Please help identify these gray dumplings.

I inherited these from an aunt and I have no idea what they are. They are heavy and feel cold. They feel gritty rubbed together so I figure they’re real pearls. They have some odd mottling and are maybe 11 mm. Baroque freshwater? They don’t have a very sharp luster, more satiny, I guess.

I would say freshwater, yes...

Or maybe faux pearls?

They are not faux, they have real pearl features, and shape consistent with freshwater pearls from China.

Thanks, MrGray! Since they’re real, I think I’ll have them rethreaded with some crazy color so they’re more fun to wear.

Be creative

MintyFresh said:

Thanks, MrGray! Since they’re real, I think I’ll have them rethreaded with some crazy color so they’re more fun to wear.

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Fuchsia. Lime. Kojima Pearl has some lively ideas on their website.

Yes, I agree with MrGray, freshwater pearls. They appear to be color treated also. Perfect to have fun with thread color!

The Kojima gray pearls on lime thread are awesome but I think I have definitely burned through this month's allowance already, lol. I'm thinking a violet-purple for the gray dumplings, like that Beader's Secret electric purple. I'm taking a blue akoya necklace that I have had for years -- which I love because of the weird shapes they always come in -- to be restrung on slightly darker blue silk and will have these done at the same time.

I really love the weirder pearls. Nature produces these odd little treasures despite human interference (hullo, mollusks, you little artists!). And the ephemerality and organic nature of pearls. Speaking of ephemeral, there's a strand of tiny, dirty looking pearls - the website says they are about 100 years old - on River Song Jewelry that I'm eyeballing for a future purchase. The fact they are threaded on brown makes them even more decrepit-looking. But I love them because of all that . . . the idea of reworking something most would toss in the trash bin into something lovely. I even emailed River Song - through her company site - to see if she could tell me more about the pearls she uses, but no response so far. It is a toss up between the River Song necklace and the Kojima Larmes de Lumiere earrings for August - of course, the risk is both are one-of-a-kind and could be snapped up. Too bad the mortgage must be paid, lol.