The jeweler switched pearls and removed pearls from my miki strand

[PearlPoor]

I am a newbie here. Always loved pearls (even wear them with jeans) - and don't really wear any other necklaces (except one red necklace - don't know what it is).

My whole life I have worn and adored pearls (all given to me by my Mom before she died) and I KNEW ABSOLUTELY NOTHING about pearls, except what my mother said about them back in 1957 (when I was being potty trained - ha ha).

She spoke about cultured pearls with some kind of secretiveness and embarrassment; my young child impression was that cultured pearls were not real pearls; that since "the war"(WWII - where my Dad served), real pearls don't come about anymore because people have not respected nature .

Sorry . . I don't mean to write my life history here.

The point is that when I got my 22 INCH pearl necklace back after restringing (with BIG KNOTS), it didn't look or feel the same - -

Slide show of a few photos on webshots:

Keep in mind, I am not a photographer, and I discovered that pearls are extremely difficult for an amateur to photograph.

slide show view: http://good-times.webshots.com/slideshow/563998453YaCEie

BIGGEST DARK TURQUOISE-COLORED PEARLS GONE . . .
and my necklace had shrunk (shrunken ??? ) to only sightly more than 19 INCHES.

What would cause a life-long jeweller and/or his son, a budding GIA certified jeweler, swipe my pearls?

I suspect they must be extremely valuable to make the older jeweler toss his ethics. i have spent the past 2 months READING EVERYTHING ABOUT PEARLS. There is so much information about pearls. I learned that the logo on my clasp stands for Mikimoto -- read a lot about him.

I wondered why the jeweler didn't tell me my pearls were Mikimoto, and why he asked me if I wanted him to change the clasp. YIPES

This Pearl-Guide forum has the best, most straightforward information I have found anywhere. I LOVE HOW YOU PEOPLE SOLVE MYSTERIES ! Sort of like . . . CSI Pearl. So, can you solve this mystery for me?

Pearl Poor

 

[pattye]

Hi Pearlpoor,

That is a horrible story. So very sorry to hear. Do you know how many pearls were on the original necklace? What did the jeweler say? Yes, I agree those are very large knots, too. Do you have any photos of the necklace before restringing? Were there any previous appraisals with photos?

We love family stories of how you came into your pearls, glad you found P-G.

Pattye
so many pearls, so little time

 

[Mikeyy]

I like that. Pearl CSI. Or maybe just PSI.

 

[jerin]

Hello PearlPoor,

I think the best way to prove that You had all the pearls including the large center pearl would be an earlier photo. Otherwise it might be very hard to get justice! Very sorry to hear about the theft, probably the jeweller realised that the pearls were old and had much thicker nacre
than Akoyas have nowadays... If you have a photo go to him and ask him and see what he has got to say in his defence. Make sure you don?t give away original photos to him... Good luck and let us know..

 

[Sueki]

Hi Pearlpoor,
I agree that's an awful thing to happen.
Did you ask the jeweller why he removed the missing pearls and what he had done with them ?

 

[pattye]

Another thought, not every jewelry store restrings in house, it is possible the pearls were sent out for restringing, at Nordstrom we did that, but would count the pearls with the customer at intake.

Pattye
so many pearls, so little time

 

[Pearl Dreams]

Ugh, what a terrible story! The fact that the jeweler asked about changing the clasp makes me think he is responsible rather than a stringing service.

How long ago did this happen? Maybe he still has the pearls in his possession. I would go ask-- and bring any older photos with you. If he realizes that you know, maybe he will "find" the pearls rather than risk legal consequences or loss of reputation.

 

[Ashley]

Is it possible that he found cracked or peeling pearls while doing the restringing, and just decided to leave them out when putting the strand back together? I would hate to think that a family jeweler would indeed toss ethics out the window here and steal pearls- the jewelry community is pretty tightly knit, and word gets around about issues like that- I just don't see how stealing would be worth it once the theft is discovered...

If there was an original appraisal that came with the pearls, it would be a good idea to dig it up and see if there was an official pearl count noted; I definitely agree with everyone here on the forum about using photographs to prove your case, and get a few answers from him. Good Luck- please do keep us posted!

 

[pearlescence]

A restrung necklace will be shorter, because the slack of stretched silk is gone - an old necklace can lose an inch or even more
Useful tip on counting the pearls Pattye, I'll do that in future. thanks

 

[PearlPoor]

Thanks, Caitlin, for making this a separate thread.

Do any of you know what my pearls are? I always called them "black pearls" and had no idea what that meant in pearl terms . . . but, now I have read more than 300 hours of pearl information. So, because of the sizes, it seems like they wouldn't be Tahitian pearls.

I searched everywhere on line to find a similar necklace --
also, I was never able to find natural color Akoyas that look like my pearls.

I read that Mikimoto had pearl experimental operations in Paua and maybe Australia ???


Jerin, you commented that the jeweler probably recognized the pearls are old with a thick nacre. Can you tell from my photos (I have lots more photos) how old these pearls are and what type? How do you know if the nacre is thick?

When I took them to the jeweler, I guess I revealed my ignorance because when I asked if he could restring them, I asked him if they were real or fake cultured pearls. (So, so stupid/uninformed I was.) He looked at me strangely, and then I said: It doesn't matter - - the value of these pearls to me is that my mother gave them to me.

When he was measuring the pearls and looking at them with an eye piece thing, he showed me that one of the bigger pearls (3rd or 4th from center) was missing and that these colors cannot be replaced anymore.

