingii were imported into Japan and sold as Biwas. I am not aware of any non-destructive methods to differentiate them. The clasp indicates that at least one jeweler in the pearls' history thought that customers should think highly of them. But that is about as definitive as one can get.

Zeide

Thanks for your answer Zeide.
One more question: if we are talking about Biwa pearls, are they more valuable than chinese freshwaterpearls? And if so , how much would I think of?

If my costumer decides to sacrifice a pearl to check if they are biwa pearls, how can he determine that, or can it only be done in a labratory?

Marjan

Dear Marjan,

Biwa pearls that have been authenticated can be very expensive. You may want to check catalogues of major auction houses for estimates and then ask what the items actually sold for. To that you add bidders premium and triple that total for retail value. It is possible to grind a pearl up and get a mineral fingerprint (chemical composition that indicates place of origin). Jochen Schlüter from the Hamburg Gemmological Institut may be able to do that or at least know somebody who can. He works with Elisabeth Strack who probably can also give a good value estimate. If you google their names you can find their respective phone numbers and e-mail addresses to contact them for details. They may also know a person in Holland who can help you.

Here are contact options for Jochen Schlüter:

Dr. Jochen Schlüter
Tel.: ++49-40-42838-2058
Fax.: ++49-40-42838-2422
E-mail: jochen.schlueter@uni-hamburg.de

And here is a link to the contact information plus a brief bio of Elisabeth Strack:

http://www.gemmobasel2005.org/speakers/strack.html

Zeide

Dear Zeide,

Fantastic, all the info you give. Thanks a lot, Iwill tell this costumer and let you know if it gets a sequence

Marjan