Natural or not?

[meredith]

Can those twins eventually be wild? I don't own them, just took a photo in the shop where they were presented to me as wild pearls. The size was about 15 mm. It was in Indonesia, Flores, Labuan Bajo.

 

[KAC]

They could be, but more then likely they are cultured, only way to know would be to x-ray.

 

[GemGeek]

They could just be keshi, which are a byproduct of pearl culturing and also do not have a nucleus. A gemological lab experienced with pearls can tell from the x-ray in most cases whether they are natural or keshi. I would suspect that they are cultured in the absence of a lab report because so many turn out to be just that after being sent to a lab.

 

[meredith]

There were some more, 3 pieces, but less "interesting" shape ... and the price was for those 2 pieces 1000 euro

 

[Caitlin]

I am pretty sure those are keshi pearls, though quite large. The gem labs around the world started seeing these large keshi passed as "natural or wild" pearls several years ago, but trips to the lab say they are keshi. Our own Dr Tom had a bunch of those a few years ago that he bought as natural, but the lab said they were keshi, Pattye bought two of them.

I think the price is pretty high for uncertified pearls.-either because it is a scam or because the dealers just don't know. You should only buy uncertifed pearls from known pearl experts like Jeremy Norris . i forget his webpage url.

Examples like this are why non-experts should only buy certified natural pearls- because every kind of scam possible has happened with people calling cultured pearls of every kind, "natural"

 

[meredith]

That's very true! Can't get any kind of guaranty from the shop. The price was high but it seemed to be a bit negotiable ... It is interesting to have a look. Thank you for your opinions!