Recent content by cath71

It might be a cultural thing, American English not being quite the same as UK English, but there’s quite a whiff of newbie bullying along with the skepticism here. I had rather hoped to find a nice place for discussion and sharing of my passion. You will forgive me if I now bail from the...

And these are waiting to be certified and strung.

Similarly this three strand bracelet was also an eBay find and fully certified as natural saltwater by Stephen Kennedy in London. Such things are indeed out there.

Thank you for your message. I do have quite a few natural strands sourced from eBay and later GIA certified and a few ready to go that I’m pretty confident about. I enjoy the chase! I thought you all might like to see this little collection of un drilled pearls that came from a jeweller in...

In this picture the necklace on the right is comprised of certified natural saltwater pearls. The one on the left is the one that is very likely to be, as noted, Chinese freshwater cultured pearls. Apologies for the confusion.

I also fantasise about seeing 200 year old Mexican pearls… how wonderful!

Once I have saved enough money to send them to the lab I will share the results here! Thank you for the insight into the tendency for old pearls to develop a barrel shape: that is very clear on the diamond-strung necklace here and it wasn’t knotted when I found it, so that description would fit...

I know for certain that the diamond-strung necklace is natural and I have certification. I’ve been collecting wild pearls for some years now and I’m lucky enough to have several strings and some phenomenal examples. I’d very happily share photos of them here for reference. I scour eBay for...

My apologies for not being clear. Having had a lot of pearls of varying kinds through my hands over the years one of course gets used to the characteristics of different types and production techniques. I posted the picture of the second strand because they didn’t present with the kind of...

Thank you! That was my immediate thought when I first found them, but they don’t ‘feel’ like Chinese freshwater cultures.

This set of pictures contains images of two antique necklaces. The first is set on an 18ct gold clasp with three fine diamonds and French hallmarks. The pearls on this necklace are natural saltwater pearls with a slight barrel shape and averaging about 5mm in length. They are a cream colour with...