New Member, New Inherited Pear Necklace!

Here is another picture with a Canadian quarter ($0.25) to give you an approximate size comparison...309 pearls in total...i will also leave a link below to see the picture full size!
dscn7135b.jpg



http://img269.imageshack.us/img269/4697/dscn7135b.jpg
 
Did your Grandmother smoke? Or her husband? I'm dying to know if the color will get whiter. Please, couldn't you take a teensy tiny bit of soap and a damp wash cloth to just one of the big pearls????

It looks like at least one strand has been restrung. One of the knots is awry, and there's a bit of glue needing to be cleaned up...am I right, guys? I'm learning, I want to know if I'm reading these photos right?
 
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Lisa, i never met my grand parents, they had passed away before i was born in the late 1960's. My mother and father both smoked...quite heavy...most likely my grand parents smoked also. The pearls are much much nicer in person than in the pictures...it's weird. What kind of soap should i try, and warm /hot, or cold water? I really don't want to damage the pearls in any way but if you think it's safe i can try it...the pearls appear to be super solid and in beautiful condition.
 
Ob, shoot I might get shot for this, sigh...first I'll remind you about the care and cleaning thread, ok?

Because I'm kinda bad. I use just yellow hand dish washing soap (not dishwasher, and of the hand kinds nothing but the yellow, no perfumey flowery colored ones) and I give mine a bath, with a gentle washcloth.

Then I rinse them several times in filtered water, because while pearls are pretty sturdy chlorinated water is bad for them. Then I lay them flat to dry. In between baths I just wipe them with a damp cloth after each wearing.

For you since you have an investment here, until you read the cleaning thread, maybe just a damp washcloth, warm filtered water.
 
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I bought an old strand of Akoyas once. They glowed in the dim shop. I got them outside and was so disappointed, they looked yellowed in daylight. I took them home anyway.

Well, I put them down at home - turned around to see my 2yr old daughter had put them on and was chewing and sucking on the biggest pearl. Heart attack, I was afraid of her choking, took them away - only to see her sucking had cleaned the pearl to a beautiful white!
 
I just gently wiped down the 3 strands...they seem a bit cleaner actually! I went very easy on them, i don't want to damage them. After reading many posts, i don't think all pearl necklaces like mine are supposed to be white? There are many different colors i thought...i just wish somebody said "you've got the holy grail", it would save me a lot of legwork and stress lol!
 
Oh, wouldn't it just! We should both be in bed, but I'm all awake now and real encouraged that they already appear brighter.

Yeah, there are many colors and shades of pearls, but yellowish isn't real popular. Also, I've read that Akoyas can yellow with age, and for most people that's disappointing because they remember how good the pearls looked before they yellowed.

A cool thing to do (I have fun with this) is clean the big one by itself really well, and then see how much better it looks than the rest! That's also a big motivator to keep cleaning, and I need one. By the time I've massaged clean about half the pearls, one by one, I'm bored and just want to quit.
 
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After i find out what necklace this is, i will then probably have it professionally cleaned to make it look it's best possible. They look a lot more yellowed in the pictures...it's weird...in person they are beautiful. I just tried them on and they look great, and the wear and hang well because of the weight of them. The diamond clasp is 1" width, X .05"!
 
Thanks for the conversation tonight and BeIng willing to swipe over the pearls with a cloth. I don't know how I could've waited til morning!
 
InheritedPearl said:
...in person they are beautiful. I just tried them on and they look great, and the wear and hang well because of the weight of them. The diamond clasp is 1" width, X .05"!
Click to expand...

For heaven's sakes, please post a neck shot! :)

It may be that the color of the pearls complements your complexion. Not too surprising since they were owned by an ancestor of yours, who may have chosen them for how the color looked against her skin.

Do rethink selling them! Once they're gone, you can't get them back!
 
Good morning everyone. I'm a bit shy to post a picture wearing the necklace lol. My mother had a very very pale complexion, with auburn hair and most likely my grandmother was the same. I am going to try and go through some old photo albums, i do recall my parents having a couple of pictures of their parents (my grandparents) , so with any luck i can find a picture with my grandmother wearing the necklace, or even my mother wearing it! Again the pictures make them look a lot darker than they are for some reason, in person they look fantastic!

In regards to selling them, i probably won't, unless there is a collector, who would desperately want this necklace for there collection. I have no idea what they are worth, or what they could be worth...but let's just say they are only worth $2000...it is a lot easier for me to make/earn $2000 than it would be to try and replace this beautiful necklace that has been in the family for years. I can't seem to find any 3 strand pearl necklaces with the same clasp anywhere on the internet so i'm thinking it's not a common piece, and with the 309 pearls it's just WoW!
 
Lots of folks are careful about posting photos of themselves online; that is why we don't post our faces, just our necks.

And most of us don't have young looking necks any more! I certainly don't. Just yesterday my daughter was commenting on my skin tags and asking what they were. "Signs of aging," I replied!

On this subject (off topic!) I read this hilarious book by Nora Ephron last year, called I Feel Bad About My Neck: And Other Thoughts on Being a Woman. Well, I laughed, but I refuse to feel bad about my neck! :D

But you know, there's nothing like a fantastic pearl strand to divert attention from one's neck wrinkles.
 
I know what you mean Pearl Dreams! I just heard back from the appraiser...he now is insisting on me leaving my pearl necklace with him to be evaluated, and he said if i want to have the x-ray's done etc...that he needs to send it to the US through the mail service. I am not comfortable at all with this.

On a brighter note, since i wiped the necklace down last night, it appears now to be much cleaner, and a lot more "lively" looking! I don't know how it could look so different in pictures :(
 
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I think I'm missing something. I thought the reason you wanted someone to look at the pearls was to give you an educated guess about whether they're natural or akoya. Maybe it's just me, but I wouldn't be sending pearls off to be evaluated at a gem lab unless I had a good reason to think they were natural. Most appraisers won't charge to tell you if a piece is worth appraising. Maybe you could take the pearls in and ask for an educated guess before deciding whether to send them to a lab.

Can you tell us why you're uncomfortable leaving the pearls with the appraiser?
 
Ah, you tried your strand on and felt the magic, lol! I love it! What a beautiful necklace, and an absolute treasure coming from your Grandmother!

I agree with you, sounds rather involved that the appraiser has to send to US for x-rays. You can deal directly with GIA if it needs to be mailed anywhere. They could advise the best way to mail and how to insure. Take your time.

I definitely am no expert in Akoya pearls or vintage jewelry. I would try to see if the smaller pearls are completely translucent with a bright flashlight behind them, or possibly you might see a a faint circle indicating a nucleus. My hunch is the pearls are too round to be naturals, but are very high quality Akoya with thick nacre and beautiful overtones.

Although "pierrettedE" doesn't post here often, she probably can be contacted through her links on her profile page. She is a GIA grad, too.
 
Thanks for the comments and advice. I still would like to know, if i have my dentist x-ray some of the pearls, would this "maybe" help determine/confirm what they are (cultured/natural)? . I plan on going to Birks either Thursday, or Friday, to see what advice they may offer. It's killing me now the "not knowing"! pattye, I will try the light thing, and try to snap a pic at the same time if i can!
 
Definitely let your dentist x-ray them, won't hurt anything. IP, we're all on "pins 'n needles", too! I've done the light thing on some large white/cream keshi, but not tried taking a photo at the same time. In one of the three I could see a dark irregular center!
 
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