Inherited Necklace

[sizer1847]

Hello, and thank you to all. Mother had these for years and treasured them. The intricate clasp is tentatively identified as platinum with small diamonds and sapphires. It opens by pressing on one of the leaves. I can't find any marks on the clasp. There are 119, about 10mm pearls, which I suppose are baroque from their shape and luster. Would love any information or insight from this knowledgeable assembly. Thank you so much.

 

[Pearl Dreams]

What a lovely necklace to inherit! It looks like baroque cultured akoya pearls.

If you want to wear it, I would definitely have it restrung first. Silk becomes weak over time and can break, which could lead to the loss of a pearl. Given that this is a 3 strand necklace that would be a real problem, as it would be very hard to replace a missing pearl with one that matches.

 

[sizer1847]

What a lovely necklace to inherit! It looks like baroque cultured akoya pearls.

If you want to wear it, I would definitely have it restrung first. Silk becomes weak over time and can break, which could lead to the loss of a pearl. Given that this is a 3 strand necklace that would be a real problem, as it would be very hard to replace a missing pearl with one that matches.

Thank you so much. I have worn them in the past, but agree with your recommendation to have them restrung. I wish I knew where they had come from. I'm sure there is a story there.

 

[ennui]

I love the clasp, so pretty and intricate.

 

[A Breaker]

I have seen some of those amazing clasps...but it is really hard to tell where or when they were made. There seems to be some from around the 60's when people had more money in the US, post WWII and pearls were not a hard to get. My guess is that high end jewelers were able to get pearls and fabulous clasps to sell these necklaces at that time. The 70's gold was expensive and 80's akoyas were harder to get...Post WWII akoya pearl production was struggling to resume. Also in the 70's Rice pearls were the hot new thing...so it probably would have had rice pearls.