Is this Pearl Natural?

[mausketeer]

Does this look like a natural pearl to you guys? Being pink I'm assuming it's not Akoya but I keep being wrong about these things! I'm guessing it's a natural freshwater?

Any ideas? Thoughts? (the pin was being sold as brass but who knows? It might be gold plated but without any markings...... no photos of the back of the pin).

- Jodie -

 

[Lagoon Island Pearls]

Looks like a tissue grafted American freshwater pearl.

 

[Caitlin]

It looks like a petal keshi, albeit, slightly unusual shape. Brass would be the appropriate metal for the value of the pearl. Or if is 19th century brass, in which case.......If that is antique, it would have to be a wild freshwater pearl, where ever it is from.


I really study American FW pearls, yet, ones from China still fool me when they look like wild freshwater pearls. Those pearls could be anomalies or "throwbacks" to their progenitors or something, but they have a look that is very similar to some wild ones. Maybe they are the f2 generation hybrids of the common Chinese mussels. That generation tends to have throwbacks to single traits found in progenitors.

 

[mausketeer]

Hmmmm - interesting. Caitlin, what do you do for a living? Are you a geneticist by any chance? You know SO much about this stuff!

Well I thought it was pretty (and really, REALLY cheap!) so I bought it! lol. So I guess we'll find out when we see how it's made. I just got it on the off chance that it WAS an antique (stickpins not being too popular anymore....... seemed odd to me that they would put a cultured freshwater pearl in a stickpin like this in the last what? 20 or 30 years, you know?) But again....... as I continue to learn I am am learning that I am constantly WRONG at this pearl thing! lol

- Jodie -

I now have a pretty pearl stick pin to add to my collection! ONWARDS!

 

[Caitlin]

I am often wrong, but I don't ask for money for my opinions, so I just see it as a thinking exercise or another chance to get a good guess in. I figure I am WAY better than the average jeweler is on pearls!!!!

 

[pattye]

Whatever kind of pearl it is, it's pretty!

 

[Caitlin]

Hmmmm - interesting. Caitlin, what do you do for a living? Are you a geneticist by any chance? You know SO much about this stuff!

Well I thought it was pretty (and really, REALLY cheap!) so I bought it! lol. So I guess we'll find out when we see how it's made. I just got it on the off chance that it WAS an antique (stickpins not being too popular anymore....... seemed odd to me that they would put a cultured freshwater pearl in a stickpin like this in the last what? 20 or 30 years, you know?) But again....... as I continue to learn I am am learning that I am constantly WRONG at this pearl thing! lol

- Jodie -

I now have a pretty pearl stick pin to add to my collection! ONWARDS!

Let's see better photos. That is a cutie.

I am retired. Former dancer, then counselor. I got interested in the genetics of dogs in the 1970's and follow it barely enough to know about the grandchildren of outcrosses. (the f2 generation) I only have a layman's understanding of dogs and/or pearls! I know those Chinese mussels are hybrids of 2 wild mussel types. If only original crosses are used for each generation all the baby mussels will tend to be a uniform blend of the parents. If they breed children of the first generation to each other, they will get all kinds of interesting variations, not a uniform blend. What you see in my statement is just vocabulary, not a real understanding of genetics!

 

[mausketeer]

Well you sure know your stuff when it comes to pearls anyways! I always tell my dad he needs to go work at "Home Depot" because every time we go there and ask anybody about any of the products he always knows MORE than THEY do (he's retired but I think he's bored - keeps fixing his house up!)

Well the photos will have to wait about two weeks gals until I get it in my hot little hands! It was only ten bucks so either way I'm not really out anything (I'm never sure whether others consider it "gauche" when I say how much I pay? I'm mainly surprised at how cheap some things go for, but also sort of horrified at some of the things I have BOUGHT over the years because I didn't KNOW anything! Go look up my first post to see what I mean! Anyone wanna buy some potato pearls? lol)

- Jodie -

 

[lisa c]

Caitlin's being kind of modest, i think.

Jodie, we all started somewhere, and we learn as we go. Plus I've learned that there's always room for more knowledge, and this site is chock full of scholars, self taught and GIA, and lots of places in between. I always appreciate when someone gives a price, because I consider that part of what I'm trying to learn. So, thank you!

Dave, did you think tissue grafted American because of the rippled or frilled edge?

 

[Lagoon Island Pearls]

Dave, did you think tissue grafted American because of the rippled or frilled edge?

Partially yes, because it appears like a graft of little more than a crudely prepared slab of tissue that unfurled itself.

I never saw a square natural pearl, no less one that big.

Perhaps something from an experimental or discontinued run (a whole lot of shiny for a whole lot of cheap). Given some provenance, that could increase it's value, though.

I thought pearls and silver was odd, but pearls and brass never occured to me.

 

[mausketeer]

Ah, I see. Yeah, you don't see a lot of squares in nature do you? Well, not in ANIMALS anyways (badum-CHA!) Thank-you folks I'll be here all week.......