[Caitlin]

Here is a strand Wes and Trish Rankin had. 10k keystone and it took them years to put together.

Natural pearls will have a fine clasp. The clasp on your necklace would not belong on a strand of naturals.

Natural pearls would just about have to be a hundred years old at least and the people who could afford them were very rich people. No average house wife would ever have a strand of naturals unless her family had a pearling dhow plying the waters of the Persian gulf. (As mine did)

The matched pearls like mine and the ones that make the auction houses are worth far more than Sarah's and Wes' naturals because they are old and well matched.

[Bodecia]

Ohh well. Not that strand then but maybe another. I am an eternal optimist. Gave the pearls a wash with Hagerty's. That first double strand was broken. I did get another strand from the same woman. They are still in a strand but I will break them later and inspect them properly, when I can see properly.

I can see why your friend thought her's were naturals too. They have the right kind of look to me. That photo came thru okay. Your washed ones didn't unfortunately. I will try to download it later. I get broadband (don't know if you call it that in the US) as in not dial-up and that will help with down and uploads.

Have other strands to put in Show Me Your Beads so will do that as soon as I can. Too tied at the moment. Think I have now been up 26 or so hours and I can't think straight.

Night, night and thanks for all the info even if it was bad I always live in hope.

[Caitlin]

I just have to end this lesson in naturals by putting up a picture of my bracelet. I used the paper towel trick and an Ott lite, but still not good.

[Valeria101]

Originally Posted by Caitlin Williams

Here is a strand Wes and Trish Rankin had. 10k keystone and it took them years to put together.

[...]

The matched pearls like mine and the ones that make the auction houses are worth far more than Sarah's and Wes' naturals because they are old and well matched.

Sometimes new naturals are more expensive then the old (speaking of comparable pearls)... 'Guess there's good reason for that, as the effort to gather the scarce natural pearls now is not assisted by the slave labour of old, fortunately. 'Bet there are other reasons too. Found that surprising, frankly.

At 10k, the choker of baroque black would get into competition with something like THIS from among the vintage. Those got me crazy...

The days of 1-2k for small graduated strands seem well gone, and that was just a couple of years ago. Now...

[GemGeek]

Originally Posted by Caitlin Williams

I just have to end this lesson in naturals by putting up a picture of my bracelet. I used the paper towel trick and an Ott lite, but still not good.

Caitlin is lucky to have such a lovely rarity. I can vouch for its subtle, but lustrous beauty, having seen it last Saturday.

[Casey.R]

Bodecia I can see why you thought they might be naturals, something about the shape, and of course the clasp is old.
Caitlin, your a very lucky woman. Those are beautiful and of course so unusual. I like your friends mixed strand too. Where are those from?
Valeria, thanks for posting a link to that cool site.

[GemGeek]

Caitlin showed a terrific example of where at the drill hole, the nacre had peeled, but there was still a pearly layer underneath. Natural pearls with exhibit lustre even where they show wear, although it's possible to get a little variation in lustre.

If you have dead-looking pearls in the strand, they have lost their coating of nacre. If you are going to crack a pearl in half to see if it has a coating, you need to crack a good one. Even then, the layer may be very thin and just flake off.

If I had a kid, this would make a good science fair experiment.

[Caitlin]

I can see why you thought they might be naturals, something about the shape,

If you are not used to old baroque akoyas, one might think their shapes are natural . A giveway on baroque akoyas is how the nacre piles up . The way it piles up is fairly typical of baroque akoyas. or as Val101 says :

Here the pearls are not perfectly round, but the variation of the shapes is more in line with defects of cultured nucleated pearls.

Next time you see those shapes, you will recognize them as baroque akoyas

[Caitlin]

Sometimes new naturals are more expensive then the old

I think you are right. If you want round natural strands, you must go old, and the prices are climbing. I have never seen a baroque necklace in the sizes we are talking about and I couldn't find one, so,,,
Here is a picture of the typical shapes of old, round, naturals. They are more like barrels.