Unsure of value

[John Lane]

My father was stationed in Japan shortly after ww II ended. The Japonense we desperate for money. One such Japonese lady sold my father two pearl items one was a beautiful pearl ring set in platinum I believe. The other thing was a georgeous string of pearls. Both of the items were made with natrual pearls not cultured pearls. I am wondering if these two pieces of jewelry would very valuable considering that they are natural perals not cultured pearls. Any help with this matter would be much appreciated. Who would I take the to for an honest apprasial? My e-mail address is JLanercp@gmail.com. I'm in the Phoenix area.

 

[Pearl Dreams]

If you have reason to believe they are natural pearls you can send them to the GIA for testing (for a fee.)
But cultured pearls were very common in Japan in that era. They could be cultured.

Just to be sure you understand pearl terminology:

Real pearls can be cultured or natural.
Cultured pearls are farmed pearls. A nucleus and a bit of donor oyster mantle tissue are placed in the gonad of the oyster. The oyster is returned to the water in the pearl farm, and it lays nacre down over the nucleus.
Natural pearls are wild pearls, created by the oyster without any involvement of humans.

Imitation pearls are made in factories. They are usually made of glass or plastic and are coated with a pearly-looking sort of lacquer that is derived from fish scales.