Iv no idea what these are.Any thoughts?

[barbaradilek]

Just bought these on line,metal not marked but tests as silver.Have never seen pearls joined like this before.Pass tooth test,cold to handle,and show no obvious nucleus when I candled them.Freshwater? Saltwater?mother of Pearl? The strand is 44cm long and each larger “ pearl is approximately 12 cms long varying in width.Purchased in the UK.Thanks so much for any input.

 

[CortezPearls]

These look like baroque fresh water pearls from China. Non-bead nucleated.

 

[StarryPearl]

I agree with Douglas.

Interesting design!

 

[Pearl Dreams]

Agree with the above.
I've never seen that design before!

 

[barbaradilek]

Thanks so much for both your replies.Now I come to the thorny question.The vendor,who sells multiple kinds of vintage/ antique goods,and had a100% feed back over a lengthy time,advertised these as “ Unusual Victorian baroque Pearl necklace”I originally thought that no one would put the amount of of work in to a necklace if the pearls weren’t special.Chinese non nucleated pearls are a modern phenomenon,so is this a deliberate attempt to to deceive ( though not necessarily by the current vendor) or some one with too much time on their hands using up cheap pearls…….

 

[barbaradilek]

PS.should add that the silver is quite tarnished,so not made last week!

 

[Pearl Dreams]

I looked in Clasps: 4000 Years of Fasteners in Jewellery by Anna Tabakhova (who is a member of Pearl Guide, username @CLICLASP).
On p. 107 it states that spring rings were invented around 1840. So that is possible.

To be certain that those are natural pearls, though, I think you'd really have to send them to the GIA. Because they could still be Chinese freshwaters strung by a creative modern artisan.

 

[pattye]

Reallty interesting necklace and pearl shapes. Somehow makes me think these could possibly be natural river pearls. I've seen natural Mississippi River pearls that look similar.

Probably worth having them looked at.

 

[barbaradilek]

Pearldreams thank you for doing that research.Iv been fortunate to meet a lady who was an antique jewellry appraiser for one of the big London Auctioneers,and is a pearl fanatic.Im going to take the necklace to her tomorrow,and get her opinion to add to the mix and I will report back.

 

[BWeaves]

What an interesting setting. I'm wondering if these are naturals, too.

 

[barbaradilek]

Took the strand to be looked at by the jewelry appraiser.It felt like taking your child to the doctors! She spent a quite a lot of time examining them using a loupe and microscope,and said she thought they were natural turn of the century probably Mississippi pearls,but she also had never seen pearls joined that way,which made her think they were a one off design,the work involved would have been laborious,each fixing is a slightly different length,so would have been made individually,not bought off the shelf.She also said that the late 19 th early 20 th century dealers bought lots of American pearls back to Europe,and they were made into jewelry in London and Paris,which might explain how they ended up here….

 

[pattye]

Thank you, Barbara. I was wondering how American pearls mught have reached Europe so what the expert said makes sense. What a great eye you have!

 

[barbaradilek]

Patty’s,thankyou so much. I think of Pearl Guide as my go to University of experts,Iv learnt so much,and continue to do sriginally I was drawn to spherical reflective ball bearings,elegant and sophisticated,but my pearl journey has led me to love the quirky wonky antique pearls that often have a unique story attached and I’m maybe the fourth generation of women to have custody of them and love them.Aint recycling great?

 

[A Breaker]

Wow! those are amazing! The attachment to each pearl looks handmade. The current way to make those the pin is poured with the "bail" part...not a separate part.....The "spring ring" is old, not the 1950's spring ring or even the earlier one from the 1920's ....$$$ in the making so those pearls were special!