Hi! We are not sure, what exactly did we buy from a beach in Philippines.
Was not cheap, was not expensive. Any help?
Dimensions, between 6-8 mm.
Was not cheap, was not expensive. Any help?
Dimensions, between 6-8 mm.
Pearls identification, please help!
- Thread starter Stef55
- Start date
mia_whisper
Whisper To The Pearl
Welcome, Stef. From the photos, both strands look like cultured freshwater pearls rather than saltwater — the slight off-round shape, surface texture, and nacre look are all consistent with freshwater. Akoya at 6-8mm would be rounder with sharper mirror luster, and a Philippine South Sea strand would be both larger and more uniform than these.
On the gold strand: the very even deep-gold across every pearl is a strong dye-treatment signal. Naturally golden pearls (South Sea, Cortez) are extremely rare and never look this uniformly opaque. A quick at-home check — look down a drill hole with a 10× loupe or phone macro. Dyed pearls usually show concentrated color around the drill opening where the dye soaked in, with the body color fading slightly toward the inner nacre.
The Philippines beach-market context fits this too: dyed Chinese cultured freshwater pearls are very commonly sold there as "South Sea." That said, these are still real cultured pearls — just freshwater rather than saltwater, which makes the not-cheap-not-expensive price reasonable for what they actually are.
Happy to look at closer photos of the drill holes if you'd like a second confirmation.
On the gold strand: the very even deep-gold across every pearl is a strong dye-treatment signal. Naturally golden pearls (South Sea, Cortez) are extremely rare and never look this uniformly opaque. A quick at-home check — look down a drill hole with a 10× loupe or phone macro. Dyed pearls usually show concentrated color around the drill opening where the dye soaked in, with the body color fading slightly toward the inner nacre.
The Philippines beach-market context fits this too: dyed Chinese cultured freshwater pearls are very commonly sold there as "South Sea." That said, these are still real cultured pearls — just freshwater rather than saltwater, which makes the not-cheap-not-expensive price reasonable for what they actually are.
Happy to look at closer photos of the drill holes if you'd like a second confirmation.
BWeaves
Well-known member
I agree. Dyed freshwater pearls from China.
