Any thoughts please…

[barbaradilek]

These tiny pearls were originally purchased in Aberdeen Scotland,in the 1920s as a 21st birthday present.The clasp is 18ct gold.How they drilled the holes I just can’t imagine!

 

[Pearl Dreams]

Could be natural pearls.

 

[CortezPearls]

Hey @barbaradilek nice to e-See you!
Very likely natural pearls. Wow! What a find!
They actually look like Cortez Naturals.
Any story behind these?

 

[jshepherd]

They look like natural freshwater pearls - could be natural Scottish river pearls.

 

[barbaradilek]

Be still my beating heart! There’s probably no way of finding out for sure,but how amazing if they were Scottish.Iv only seen a few images,and they were all of bigger white or brown pearls.Iv had them a while,I bought them from an older Scottish lady who now lives down in England,who said they had been a 21st present to her mother.When I next go to Perth I will take them to the Cairn cross jewellers,who have one of the licenses to sell Scottish pearls,and ask their opinion.
But Douglas,what an intriguing thought that these tiny treasures could have somehow crossed the Atlantic and ended up in Scotland! Either way I love that they were carefully collected and strung ,then given a smart clasp just on a 100 years ago,and now I get to wear them!

 

[CortezPearls]

You can actually tell if they are Cortez...with the help of a UV lamp!
But I agree with Jeremy that these might be ole Scottish natural pearls...I mean, that is where the leads point towards.
The SSEF Gem Lab has made great advancements in DNA testing on pearls. They could be interested in examining your strand and could maybe offer to analyse it for free (cannot promise that of course!) if they are interested in sampling more of these rare and historical pearls.

 

[barbaradilek]

Thank you for the suggestion Douglas,I checked their web site,and gulped when I saw they have a courier service to collect your goodies called Ferrari( wonder if a real one comes to the house!) and it costs approx.200 dollars for transportation.I think I will try local experts first,the thrifty “ many a mickle makes a muckle “Scots nature kicks in “ HOW MUCH!!!!!?????
Last Sunday II went into a small store in the local town near us for 4 bread rolls,and the smiling shopkeeper asked me for £3.99p,I think approx 5 dollars.He wasn’t smiling when I left,without the rolls….sorry about these meanderings,I’m confined to barracks with a virus,and had to moan at someone,and there you were.
I completely forgot,this is meant to be the Pearl Forum,not the Transport and bread roll blog,SORRY….

 

[CortezPearls]

Thank you for the suggestion Douglas,I checked their web site,and gulped when I saw they have a courier service to collect your goodies called Ferrari( wonder if a real one comes to the house!) and it costs approx.200 dollars for transportation.I think I will try local experts first,the thrifty “ many a mickle makes a muckle “Scots nature kicks in “ HOW MUCH!!!!!?????
Last Sunday II went into a small store in the local town near us for 4 bread rolls,and the smiling shopkeeper asked me for £3.99p,I think approx 5 dollars.He wasn’t smiling when I left,without the rolls….sorry about these meanderings,I’m confined to barracks with a virus,and had to moan at someone,and there you were.
I completely forgot,this is meant to be the Pearl Forum,not the Transport and bread roll blog,SORRY….

Wanted to use the "LOL" icon but ended up with just the "Thumbs Up!" because I feel sorry you are sick! That is one place I would not like to be sick on vacations: Scotland. Best to feel at your best to rund around the country!
But this is also a Froum made of Pearl Lovers...so, the things that happen to us and our thoughst are quite valid dear @barbaradilek

Wishing you recover fast and you can continue to share with us all about pearls, scones and drones...sorry, could not avoid to use that combo! Just sounds good to me: Pearl, scones and drones. Nice roll to it.

 

[barbaradilek]

Oh Douglas,you forgot to add “ moans” to your scones and drones,which fitted my last post ( Hope not in reality) perfectly.
Well,I decided to email the Cairncross jewellers,and you must be a legend in your own lunchtime!( sorry,life time,dratted spellchecker) I presumed on our email acquaintance and said you were my friend,and had suggested the pearls might be Scottish,and sent the same images I posted here.I got a reply quicker than a rat up a drainpipe,suggesting I get my friendly dentist( now that’s a paradox..) to exray them and see if they have an artificial nucleus.I had already candled them,and they are definitely natural,but will endeavour to get an exray next week.The vibes were definitely encouraging!.AND Scotland is a great place to be sick as long as you have a good book,an electric blanket and an inexhaustible supply of 12 year old malt.

 

[Lagoon Island Pearls]

The provenance suggests acquisition in the 1920s. Is this documented and verified?

I'm struggling to find cultural freshwater pearls here. There are some pieces with a potato-like appearance, but overall not many. Size (nearest to equal) is the prime selection criteria in this piece, where color, shape and orientation of the holes appear mixed.

I always ask myself... Was this strand created from a small collection or large pool? Because of the consistent sizes, I'm leaning large pool.

Unless the provenance is irrefutable, these reasons raise suspicious because it causes me to rule out elaborate fakery before I can deem these as natural.

I would like to see candled views of these, then formulate an opinion. If this strand is of natural origin, I would expect the signatures at the nuclei to be markedly different from one another.

