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I have big ear lobes, BWeaves! :p I don't wear these much because they look a bit large and knob-like. But I'm going to wear them today to go shopping. I never measured them before but now I was curious. The earring with its setting is 16mm and the pearl itself about 13.5mm diameter. Is that...

White mabe pearls are often cultured in the Pteria penguin oyster ("penguin wing"), so called because of the shape of the shell. I expect that is what my mother's mabe earrings are. They have MOP in back. I have a Tahitian mabe pendant, too. Also MOP in back.

It is hard to evaluate pearls that are photographed against a dark background-- it just swallows up the luster and details. Could you take some more photos, this time against a white background (like a paper towel)? No flash, in focus, and please include some close-ups especially of any...

They could be akoyas that have relatively thin nacre, allowing you to see the stripes in the shell bead nucleus when you shine light through it. There are some overtones that suggest cultured pearls. I don't recognize the mark on the clasp.

I saw an Iridesse store in Boston some years back, at Copley Place (an upscale mall that also had Tiffany). I was disappointed to see it had closed by the next time we visited Boston. Barney's was in that mall and it closed as well.

The mark on the clasp appears to read "Iridesse".

Great photos! You have a strand of cultured freshwater pearls from China. The eggy shapes and the rings are very typical. The marks on the clasp are likely the mark of the manufacturer of the clasp, not the necklace. Wear it and enjoy it!

We can't really say what they are worth, because an item is only "worth" what someone is willing to pay for it at any given time. But you can get an idea of what people have recently paid by doing a search on eBay for SOLD, similar pearl necklaces. You may not find the exact same brand but you...

When I bought my baroque akoya necklace the clasp that came with it didn't have a safety. The clasp came undone and the necklace fell off my neck the first time I wore it out of the house! Fortunately I felt it going and caught them before they hit the pavement. I restrung the necklace with a...

Yes, 2nd harvest FWP and dyed. When the pearl from the first harvest is removed and the mussel is placed back in the water, the pearl sac (which is still there) produces irregularly shaped pearls.

An afterthought: if you don't feel sentimental about them, IMO you should feel free to do whatever you wish with them. I have told my daughter that she does not have to become the curator of my stuff when I'm gone! ;)

They look very much like imitation pearls. I base this on the excess coating near some of the drill holes (you can see where it curves outward in places), the appearance of the coating on some of the closeups and the uniformity of the luster, color and shapes. The way it is finished (with the...

Lovely! Hopefully one of our members who knows more about this sort of bead stringing will be able to offer advice.

There are also third harvest pearls! Have you seen flameballs/fireballs? Here is one stunning photo: https://www.pearl-guide.com/media/hisano-re-design-fireball-necklace-glamor-shot.447885/ After removing the 2nd harvest pearl, if a bead is placed in the now-enlarged pearl sac, a flameball...

Here are photos of some FW keshi; they are all 2nd harvest.

Honestly, they are different enough that I'd keep them all! Pearls take up so little room that surely that can't be a reason to declutter them. But if you are asking which ones I, personally, would keep, it's the whiter ones. Cream tones just don't go so well with my complexion.

To me they just look like regular first-harvest tissue nucleated FWP. The FW pearls often referred to as keshi are 2nd harvest pearls. That is, after they take out the first-harvest pearl, they place the mussel back in the water, and a new pearl forms in the existing pearl sac. Their shapes...

I have to agree.

With bead nucleated round pearls with good luster and minimal flaws, that is tricky. But I don't think there are that many Edisons in that size, of that quality, yet. Mostly they are larger.

I checked my copy of Pearls by Elisabeth Strack (itis back in stock at the GIA store: https://store.gia.edu/collections/books-charts/products/pearls-by-elisabeth-strack). While there are 69 pages on Japanese cultured saltwater pearls, there are only a few paragraphs on the post WWII era, and I...