Post War Mikimoto

We took the Pearl's to The Northern Goldsmiths this evening and they are being sent away to be valued. The manager there identified the Pearl's as genuine and took a photograph with his tablet.
The image revealed that one pearl looked different to the rest, raising the question, have the pearls snapped and been re strung? He also questioned the Star if David pattern on the clasp and the Pearl's around the Amethyst also look different to the rest of the string. I will post the result when we get them back in a month or so.

Such a fun mystery! Excited for an answer!

TheTanfieldKid said:

We took the Pearl's to The Northern Goldsmiths this evening and they are being sent away to be valued. The manager there identified the Pearl's as genuine and took a photograph with his tablet.
The image revealed that one pearl looked different to the rest, raising the question, have the pearls snapped and been re strung? He also questioned the Star if David pattern on the clasp and the Pearl's around the Amethyst also look different to the rest of the string. I will post the result when we get them back in a month or so.

Click to expand...

The pattern is not a "Star of David" or "Magen David"...it is a "regular star".
It is an interesting story and I would love to hear more

OK so here we have it. Our Pearls came back today with a valuation, which may be of some interest.

Great news on the Mikimoto front!!! What a neat wrap up! On replacement value, having moved a ton and dealing with insurance.. You should be aware replacement value will change as markets change... But having this will really help! (If the market for pearls goes way up re-look at replacement...even using eBay as a gauge... You will want to alert your insurance of the change. ). We had our insurance guess at some replacement values and were way too low.... luckily I was able to get those changed & we never had any of those "lost" during moves!

Wow this has been a very interesting thread to read! I really enjoyed it. I love the amethyst clasp! Definitely agree with wearing the necklace. Way too beautiful. It deserves to be worn for all to see and appreciate.

Hello TheTanfireldKid - I love that clasp! It may be amethyst or tourmaline or spinel or topaz, you can have a reputable certified gemologist test it if you really want to know.
The gold is 9K, you can tell that by looking at the markings on the back.
from left to right you see the number 9, then the number 375 which refers to 375 parts per 1000 which is 9K gold.
The next thing you see is a sideways anchor. This refers to the town for the assay office, the anchor is for Birmingham, England.
This is from England, definitely NOT a Mikimoto product, or even a product of Japan. After the sideways anchor should be a letter denoting the date of manufacture, but I can't make that out.
Above this line are the letters MP in a rounded pentagon, or shape similar to that, I am not sure what that shape is called.
I can't find what British jewelry company that is.
Is it possible that your father in law bought either the 2 strands of pearls at Mikimoto and then your mother-in-law purchased the clasp elsewhere and had it strung onto the strands of pearls to finish it all into the lovely necklace that it is, or the completed necklace was purchased at Mikimoto with an inexpensive (i.e. sterling silver clasp) and that clasp was then removed and replaced with the amethyst one later on?