Can anyone tell me what I have.

[chicagoron]

Well after doing a house clean out I found lots of neat things . The pearls I have posted seems to be real ?? The clasp is stamped STERLING and The box says Mediterranean Pearls Mother Of PEARLS and it looks like peeling at the drill holes but nothing is flaking, i can't remove it with my finger nail?

[pattye]

Hi Chicagoron,

Welcome! What does the sticker in the box say? Is there any printing on the inside of the box lid? Is the clasp marked .925 or sterling or? In the top photo there appears to be some peeling near the drill hole bottom left in the pic. Do you have any where these came from or approx when they were purchased? The consistent size and color leads me to believe they are probably good quality imitation pearls. The "pearls" often sold for hundreds of dollars, back in the 40's, 50's and 60's, and were highly valued by their owners. Cultured Tahitian pearls did not reach the market until much later, starting in mid 70's.

[pearlescence]

I'm plumping for imitation too..too uniform, too black/peacock, and the bottom left drill hole shows the classic give-away form of the fake nacre around the hole - it is raised slightly. The drill hole itself looks a bit big for real pearls.
The box saying mother of pearls is a bit of a giveaway too.
Fakes, but nice ones

[Silvia_Bonvini]

Interesting that it says "Mediterranean Pearl", as in Mallorca (Spain) there is a very famous manufacturer of high quality imitation pearls (www.majorcapearls.com). There might be others in the same area.
It was really funny when last Christmas I gave some nice freshwater pearls to my aunt and she showed me her "pearls from the 70s" as she defined them... I had to stop myself from smiling too much and from telling her they were fake! She would have been too upset. They were "Majorca pearls", originally white, but they had become pretty yellow over the years (I can't believe my aunt still thought they were real!!). Yours seem to have kept the colour prety well, they are probably not that old!

[pearlescence]

I'm always seeing old Majorca pearls - the island was one of the first of the holiday package destinations for the UK back in the 60s early 70s. Sometimes the owner swears that they are real pearls - they got them at the factory...

[Kevin Canning]

The box says Mediterranean Pearls Mother Of PEARLS

It seems the box has them labeled as "mother of pearl" so I think Wendy and Pattye got it right - good quality imitation pearls.