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I have, but without much luck. Firstly, their fee is exorbitant. Secondly, the final bid may be a liability unless a minimum bid is applied. Lastly, whether they decide it's suitable or not as auctions tend to appear in themes. I don't normally comment on pricing because it's so subjective. No...

I wouldn't say you're confused. I'm inclined to think you're reasonably skeptical. I agree with both you and Jeremy that we'd expect a hint of "butter" and bright, glass-like lustre from gulf pearls, although some grades may appear golden or silver/gray, or even granular. Tiny (seed) pearls may...

Excellent! I would go as far to say this is likely a Green Abalone (Haliotis fulgens). It has the characteristic green overtone and finer growth fronts than other large abalone species. This furthers natural origin because green abalone are not typically used for aquaculture.

I have my doubts as to natural origin. They're too round, too uniform. Buttery, but that may be the light, but not platinum. Not gulf pearls. These strike me more as early biwa. Japan produced volumes of very fine tiny pearls for a time which accessorized akoyas quite nicely. At that price...

I'm seeing approximately 80:20 uniformity. Naturals would be no greater than 20:80 more like 10:90. Although some views are not critically focused, there is discernible data. Likewise, pearls adjacent to the target object present with useful data, namely growth fronts. I'm seeing the textbook...

Before saying anything else, let me say well done! I'll be back.

It's a pretty strand, but my skeptical nature has me at a 50/50 score at a cursory glance. That's good actually, because color, shape, size and surfaces gained the benefit of doubt. Candled views could swing my opinion either way. It would also save me time writing observations of concerns...

These appear to be scallop pearls which are deep sea sea creatures. Pearl oysters and mussels are intertidal or marginally subtidal. We see these occasionally from fisherman or shore worker collections. Do you have any other history on this lot?

Cultured Pearl Surface Quality Profiling by the Shell Matrix Protein Gene Expression in the Biomineralised Pearl Sac Tissue of Pinctada margaritifera August 2018 Marine Biotechnology 20(1):1-12 DOI:10.1007/s10126-018-9811-y Authors: Carole Blay French National Institute for Agriculture, Food...

Again, incorrect. Each successive monthly growth cycle in mid life mollusks includes a layer of conchiolin, a prismatic layer of calcite lathes and a nacreous layer, albeit microscopic. There are no exceptions, unless the creature is under extreme environmental stress or in winter reversion when...

Of course. Available food and the type of exposure can vary rates, even within the same subareas, but that's not my point. That being growth season of Mytilus c. in Canada is about half of that of Baja California, while the actual growth rate is twice as fast because of longer days and a higher...

That's not possible. Nacre is a combination of conchiolin and aragonite. All pearls have conchiolin. None have none. Period. Or are you merely suggesting visible patches of conchiolin in xray or candled views? They do, especially proximal to the heart. Thick as blue? Perhaps no, but why? That...

This explains something you've observed over a long term, which are undoubtedly astute. However, by your admission these were "thin" layers, which suggest outliers rather than across the spectrum. While some may be thin, a lot of commercial blue akoyas have thicknesses equal or greater than...

I understand what "grounding" is. It's normal in almost every pearl. This from conchiolin which is a brown chitinous proteinaceous material that is always revealed in xray or candled views. Color in protein is not consitent in the growth cycles, in fact it's near colorless during waning phase of...

Yes, akoya too. You have stated "due to a secretion on the nucleus when the grafting incision doesn't heal properly" but have not described that secretion, nor the protease and/or it's catalysts. Incomplete or non-union lesions may invariably lead to infection, but inflammation by white cells...

Blue pearls are the result of over mature-tissue (highly calcitic) selected from the donor. The youngest, donor (periostracial) tissue yields the best pearls. Brown pearls are the result of granular (scar) tissue, where the donor cells have lost their program cell memory post-graft

Yes, abalone would be my first guess too. That is helpful to the OP, for another point suggesting natural origin.

Agreed. However, if it was attached to the shell there's a increased plausibility of natural origin. The pearl presents with considerable gold/green/red overtones and incomplete growth frontage. It's undoubtedly a mature, possibly even over mature pearl, which may also support natural origin...

Vaguely, yes, including the clay filled sacs. It could be that, except the first graft pearl may have been malformed or granular etc., so they just left it and did the subsequent procedure anyway. This pearl clearly presents from a mature age group, for which there could be any number of reasons...

All of the oysters have adductoral as opposed to pallial involvement. This is quite typical in this type of blister. The abalone is intriguing because it's clearly a case of hepatopancreatitis by the obvious horn feature, but it's also broadened across a mantle perforation. I suspect it was...