Please help me identity these pearls!

[Cotswoldrose]

Hello! I'm looking for some help. I work in a charity shop. We see many fake pearl necklaces - at least half a dozen are donated every week! Most are plastic or glass. Occasionally we get cultured strands donated, often by Ciro or Lotus. But this week I've found a strand that is a bit different! It's a single strand of 73 pearls with a high lustre, with golden overtones. The pearls are mostly a uniform size, with a couple of minor variations. The drill holes mostly look clean. I can see a chip on one with the nacre showing through (I think!). There are some minor scratches visible under a loupe on some pearls. Each pearl is individually knotted. The pearls are 6mm in diameter. The clasp is marked with a tiny letter M and looks like gold but there is no mark (I will get it tested). However I can't really tell if there is any grittiness when I rub the pearls together, so I am puzzled! Are these real pearls? It's the lustre that's really making me look at these again, as it's so good... thanks in advance for any opinions!

 

[Pearl Dreams]

They appear to be imitations. See the pearl that has a bit of excess swirly coating near the drill hole? That is typical of fakes.

 

[BWeaves]

They look like imitations to me. The gloppy stuff around the drill holes is typical of imitation pearls.

Oh, I see PearlDreams even circled the drill hole.

Also, they have no overtones. The color is very flat.

 

[Cotswoldrose]

They appear to be imitations. See the pearl that has a bit of excess swirly coating near the drill hole? That is typical of fakes.

View attachment 478377

Thank you! I did wonder about that. I find the fakes so hard to identify!

 

[Cotswoldrose]

They look like imitations to me. The gloppy stuff around the drill holes is typical of imitation pearls.

Oh, I see PearlDreams even circled the drill hole.

Also, they have no overtones. The color is very flat.

Thank you! I keep hoping one day I will find a decent quality strand amongst the donations, but I guess I'll have to keep looking!

 

[A Breaker]

Yes, Faux. When I talk about looking at drill holes for paint build up or loss that is what I am talking about in that photo. Sometimes it is only 1-2 holes on a high quality strand.

Saltwater pearls have less grit, but not as smooth as Faux. (It is easier and less eeewww to rub the 2 sides of the necklace or earrings together....I can always catch grit if there is any there.). On Rare occasions I have made the mistake of testing really dirty pearls..dirt grit is real... so wipe with a damp cloth if very dirty before testing.

Part of the problem with vintage Pearls in the UK has to do with WWII and most of the Japanese pearls were sold to the US post WWII. I posted a link to a NOAA paper about that on this forum...super interesting. Pre-WWII most of the pearls in the US & UK were imitations..usually with gold clasps. So look for silver clasps on vintage pearls...more likely from Japan....Japan had amazing silversmiths and put silver clasps on pearls...had & still has strict controls on gold.