Gray pearl earrings.

[bond7girl]

Hi there I'm curious about a pair of earrings I've owned for a few years. What are these pearls and are they of any value?

The pearls are 10-11mm each, very "buttery" gray color, with small imperfections. There is no iridescence but they are very uniformly luminous. Pictures really don't do justice to the soft shine. The diamonds in the earrings are real, so I assume the pearls are as well? This was a gift and I know it was purchased in a vintage store in Europe.

Natural light:



Artificial light:

 

[bond7girl]

Anyone, pretty please? Does the general silence mean these are not real or very cheap? It wouldn't change how much I like these earrings, I just wanted to get any insight on what they might be.

 

[jshepherd]

They appear to be Tahitian pearl earrings and Tahitian pearls are quite valuable.
http://www.pearlparadise.com/information-tahitian.htm

 

[pattye]

Bond7girl,

What a lovely design and beautiful pearls! Sorry, this thread wasn't showing up as a new posting, so we all missed it. What a lovely gift!

 

[bond7girl]

Jeremy, thank you very much! Your Flickr pictures are so exciting for an armchair traveler.

Pattye, I'm so relieved to hear that these are Tahitian pearls and not an obvious imitation! They do very much look genuine to my novice's eyes. I've now read a lot of posts on this board and it's been a steep learning curve. I'm hoping to add more beautiful pearls to my jewelry stash, now that I know that Mikimoto isn't the be all and end all.