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This looks like a freshwater pearl.

It's more difficult to tell with a single pearl, but yes, it looks like one.

Yes, the appear to be baroque akoya pearls.

We just did some cameo work for a client. I'd never worked with them before and didn't know much about them. They are fascinating. We created a diamond cage and made a pearl collar out of them.

Baroques are a challenge for sure. We have our vault team trained on how to drill, but whenever it is a baroque pearl, there are only three of us who try to drill them. Drilling looks easy, but there are lots of little things that just take practice to really get the hang of. With baroques, I'd...

I'm sure they already have. I saw a vendor in Vegas selling them as "freshwater akoya." We had a talk about it and she promised to change her wording. They are very round and very white for sure. There is also an extremely wide range in pricing. I saw strands in Zhuji in the 5 mm range going...

Ling Ling is great. She is one of the first people I met in Beijing more than 20 years ago. The pearls you purchased are the new small Edisons. They have a bead nucleus. The larger ones you saw may have been traditional tissue-grown freshwater. There is very little beaded production between 6.5...

Wow! What an experience! Thank you for sharing all!

Yes, this is managed by David Wong. He is the guy behind metakaku and his father owns Fukui Shell Factory. They supply the nuclei to a lot of producers. I haven't visited this farm, but my understanding is that it is not so much a commercial farm as it is an educational tool.

If anyone is going to be in Kobe next week, you won't want to miss the fair!

A quahog is a rare find. This one isn't terribly valuable, though. The color and white banding aren't ideal. It does look like it cracked when flash fried. That's an issue with a lot of the naturals that are found. People often bite into them after it's been steamed or fried. And a cooked pearl...

"Boulder" -shaped ... I like that. It's a good description of free-form, true baroques.

I would definitely recommend repairing them. The nacre appears to be very thick.

PEEKING BEHIND THE JAPANESE PEARL CURTAIN By Jennifer Heebner Japanese akoya pearl farmers have historically been tight-lipped when it comes to their farms and culturing methods. But in today’s competitive pearl market and 24-hour, social media-loving world, the Japanese pearl industry is...

And of course Dave LeBlanc! - lagoonislandpearls.ca

You might consider reaching out to Hannah from Wild Ocean Pearls. She is the only person I know of who specializes in Canadian pearls. She has a collection of Canadian Deep Sea Scallop and Blue Mussel pearls on her site. https://wildoceanpearls.com/

That is quite the collection!

We still do every time! That's usually the biggest job we have! https://www.pearlparadise.com/community/pearl-paradise-blog/im-heading-to-hong-kongwhats-on-your-wish-list

The easiest test would be to rub it on the biting edge of your tooth to see if it feel gritty. Imitation pearls are smooth and real pearls are slightly gritty. But I wouldn't advise that with yours. It will definitely feel gritty and might damage your tooth.

I know this has been posted before, but to keep it in the same thread, here is the video from the June trip with BWeaves ;)