Biwa pearls from 1930-1940s

[olmander]

Does anybody know how the real Japanese Biwa pearls of the 1930-40 look like? I bought an antique ring with an AMAZING pearl described as a biwa pearl. It is a 15 mm large beauty with a perfect form, very subtle delicate luster and orient, I never saw anything as beautiful as that!!!
According to the shop owner, the ring was produced in the 1930-1940-s and was made on a special order (which I believe looking at its design).

The problem is that it does not look like any sort of pearl I know, if something - rather a South Sea pearl but with a more superb orient. It definitely does not look like a freshwater pearl as I know them, and besides I never heard about freshwater pearls being so big.

Can anybody explain me what was happening on the pearl market in the 1930-140s and can it be a real Japanese pearl from the Biwa lake?

Olga

 

[jshepherd]

Hi Olga,

The Biwa pearl industry was started by an ex-colleague of Mikimoto, a Dr. Masao Fujita. He operated on the first Biwa shells in 1924 and harvested the first Biwa pearls in 1925. He only harvested a few pearls and they were all baroque and colored. The method they used was very similar to the method used in pearl production in Lake Kasumigaura. A drilled mother-of-pearl bead was inserted into the mollusk along with a piece of mantle tissue.

In the mid to late 1930s several thousand pearls were harvested and were almost all sold at Mikimoto’s Tokyo pearl store.

The early Biwa pearls were almost universally elongated and baroque. They were also very small – an average of 5 mm. They were very similar looking to the natural pearls of the Middle East and were sold as such until the 1950s when natural dealers finally caught on.

The pearl that you have set in a ring is not a Biwa pearl and is not, unfortunately, even an antique cultured pearl. It appears to be a South Sea pearl from the photo. Based on the size and quality it would be a new pearl – not an antique.

 

[Valeria101]

The original Biwa were tissue-nucleated... and this one looks very round. Never heard of anything but baroque Biwa... but ya' never know.

There sure are South Sea pearls with beautiful glow - quite different from the 'average'. Many are surprised by the HUGE gap between the chalky look of usual SS necklaces and the finer pearls with visible overtone and orient to them. This might be the (lucky) case with yours... Imagine there are matched strands of such items somewhere !

The setting looks lovely, but would rather guess it is recent, not some 1920s piece (a very rough guess).

All in all: if this is a new very fine SS in a new fine setting rather then an (increasingly obscure) Biwa pearl in a vintage ring...it wouldn't necessarily be bad news, methinks.

Well, just a thought. If the seller miss-represented the ring willingly or not, that's never pleasant regardless


Freshwater pearls can get that large, but such a piece would be uncommon. And if there are some with such perfect skin in this size, the news has so far passed me by altogether (which isn't much saying).

That's about as much as I'd know for myself.

 

[olmander]

Thanks! That's what in fact I suspected, although without disappointment, I should admit, because if it is a SS, it is really a unique one with such a glow and such a setting. I would not blame the dealer, the setting indeed looks to me a sort of art-deco one, even if it is an immitation, so the old man could be easily mislead.

But about the initial biwa pearls I have a contradictory information. There is a picture in a Fred Ward's book, where the first yield of Japanese biwa's is shown all round and described as something that made the world turn and was very much alike the natural saltwater pearls. This is waht made me confused.

 

[jshepherd]

The original Biwa were tissue-nucleated... and this one looks very round. Never heard of anything but baroque Biwa... but ya' never know.

Actually the original Biwa were bead nucleated in a similar way the akoya were bead nucleated. It was Seiichiro Uda who finally perfected the tissue-only method years after Fujita began culturing Biwas.

 

[jshepherd]

But about the initial biwa pearls I have a contradictory information. There is a picture in a Fred Ward's book, where the first yield of Japanese biwa's is shown all round and described as something that made the world turn and was very much alike the natural saltwater pearls. This is waht made me confused.

I just checked Ward's book and do not see the picture. I see the picture on page 41, but these are late Biwa and not round.
The original Biwa were very much like natural pearls and thought to be such. One reason was the shape - they were not round. I have never heard of one reaching as large as that set in the ring either.

 

[olmander]

Jeremy, this is on p.41 (lower left), they are round (at least many of them) but indeed don't look big. It was this picture that made me confused: these pearls were not like mine, although in the description (p.40, second paragraph) there are same reverances about the extraordinary beauty of the first yields of real Biwa's.

