Just became a certified pearl specialist (Yesterday!) and I see this video today...

[Nethol]

Is this possible? I don't remember reading anything about anything like this being remotely possible... That many pearls in a shell? Come on... this HAS to be fake right?

https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=633567967090115

 

[Pearl Dreams]

Not fake. Freshwater mussels are large and can produce many pearls at the same time. The donor mantle tissue grafts are placed in the mantle on both sides of the shell.

This is why there are so many low priced baroque freshwater pearls on the market. However, the more grafts per shell, the lower the quality of the pearls. They are good for craft purposes, however.

 

[pattye]

Nethol,
Congratulations on finishing the Pearls as One course and welcome to the forum! Still lots to learn about pearls, that's what makes it so endlessly interesting!

 

[86Corvettegirl]

Congratulations!!!

 

[BWeaves]

OK, I'm a little suspicious about this video. Firstly, the lady with the long fingernails is using a huge cleaver to open a mussel on a slippery bed of ice, and she has no safety gear like special gloves. I was expecting her to lose a finger any second. Secondly, I've seen multiple pearls in mussels and they are always different shapes and sizes and colors and qualities. All these pearls she's popping out are the exact same large size and color. Could be fake, could be real, but I'm a bit suspicious, too.

 

[Pearl Dreams]

The pearls appear to be embedded in the mantle, though.

I'd love to know what the people were saying.

 

[BWeaves]

The pearls appear to be embedded in the mantle, though.

I know, I'm conflicted. Would someone with that kind of manicure normally open large mussels? She doesn't appear to be experienced in opening them, and that's what's bothering me.

 

[Pearl Dreams]

I assume they are not purporting to be anything other than FWP, coming as they are from a FW mussel, so I can't imagine what the point would be in faking it?

 

[la_corsetiere]

She doesn't look very experienced/competent in opening the mussel. My guess would be that they chose someone with nice hands and nails because they were going to film it. Other than that artifice, it looks real to me...glad she didn't lose a finger in the process!!!

 

[BWeaves]

Given the number of similarly sized pearls, I wonder if this mussel was bead nucleated, and that's why most of the pearls are the same size (roughly). I've seen mussels opened where there was a huge difference in sizes, shapes and colors of all the pearls in a single fresh water mollusk.

 

[Pearl Dreams]

Bead nucleated FWP are nucleated in the gonad, though.

Maybe you can see the video better than I can, BWeaves. When I view it, it isn't clear enough to tell that the pearls are all round, or the same size.

 

[BWeaves]

Nah, the quality is very fuzzy, but they look roughly the same size and color, compared to being all over the spectrum.

 

[Katbran]

Oh that made me nervous!

 

[Hymnjewellery]

Hi, I'm new here, I've been having fun scrolling through the website for a week now and found this thread and feel like I know something about this vdo. So, according to my knowledge this is a real Freshwater pearl for sure. I believed it's a new trend in China where seller lets buyers pick out a mussel (different sizes of mussels and unopen) through a live online shop and lets the buyer discover what's inside the mussel together with the seller. Afterward, the seller will ask if the buyer wants to make jewelry from the discovered pearls.

 

[Lavendershampoo]

Congrats!! Did you do this to obtain a career in the pearl industry? If so, what are/were your next steps?