 

[barbaradilek]

Thanks so much for your input,I will try and candle them and photo them tomorrow.Iv had the pearls for 30 years,and the lady I got them from was an acquaintance,not that make any difference to the pearls authenticity!….

 

[BWeaves]

Those pearls are lovely. I can only dream of owning some naturals one day.

 

[barbaradilek]

Dear lagoon Island Dave,you must think me a numpty,saying blithely that I had candled the pearls and they were natural.Iv looked so often at your amazing images,and had a simplistic idea that if every pearl looked different under magnification,that would imply they were naturals,but I realise it’s far more subtle than that.I spent a fruitless afternoon trying to get some images to send,but just couldn’t get anything decent,so will hopefully get exrays from my local dentist and beable to post them later.However I think my original photos were misleading as to relative size ,so I am sending two more to show the difference between the centre pearls and those nearest the clasp.

 

[CortezPearls]

I have sometimes attached an actual "Jeweler's Loupe" (the cheap platic kind) to my phone's camera lenses to get extra detail.
I really need a GOOD Macro lense for this, but really can't spend the money on it...need better justification.
So, a small loupe can really help @barbaradilek

 

[barbaradilek]

Thank you Douglas,the problem I had was the light.specifically too much of it! I got the pearls over the aperture,and I could see perfectly inside with the naked eye( well,let’s be honest here,reading glasses were involved…) But when I tried to capture the image on my iPad I just got blinding light.Tried everything I could think of,gave up and had a caffeine fix.I will wait till I can persuade my dentist to exray a few of them,and post the results….

 

[Lagoon Island Pearls]

Dear lagoon Island Dave,you must think me a numpty,saying blithely that I had candled the pearls and they were natural.Iv looked so often at your amazing images,and had a simplistic idea that if every pearl looked different under magnification,that would imply they were naturals,but I realise it’s far more subtle than that.I spent a fruitless afternoon trying to get some images to send,but just couldn’t get anything decent,so will hopefully get exrays from my local dentist and beable to post them later.However I think my original photos were misleading as to relative size ,so I am sending two more to show the difference between the centre pearls and those nearest the clasp.

I'm impressed you've candled pearls. Imaging is something yet again, not always easy to get right. Actually, no images ought to hone one's descriptive skills. I do a lot of visual work, but at the end of the day anything with scientific importance is noted and merely supported by images or drawings.

Thank you for the additional uploads. Provenance is important, vital even, but never supported until certification or otherwise meanwhile debunked.

I didn't count precisely but this piece presents with three parallel strands connected at the ends of approximately sixty pearls each. These are affixed to a rectangular gold clasp with two matching pearls set within shallow bezels. Two accessory dangles with two pearls each are attached by rings.

The strands appear to be strung with silk, but are not knotted between the pieces.

And the pearls. Each strand is similarly graduated at 2:1 size ratio. The pearl types are randomly mixed. Near round, teardrop, large button, circle pearls. potato and rice krispy to name a few. Many of the pearls are drilled "on the dimple" meaning a spot where another pearl formed against it. The are other dimples evident at the visible sides of other pearls. Some are drilled on x, others on z.

Other than a cursory attempt at matching sizes over uniform lustre, very little of the construction makes sense. Certainly not elaborate. By design from a massive pool, not necessity from a small one. The lustre is seasonally identical on the greater number of pearls. Cultured pearls are harvested at times of peak lustre. Natural pearls are harvested any time, which is always glaringly obvious... extreme even in the overall appearance of the lot.

Doubtful as fakes, but as affordable alternatives using natural styling from otherwise massive lots of low grade pearls.

For those reasons (and others not elaborated), I suggest these are early freshwater pearls of cultural origin. British India likely.

 

[barbaradilek]

Thank you so much Dave for your insights.For the satisfaction of the folks at Cairncross I will get a dental exraybut will now have to do some home work on pearl production at the time of the British Raj.Please can you tell me when you use the word “ cultural” in reference to pearls,does it have the same meaning as cultured? It’s not a word I have come across before describing pearls,and love to add to my vocabulary.

 

[Pearl Dreams]

I read "cultural" as meaning the same as "cultured" with respect to pearls.

 

[barbaradilek]

Thanks for the clarification.Iv spent an interesting hour with Kunz,but could only discover accounts of saltwater pearl harvests,nothing about freshwater pearls in India .If Dave sees this ,can he give an educated guess if the pearls would have come from elsewhere and been distributed from India? When was culturing this kind of pearl started? You have got me intrigued now.The description “ low grade” makes the heart sink,but the colours and lustre havnt changed since Dave’s expert accessment so I will still love them…..

 

[Lagoon Island Pearls]

The pearls appear to be from the orient while the manufacturing seems East Indian. Japan began producing freshwater pearls in 1935 and peaked in 1971. Triangle mussels were hybridized in the 50's and used by Chinese farmers to fill the gap created by failing ecosystems in Japan. The shape, colours and lustre of these pearls are consistent with the Chinese aquaculture model.

Candle them to suit your eye, don't sweat the images. Look for low contrasted "scroll-like" structures within. Then ask yourself, are these relatively equal or markedly dissimilar to each other?

We've come a long way, where once affordable pieces have become collectible vintage pieces. Wear them, gaze at them, enjoy them.