Please help me date my grandmothers pearls

Pearl Dreams said:

It's a nice graduated strand of akoya pearls, but without a Mikimoto clasp or documentation, you can't be sure of the brand, since any necklace can be put in any box-- even by sellers. But no matter, they are beautiful and lustrous, and most importantly, a very sentimental piece.

These graduated "momme" or "3.5 momme" strands, as they were called (momme being a unit of weight) were sold in Japan during the WWII / Korean War era. Pearls are sold by weight so graduating the size of the pearls kept the cost down, and many men serving in the Far East bought these necklaces for their sweethearts.

If you know which war your grandfather served in, you can narrow down how old they are.

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A Breaker said:

This is sort of a Military thing, Following the Second World War...so 1950's many military we stationed in Asia and people love to sell things to the military to take back their their sweethearts. The graduated strand allowed a more affordable price, while being special pearls for the sweetheart or mother. This was really big during the Korean War & Vietnam War as Japan had more recovered from WWII. By the mid 1970's (end of Vietnam War) Rice Pearls became popular & your Grandfather would have brought back Rice Pearls. Hope that helps with the dating.... if he was stationed in Asia....it might have been later into the 1970's, if he bought them from a shop locally.

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