The title of this thread refers to Il Postino, a movie where a postman asks Pablo Neruda to teach him poetry. Which is what I am begging your indulgence on as I do the same to you.
So I just completed Pearls as One (thank you @CortezPearls and @jshepherd - you are amazing and the course was fabulous) but I don’t work as a jeweler, and don’t have access to thousands of known pearls.
So I’m trying to work backwards, and see if I can apply my new knowledge to unknown pearls.
So, that brings me to the strand I’m asking for help on identifying. What I do know:
30”, world’s most generic 14k gold clasp, 6.5 to 7mm, definitely pearls.
So they have to be either Chinese freshwater or akoya.
Shape is Semi-round - although the standards seem a lot higher for roundness in akoyas, so if it is an akoya, it would be described as baroque. I don’t think I see potatoes, but too much trying to guess if it’s a potato pearl and eventually you’re Rincewind. So… odds are edging towards akoya?
Color - cream with a rosé overtone. As with size - not definitive for origin.
Good Luster - AA+ this is what saved these pearls from being shiratama. I could apply my lipstick looking in these lovelies. Not excellent - excellent is “who needs a mirror at all” in my internal grading scheme. But they do glow.
Moderately blemished. A or AA? Every pearl has at least one blemish. I think I see some blinking when I candle with my phone’s light (which is impossible to photograph with the phone) but I haven’t seen enough to be able to judge. And I think the second from the right on the top row in the close up picture of the pearls shows a pin prick. So, more probably akoya?
Nacre quality - A or AA? again, this is something that I don’t know well enough to judge. It doesn’t seem as thin as some 70s and 80s brittle strands I’ve seen, but I might have seen blinking, but I don’t know. So, I’m leaning towards Acceptable, but maybe NV?
Matching is… not good. A maybe. 106 pearls and maybe 5 share a body and overtone with at least one other pearl in the strand? But then, the one time I saw a hanadama strand at a jeweler, I thought the matching was barely good and the pearl lab said it was excellent, so my color perception might be the problem. Good or fair?
So, did I get it right? Is this an A quality (lowest acceptable quality) baroque akoya opera length strand? Or are there stealthy potatoes?
So I just completed Pearls as One (thank you @CortezPearls and @jshepherd - you are amazing and the course was fabulous) but I don’t work as a jeweler, and don’t have access to thousands of known pearls.
So I’m trying to work backwards, and see if I can apply my new knowledge to unknown pearls.
So, that brings me to the strand I’m asking for help on identifying. What I do know:
30”, world’s most generic 14k gold clasp, 6.5 to 7mm, definitely pearls.
So they have to be either Chinese freshwater or akoya.
Shape is Semi-round - although the standards seem a lot higher for roundness in akoyas, so if it is an akoya, it would be described as baroque. I don’t think I see potatoes, but too much trying to guess if it’s a potato pearl and eventually you’re Rincewind. So… odds are edging towards akoya?
Color - cream with a rosé overtone. As with size - not definitive for origin.
Good Luster - AA+ this is what saved these pearls from being shiratama. I could apply my lipstick looking in these lovelies. Not excellent - excellent is “who needs a mirror at all” in my internal grading scheme. But they do glow.
Moderately blemished. A or AA? Every pearl has at least one blemish. I think I see some blinking when I candle with my phone’s light (which is impossible to photograph with the phone) but I haven’t seen enough to be able to judge. And I think the second from the right on the top row in the close up picture of the pearls shows a pin prick. So, more probably akoya?
Nacre quality - A or AA? again, this is something that I don’t know well enough to judge. It doesn’t seem as thin as some 70s and 80s brittle strands I’ve seen, but I might have seen blinking, but I don’t know. So, I’m leaning towards Acceptable, but maybe NV?
Matching is… not good. A maybe. 106 pearls and maybe 5 share a body and overtone with at least one other pearl in the strand? But then, the one time I saw a hanadama strand at a jeweler, I thought the matching was barely good and the pearl lab said it was excellent, so my color perception might be the problem. Good or fair?
So, did I get it right? Is this an A quality (lowest acceptable quality) baroque akoya opera length strand? Or are there stealthy potatoes?
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