BrianWanes
Member
- Joined
- Dec 13, 2019
- Messages
- 21
Hello all, frequent lurker and first time poster here! I've read lots of threads in this part of the forum, and hopefully i'll be able to get the same kind of help I see y'all are able to provide others 
So, I bought this necklace about a year ago in an antique store, and I was given to understand that they are black akoya pearls. They passed the grit test and I loved the color of the pearls, so I took it home.
Measures about 18 inches, pearls are smallish and uniformly sized, about 5-6 mm. The shapes seem to my eye to be perfectly spherical, though a few display rather large blemishes that detract from the round appearance of the individual pearl. Body color is pretty much consistently jet black, and the overtones range from deep green to deep blue. The luster on these is also quite different from my freshwater rope and my single Tahitian. It seems to have a harder, sharper, perhaps even more "liquid" quality than my other pearl pieces. I would just love to know more certainly what kind of pearls these are.
Here you can see the uniform body colors I'm talking about, as well as the narrow overtone range and some of the blemishes. The roundness of some of the outside pearls seems to be a bit distorted, though.
Here again the color is represented accurately, and the round shape more accurately.
Here we have a comparison shot to demonstrate what I mean about the quality of the luster. On top of the pile is my single Tahitian, showing that nice mix of satin and metallic luster, while on the bottom is my freshwater rope, with that obvious satin glow. Between the two are the alleged black akoya pearls. The blue-green color is much more apparent in the pic than in real life, but the difference in luster is accurately represented. Though some pearls on the strand are clearly more reflective than others, the necklace as a whole shows a harder, glossier appearance to my eye than my other types of pearls. That, plus the overall uniformity of the strand, says dyed akoya rather than dyed freshwater to me.
So, what do we think? Are these actually black akoya pearls, or did I shell out $200 to an ill-informed shop owner? Thanks so very much for reading!
So, I bought this necklace about a year ago in an antique store, and I was given to understand that they are black akoya pearls. They passed the grit test and I loved the color of the pearls, so I took it home.
Measures about 18 inches, pearls are smallish and uniformly sized, about 5-6 mm. The shapes seem to my eye to be perfectly spherical, though a few display rather large blemishes that detract from the round appearance of the individual pearl. Body color is pretty much consistently jet black, and the overtones range from deep green to deep blue. The luster on these is also quite different from my freshwater rope and my single Tahitian. It seems to have a harder, sharper, perhaps even more "liquid" quality than my other pearl pieces. I would just love to know more certainly what kind of pearls these are.
Here you can see the uniform body colors I'm talking about, as well as the narrow overtone range and some of the blemishes. The roundness of some of the outside pearls seems to be a bit distorted, though.
Here again the color is represented accurately, and the round shape more accurately.
Here we have a comparison shot to demonstrate what I mean about the quality of the luster. On top of the pile is my single Tahitian, showing that nice mix of satin and metallic luster, while on the bottom is my freshwater rope, with that obvious satin glow. Between the two are the alleged black akoya pearls. The blue-green color is much more apparent in the pic than in real life, but the difference in luster is accurately represented. Though some pearls on the strand are clearly more reflective than others, the necklace as a whole shows a harder, glossier appearance to my eye than my other types of pearls. That, plus the overall uniformity of the strand, says dyed akoya rather than dyed freshwater to me.
So, what do we think? Are these actually black akoya pearls, or did I shell out $200 to an ill-informed shop owner? Thanks so very much for reading!
