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How cool! What a variety of shapes, colours and lustres...what kind of molluscs are they? Mussels you say?

Also, Dave, too look forward to pics of your expedition :-)

Thank you Dave for your insights. As soon as you interpret the images, I can see what you mean. The goldy ones were what I thought were the stray cultureds...not to be disdainful of them, but although they look the most beautifully gleaming and pretty in the box, somehow I'm always drawn to...

...candled pics of those last goldy ones..

This is such an exciting thread, with a wealth of information. Dawn, I second your comment...I've benefitted greatly from Daves explanations, which are so clearly expressed. I can't thank you enough!...all of you! I feel I'm actually beginning to be able to 'read' pearls a little :-) However...

What a lovely piece! I think it was quite fashionable to wear seed pearls choker length as I've seen a few Georgian pearl necklaces quite short by our standards. Cute pearls and great price :-)

They do look really similar...and yours are Bahrain, Caitlin? Thanks for showing them :-) I'm going to candle them...need to investigate improving the set-up. Having the opportunity to look these pearls has been an educational delight...I really feel that I'm getting to grips with what to look...

Also...more pics. I love these ones..high hopes that they're natural too. I've cleaned these, with an interdental brush to get at the holes ;-) They are around 6mm. ..

Well, they cleaned up to look quite pretty...I added the larger ones to some small which looked similar (although looking at these pics, there is one rogue with smoother nacre and a blue tint).

Caitlin...thank you for all that info...really helpful, and i loved your analogy of the molluscs living like chickens in huge sheds do today. It makes sense that if they were ill in any way it would spread throughout the colony so easily. I'm like a dog with a bone with this one, now I've...

Pearlessence...think I was just getting carried way with the idea that he could be Scottish! Let me know next time you're in Brighton though!

MSC...I read yesterday (somewhere) that there were pearls in German rivers. But, also that jewellers in the town of Pzorzheim also used American pearls. Apparently there were 14,000 workers involved in the 1890's!!!

Thank you for your replies. Dave, that is fascinating. It's only in understanding the molluscs that I'll ever be able to understand the pearls! Reading your reply makes me think that maybe I was jumping to conclusions with my theory about some kind of managed 'sickness' of the oysters in the...

Hmm...it's very true, I've never seen a picture of a supposed 'Tay' pearl that shape. The pic bottom right is of a brooch in the book sold at the current Pearl exhibition at the V&A in London....They look just like mine. It is listed as Tay pearl...(however, there is also a locket in the book...

Whoops, no I didn't mean Dave was cruel to his molluscs! I meant maybe the reason for the great numbers of available seed pearls in the C18/19th was diseases within the molluscs...I've found this article in a book about the pearl industry in the Gulf of Mannar which might support this theory..

Haha....they sure were dirty! Got so excited I didn't think to clean them before the pics.

Lovely, lovely necklace! The colours and the hues within are just too gorgeous!!

Hello there....I don't know if any of you saw this amusing little fellow on Ebay? Well, I finally caved in and bought him. He arrived this morning, and I'm more than pleased. He has such personality, with his cute cabochon ruby eye and handmade gold setting. He was sold as an antique baroque...

Caitlin...I've been wondering about this for a while. I've seen a post here on the forum (by Dave, I think) with a pic of a very poorly oyster which had hundreds of teeny, tiny pearls. Can there be a link? Maybe the oysters then were sickly ones? I also remember from somewhere that the...

How did I miss THOSE earrings? Filigree and teeny pearls together? ...and they are flowery, leafy shapes.... It's almost too much for me ;-) Also, such an interesting conversation too, I'd never heard of Oaxacan jewellery. I'm learning so much, thank you both.