But anyway, I am quite happy with my big beauty whatever it is, it is just a pleasure for the eye to see it. Thank you very much for aswering, I find this site and the forum very interesting and useful altogether.

Olga

 

[jshepherd]

Yes, there is definitely nothing wrong with the pearl in that ring. It is not a Biwa, but it is a beauty.

The picture in the lower left corner is actually a strand of Biwa, but they would not be considered round. There are a few pearls that are near round in the strand but for the most part they are very oval. The pearls are indeed small, probably not larger than 6 mm. It would have been considered a good quality strand of pearls when Biwa was king, but compared to current Chinese freshwater it would now wholesale for only a few dollars.

When the Japanese started tissue nucleating freshwater pearls they did appeal to the natural pearl crowd because they had no nucleus, and that same crowd was currently battling Mikimoto's cultured pearls with the nucleus. The tissue-nuked pearls looked like naturals - not round, all nacre, depth of luster, etc.

Can you imagine what would have happened to the natural pearl market if the Chinese had the sort of production then that they have now?

 

[Valeria101]

.... bivalves buzzed on caffeine. (You meant the bivalves, right?)

That one coffee-spilling little statement! No, I meant me (= wake up to reality).

 

[olmander]

Hi everybody,

Sorry, I am again back to my beautiful pearl. I do agree that the pearl itself is a good SS one (although I don't know from what times)but the setting still make me slightly unsure about the dating. I looked at the imprint inside, and the 18 carat stamp stands not as 750 how they put it now, but 0,750. And the figures themselves (the form) are also a bit unusual. Does it say anything? Was it common at certain times to put the probe like that or do they put it both ways now?

It can be of course that the modern pearl is used with an older setting but I can hardly imagine it, because it is a hlf-round which perfectly fites the size of this very pearl

 

[Valeria101]

...the 18 carat stamp stands not as 750 how they put it now, but 0,750.

It could be overseas manufacturing - Thai, perhaps. And replacing pearls in vintage settings is not as difficult as it may sound as cultured pearls are virtually 'calibrated goods.

Are there any signs of wear on the setting?

 

[Caitlin]

I moved the posts on natural pearl production to their own thread with title I hope people will notice as there is more that could be said on this fascinating topic. LINK

 

[GemGeek]

It's very likely that the ring is as new as the pearl. What a beautiful ring, though. If you're really sad that the story is bogus, I'm sure someone here would gladly take it "off your hands"!

 

[olmander]

Oh no no no, I am absolutely in love with the ring whatever it is, carrying it in a box after myself from location to location and closing the box for the night for a sleep (like with dolls in childhood). Just curious to trace the pedigree

Yes, there are signs of wear on the inner side plus small details which make me again think into the direction of the past: the ring itself (the thin golden strip is unusually thin and at the same time double (a very thin strip on a jst thin strip); modern version of vitage is normally not such a fine work. And the whole disign of figures 750 is somthow very old fashioned and indeed with substantial signs of wear. There is a lot of other small details which are not visible on the photo, it is just too fine to me modern.

 

[pattye]

Hi Olmander,

It is a lovely ring and beautifully set, and no less beautiful for having an air of mystery about it! Your observations of wear are certainly valid. We cannot observe that from the photo. Enjoy!

Pattye
so many pearls, so little time

 

[GemGeek]

I am very interested in the provenance of the ring. (I'm learning to appraise and need to become something of a jewelry historian)

Can you take some close-up photos of the inside and a side view? Pearls of that size were extremely rare in the 30s and 40s. Tahitians and South Sea pearls came later. Also, are there any hallmarks or stamps of origin, or just the 0,750 mark? It would be cool if we could find out more about it.

I am curious!

Thanks,
Blaire

 

[olmander]

Blaire, I am glad comebody shares my curiosity. I will try to make photos if I cope with resolution etc. Will be back on line in a week, now taking off to a conference in spite of wild storms in Amsterdam

I am sure there is some history behind it!

Best regards

Olga

 

[GemGeek]

Let us know when you're back. I know people who know a lot more than I do and I can enlist their help. Meanwhile, I hope you stay warm and have a terrific conference.

 

[olmander]

Blaire, I am back and made another picture of my mysterious ring. Maybe it gives you some idea about its age (or the age of the setting at least).

I failed to make a photo of the stamp with probe but it shows 0,750 in some sort of old-fashioned figures.

Does it all tell you anything?

Best

Olga

 

[knotty panda]

Glad you survived the wild storms. You have an exceptional pearl.