Why, oh why, didn't I ask why?

Instead, I just said maybe I could find it. He showed me how he would move a pearl from the other side to make it less noticeable. You see, when I brought it in to the jeweler, it was so obvious, even to a child's eye, that the pearls were perfectly graduated.

Anyway, that's when he asked if I wanted him to change the clasp. I think I must of looked at him kind of funny when I said no - - because the clasp has such a beautiful pearl on it. Why in the heck would I want to do that ????

Now, 300 hours later, I'm wondering why he didn't mention to me that they were Mikimoto, and why he did not write that on my claim ticket - also the number of pearls. Isn't that something any GIA certified jeweler would do when receiving a valuable pearl necklace for restringing?

Would you like to see more photos and scans? These pearls change colors and appearance on me all the time - - so, I am trying an experiment: have a glass of milk next to them when I photograph. That way I can have an idea if the picture truly represents their color in a particular lighting or location. YES?

PearlPoor

 

[Ashley]

PearlPoor- Try to photograph them in various kinds of light (indoor/outdoor) on a plain white background. Also, it would be best to use a penny or a dime next to the smallest and largest pearls in the strand in order to get a better sense of scale.

 

[Ashley]

A restrung necklace will be shorter, because the slack of stretched silk is gone - an old necklace can lose an inch or even more

Pearlescence- that makes such perfect common sense, I would have missed it on an IQ test! Geez... why didn't I think of that??

 

[Heidi]

Photos would be great. Many of the people on this forum use a white paper towel under the pearls to help demonstrate the color. It would be really interesting to see what you have in some different lighting conditions. They sound as though they may be silver, but I will leave that to photos and the more-expert-than-I around here. If you have a camera with a macro setting, the details may tell a good story.

 

[Cathybear]

I would have thought if any pearls were damaged he should have returned them to you loose
Cathy

 

[Kaywal]

Now, 300 hours later, I'm wondering why he didn't mention to me that they were Mikimoto, and why he did not write that on my claim ticket - also the number of pearls. Isn't that something any GIA certified jeweler would do when receiving a valuable pearl necklace for restringing?

PearlPoor

I'm so sorry PearlPoor! I hope this gets resolved for you.

I just wanted to note that jewelers are not GIA certified, but they may have a GIA graduate gemologist on staff who should know to do a pearl count!

The reason a gemologist or employee may not write on the ticket that your pearls are Mikimoto is because they were not appraising your pearls, just restringing them. For example, if I brought in a 18k yellow gold ruby ring, a staff gemologist would write "yellow metal ring, stamped 18k with red stone" on the ticket--sounds weird, I know, but that's generally how customer tickets or "take-in" forms are written. Many jewelers operate under the guideline that it's best not to assume anything. If they were doing an appraisal to assess value, then they would notate the brand.

The number of pearls? No excuse! They should have counted them in front of you and made clear notations of color and condition on the form.

Sorry about your experience! The strand is so unique!

 

[jerin]

Hi PearlPoor,

I couldn?t make out the colour correctly so when you mentioned the clasp from Mikimoto I just assumed that they would have to be Akoyas. And the thicker nacre depended on the fact that in the early years the mollusks were allowed to "keep" the pearl inside for a longer time than now and so naturally the nacre would be thicker.

As I saw the colour, the pearls looked silvergrey on my screen, which could of course be either natural coloured Akoyas, dyed Akoyas or even a quite different pearl altogether (like Tahitians or any other kind). The best thing you can do is like our other members suggested, taking photos, let us see the area around the drillhole if possible, if you have any loose pearls left from the restringing so it is easier for an expert to determe just what type of pearl we are seeing here. Have you spoken to the jeweller yet? Tell him of the Pearl-Guide community, perhaps he will "find" any of the missing pearls, because even if the strand can be 1 inch shorter after restringing, it should not be 3 inches difference (22 to 19").

 

[pearlescence]

The necklace has shrunk from a shy 22inches to over 19..it has lost one and half, maybe two...a very stretched necklace could do that. It would also feel different to wear with that hawser like thick silk which has been used, prob v stiff
Why would any jeweller nick a couple of pearls..hardly seems worth it
Turquoise coloured Mikis?

 

[Valeria101]

Very odd. Looks like you need to question the jeweler.

Chances are they simply removed pearls that appeared damaged. Or some accident happened (pearls destroyed, new employee loose...). I cannot imagine why a jeweler would want to pilfer a strand of vintage Mikimoto. Cultured Akoya pearls are way more common today then they were when your strand was made.

A new clasp may be used to build a bootleg Mikimoto strand, but that doesn't sound likely for an established shop at all. Let alone a jeweller who already had you as a customer for a long time.

Methinks: ask them directly, by all means.

If the answer is not satisfactory, then there's a problem... Come back, write about it and send them the link It helps sometimes.


The color of the pearls is intriguing. But there have been (and still are) Mikimoto strands in intense natural colors. Among the top range too. I'd get that old clasp back...

 

[Ashley]

I agree with you 100% Valeria- it really just doesn't seem worth it for the jeweler to get tangled up with missing pearls and put his reputation and business at stake. Good luck PearlPoor!

 

[Pearl Dreams]

As I read your posts, you kept the original clasp rather than changing it--is that right?

When you talk to the jeweler, don't be the one to offer the idea about the necklace having gotten shorter because the old silk had stretched. Let him be the one to say that is what happened.

If he does say that, you may choose to accept that explanation, since others with experience here seem to think that it is a reasonable explanation.