Bahraini pearl necklace

jgg

Member
Joined
Sep 22, 2019
Messages
8
Hello all, my first time here so please bear with me.

I have a beautiful strand of Bahraini pearls that was a birthday gift in 1984 when I was PR Manager of the Gulf Hotel in Manama, Bahrain. They were a gift from an exiled Iranian who was a member of the Shah's family and he told me the pearls were from his families coffers. I'm including a photo of me wearing them that night at my party.

I am 77 now, rarely wear any jewelry and I want to sell the pearls so I sent them to GIA for authentication. Photo of GIA certificate included as well as some photos of the necklace. There is a mark on the clasp, but I can't make it out.

I wonder if you guys can recommend any buyers and whether you think I should obtain an appraisal… recommendations of the latter would also be tremendously helpful. Also, I'd just like to know what your pearl experts think of the necklace in general.

Many thanks for your anticipated cooperation!
pearls 1.jpg
gia redacted 2.jpg
pearls 3.jpg
clasp 1.jpg
 
jgg,

What a generous and unique gift ~ a truly beautiful strand of naturals! (and a "poison" pearl, the freshwater pearl!) How long is the strand? An appraisal usually gives insurance replacement value, not what you can sell your pearls for. Kari's website has quite a few strands listed, which may help with comparables.

You can also try selling them yourself on ebay, or diamondbistro.com or loupetroop.com.
 
They're 21 inches. And yes, it's so weird about the freshwater pearl. Of course, I didn't know this until GIA. I would think someone would just restring and remove two pearls. Anyway, thanks for the info.
 
The poison pearl (the odd freshwater pearl) is like the signature of the original pearl stringer, so they can recognize their work. Someone correct me if I'm wrong.
 
I'll PM you.

But, also, what gorgeous pearls. An amazing gift. I think BWeaves is right about the random FWP being somewhat of a signature.
 
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...Mods, sorry if this isn't allowed :D
...

This is a friendly reminder that offers (or even potential offers) to buy or sell should not be posted on the forum. Please limit any such offers to private messages. :)
 
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How interesting! That never occurred to me but I know very little about pearls so... Going to Google this and see what I can find out.
Thanks.
 
Thanks so much! I think they're beautiful too but don't wear them as well as other fine jewelry I have. Sigh
 
Thanks so much. Now tell me how I access this PM please!

Look at the top of the page. To the right of your name there is the word "Notifications". If you have any messages you can click on that to see them.

Here, I'll send you a PM right now just so you can see what it's like.
 
I've tried googling re poison pearls but am coming up empty. Is there a book, article or something that can tell me more about this?
Jane
 
I only heard about it from other pearl experts. I haven't found anything online about it, either.

I know Hisano from PP and littleh pearls has a gorgeous natural strand that has a noticeable poison pearl, and that's when I first heard about it.
 
jgg-- I have an antique natural pearl necklace that I recently inherited. I was curious how you sent it to the GIA to be evaluated. Did you call first? Thanks
 
jgg-- I have an antique natural pearl necklace that I recently inherited. I was curious how you sent it to the GIA to be evaluated. Did you call first? Thanks

You can either submit it in person at their New York or Carlsbad location, or ship it to them. You can find the shipping address on their website. Calling in advance is a good idea, you probably need to open an account first if you've never submitted anything before.
 
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