Great shots. I love the Mikimoto Receipt! I mean...it is historic. And if you look at it there were several items purchased: earrings, bracelet and necklace. No mention of white or black pearls....just necklace US-11853. My guess: that necklace was a white Akoya necklace. This necklace was repurposed years later, and an extra necklace purchased (the "black" one) and the original clasp would not work, so they got this clasp too.
They do look like they could be old akoya, and it's possible they strand and earrings have been reworked.
The receipt is really strange. It has the dates backwards. It says the year is 24, the month is October and the day is 66. Maybe they screwed up when they wrote it, but that seems unusual. If the year is 24, that would be Showa 24, or 1949.
I think this is the BEST REASON to ENJOY this piece...the story, the memories...the closeness. May you wear it close to your heart!I think they just wrote the date European style, i.e. day of the month, month, year and ignored the Japanese kanji. Since my parents were Westerners, they did it that way. Their visit was on October 24, 1966. They were in Japan for a medical meeting and my father kept detailed trip diaries, so I checked and sure enough this is the date. It was my mom's birthday. It's all sentimental for me because I ended up living in Japan for 13 years!
Thanks for sharing this @linda.waldIt is a very common sort of clasp. I found this one in just a few minutes online:
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2 Strand 8.5mm X 8.5mm Square Box Filigree Clasp in Sterling - Etsy
This Clasps & Clips item by BeadSourceInc has 50 favorites from Etsy shoppers. Ships from Reseda, CA. Listed on Dec 8, 2022www.etsy.com