[xeresana]

I'm not one to do much pearl shopping on ebay. But, I saw these earrings and the pearls looked kind of pretty. The description read:

This mornings Estate Find these Pearl earrings are gorgeous.. pretty Pink and Green irridescence on the silver Pearls.. C 40's.. the screwbacks are 14k White Gold..marked 14k work perfectly.. the Pearls measure 9.5mm.. there are tiny blems on the back they do not show.. these are old Saltwater Pearls.. just gorgeous.. thanks

I paid just a bit under $35 (with shipping maybe like $38).

What do you guys think? Should I have kept my $35 and gone to dinner instead?

Do the pearls look like "old saltwater" to you guys?

[Caitlin]

Whatever those pearls are they are very pretty and well worth the money.

I wonder if there is a way to tell saltwater pearls from freshwater?

[pattye]

Hi There,

Looks very pretty and real to me! The small flaws are a good sign!
An excellent buy, enjoy!!

Pattye
so many pearls, so little time

[xeresana]

Thanks for the responses! I'm interested to see them in person. I just "won" them on Tuesday so, with the holiday they may not ship out right away. Caitlin, I also wonder how the seller would tell freshwater from saltwater. (Or how I would once I see them.) Or how she decided those earrings were from the 40's. They seem plain enough that they could be from any time, don't you think?

[jshepherd]

The could actually be naturals. Take a really good look at that flaw when you get them. They do not appear to be freshwater, and based on the shape they are not likely cultured akoya. If they were new pearls, I would assume them to be South Sea, but if they are antique, they may be natural. You should get them tested.

[CortezPearls]

Those pearls look like our "older" lots of pearls. In our early years we produced many pearls -lighter colored- that looked very much like the ones in the photo. How big are they?

Try using a UV lamp on them...change the wavelength and see if they turn pink to red. You could have bought a pair of 1997-1999 Cortez Cultured Pearls.

Wow...would love to know where some specimens are today.

[Casey.R]

Oooh those look neat
I'm curious to find out what they might be.
Good find.

[xeresana]

Now I'm really dying for them to arrive! I can't wait to see if they truly look as nice as they do in the pictures!

P.S. Can't remember who asked but, the size listed was 9.5mm.

[xeresana]

The pearls arrived today! I was so excited to see them get here so quickly. I still have no idea what they are. I did the tooth test (which is about as good as I get with pearl IDs) and they are real. Of the pearls I own, they most resemble Sea of Cortez. The colors look very similar to a pair I have and their skins are so similar. Both these new mystery pearls and my Sea of Cortez pearls have bumpy skins. I'm not sure what to call this, though I bet it has a name, they almost have tiny little depressions over the skin making them appear very vaguely dimpled or honeycombed. Did that make sense? One pearl has nicer luster than the other. In natural lighting, I can see my reflection in both pearls. I can make faces in the pearls and see the change in my face in the reflections. (I'm so technical, huh?) But, one pearl appears duller and one shows a crisper reflection. Since both pearls have a bumpy, wavy skin there is this amazing effect, especially in one pearl, where it almost appears as though you are looking at an iridescent translucent bubble and the image appears to be more inside the pearl than reflected from the outer layer. I see a similar effect on a strand of Tahitian keishi pearls that I have. (Again, so technical! Is this what was called "water" in the previous discussions on the board?) The other "Sea of Cortez-ish" feature of the pearls is the orient. These pearls exhibit a really strong orient that matches almost exactly the orient in my Sea of Cortez earrings. They both display a really striking turquoise and purply-pink color in their orient that I do not see on any of my other pearls (those with orient). I'm attaching two photos I took of the pearls with my Sea of Cortez earrings. I'm still a disaster at shrinking these pictures. I'm not sure if you can really even see the pearls in these smaller photos. So, if anyone wants to see the full size image, PM me your address and I'll happily send off the bigger file. Ideas on where to go from here?

P.S. To Jeremy: I can't seem to get a good pic of the blemishes. I'll try more tomorrow.