Guy finds south sea pearl necklace at thrift store!!!

[Thrifted Pearls]

Hi everyone so I recently sold a strand of South Sea pearls online, I unknowingly didn’t realize the value of them so I believe I sold them for way too cheap giving someone an incredible deal, after realizing my mistake I educated myself on identifying pears as too not make the same mistake again. After learning a ton and becoming an “expert” I just so happened to find another larger strand of pearls at Savers thrift store for $7!!! Too good to be true right? Well after carefully examining and testing each and every pearl I along with a few other “experts” have came to the conclusion that these are genuine South Sea pearls!!! Living in a small town it has been near impossible for me to find a buyer for them which is why I’m posting here hoping someone with the right connections can help me sell these or point me in the right direction to a potential buyer, thanks!

 

[SteveM]

The proliferation of shell pearls here in recent weeks illuminates a market trend. This enlightened group has volunteered the candled corroboration.

 

[Thrifted Pearls]

The proliferation of shell pearls here in recent weeks illuminates a market trend. This enlightened group has volunteered the candled corroboration.

These have been confirmed to be authentic South Sea pearls and not in fact shell pearls.

 

[Pearl Dreams]

These appear to be shell beads with an imitation pearl coating. See the striations in the bead? -- that is characteristic of shell.
Just because the bead is shell does not mean the coating must be real nacre.

These kinds of "shell [imitation] pearls" have been around for a while. Mark Brown was marketing them on QVC at one point, years ago.

Edited to add:
• the coating is thin (real SSP have thick nacre)
• they are finished in a very cheap way (SSP would not be finished that way)
• the marks on the surface look like the marks we see in imitation coatings.

Maybe the pearls you think you undersold were also not valuable-- take heart!