Antique seed pearl and turquoise necklace - help me choose restring options

[eac]

Hi there

I'd love some advice on repairing an antique seed pearl necklace. My question is, should I try to 'stay original' as much as possible or should I update the old pearls with fresher ones for aesthetics?

About the necklace
My mother gave me this broken antique necklace. A seed pearl choker with gold spacers and gold-and-turquoise drops. It's probably from India or Pakistan, created for the 'Anglo-Indian' market.


I've had one drop made into a pendant for me and another into a pendant for a niece. I am about to send the rest of it off to a very good pearl restringer. I am asking her to restring this and extend it at the ends of the necklace.

I've done some research. Necklaces like this in the UK in good condition run between 600 and 900 pounds in value - worth something, but not an investment piece. And, this one needs a repair and is missing a drop or two.

To help repair/extend it I got two tiny strings of itty bitty freshwater pearls. They're not quite as tiny as the seed pearls, and they're a few shades whiter. You can see them in the photo above, and here:


The catch is...the old gray-white seed pearls don't look so great against my ordinary fair skin. The fresher, whiter seed pearls look better.

Which option would you choose or recommend?
I have three options for the restring:
1. Try to 'stay original' and use the newer pearls to extend the necklace to a wearable length for me.
2. Update the necklace's aesthetics, to brighten it up, and ask the pearl stringer to alternate seed-and-new pearls in the front of the necklace and for the extension.
3. Try to get some better matching seed pearls and wait on the restoration. (I'm in New Zealand so this will take a really long time with current delayed mail times - and I do like the look of the new pearls!)

I love its handmade feel and variations. With my life, I'll be wearing it with casual-to-nice drapey clothes at events like friends' fancy birthdays, not with a ballgown.

Looking forwards to your thoughts!!!

 

[Beaders Secret]

Hello Eac

My advice would be to retain as much of the authenticity as possible, it would be a real shame that after surviving this long to transform it into something else and in the process lose its unique history/authenticity.

BTW, its a beautiful necklace, a treasure from your mother.

 

[AllAboardTheBlingTrain]

When you say the necklace is worth 600-900, is that because of the material cost, or the age?

If you’re amenable to resetting it completely, here’s what I would do (this would absolutely be my first choice, but it depends on labour cost):

I would remove all the turquoise flowers from where they currently are and arrange them into a cluster. Take all the tiny pearls that are hanging from them plus the small pearls that are attaching the Turquoise flowers to the rest of the chains and turn them into a tassel/spray and attach that to the bottom of the turquoise cluster of flowers.

Then, I would arrange the pearl strands as old-new-old-new-old, and attach the 5 strands to the vertical top and bottom of the turquoise cluster (not the bottom of the pearl tassel, let that hang “above” the 5 strand). Wear with the turquoise cluster off centre, like where you’d wear a brooch. I can picture this so clearly in my mind, if you like this idea I am happy to draw it out for you!

 

[eac]

Hello Eac

My advice would be to retain as much of the authenticity as possible, it would be a real shame that after surviving this long to transform it into something else and in the process lose its unique history/authenticity.

BTW, its a beautiful necklace, a treasure from your mother.

Thank you! My partner thoroughly agrees with you - he always likes an antique piece to be as close to the original as possible. I can restore it as is, but there'll always be the additional pearls, so...

 

[Daisys and Diamonds]

My goodness its exquisite
I like the idea of a restoration rather than a do over
but if you are going to be the wearer do it so you will want to wear it

 

[eac]

When you say the necklace is worth 600-900, is that because of the material cost, or the age?

Age, probably - this is based on a very similar necklace that sold in a British auction. It's hard to say with the price of gold escalating right now.

Your rework is definitely dramatic! I don't think I have enough pearls for it right now, thank you. But I'm glad you found the piece insipiring!

 

[eac]

My goodness its exquisite
I like the idea of a restoration rather than a do over
but if you are going to be the wearer do it so you will want to wear it

Thank you, Daisys - really helpful and encouraging!

 

[Bron357]

I’m with the others.
Restring as per original to close up where the missing drop is. To add length to both ends, extend with the new pearls or possibly even look for small turquoise beads. You could do the new extension with a centre strand of turquoise beads.

 

[Beaders Secret]

If this were mine and the necklace was too short to wear,

I would add gold jump rings at the end of the pearls and gold chain
to lengthen the necklace.

The box clasp could then be refitted onto the chain, and if ever the chain has to be removed it can go back to the original style.

In doing this, the integrity of the piece is maintained, and you have a functional and very wearable necklace to enjoy.

 

[pammbw]

I would restring as original because the pearls could be natural and therefore possibly more valuable. I would use the new pearls to create an extender to make the necklace longer and more versatile.

 

[eac]

Great ideas, thank you! The pearls are definitely natural.

For reference here are two other necklaces similar to this one. The first one uses the same spacers!

 

[eac]

Update on this: the restringer is going to do the main part of the necklace 'original' and use some of the new pearls to extend it at the very end, alternating with a few of the seed pearls. The extension will be two rows instead of three to account for the slight size difference between old and new pearls. Thank you again for your help!

 

[Daisys and Diamonds]

Update on this: the restringer is going to do the main part of the necklace 'original' and use some of the new pearls to extend it at the very end, alternating with a few of the seed pearls. The extension will be two rows instead of three to account for the slight size difference between old and new pearls. Thank you again for your help!

really looking forward to seeing it wearable

 

[Beaders Secret]

That’s terrific that you will finally be able to wear your gorgeous
necklace.

Would love to see the necklace after it has been completed.

 

[Aerielle Max]

So fashionable just wow

 

[mommylawyer]

What a lovely necklace. Can't wait to see it finished.

 

[eac]

Got the necklace back and here it is!


This is our 'conservative extension' using readily available 2.5mm seed pearls. You can see what a difference 1mm makes when you're working with such tiny seed pearls. I did find an online source for the VERY TINIEST, but in this year of super-slow postage, I went with what I had. If I was doing this again, I would have gone for the VERY TINIEST.



With the necklace on, and my shoulder-length hair, you can't see the extension section. And after the restring, it feels so much more solid and, well, wearable - which was the point!

My final note is that the antique clasp is difficult to get on and off. At least I know it's secure when it's on.

Thank you all again for sharing your thoughts!

 

[MakingTheGrade]

I think the restring looks great! The color of the turquoise is beautiful and goes so well with the pearls.

 

[Lisa Loves Shiny]

Beautiful job- looks lovely on your neck.

 

[Daisys and Diamonds]

Got the necklace back and here it is!


This is our 'conservative extension' using readily available 2.5mm seed pearls. You can see what a difference 1mm makes when you're working with such tiny seed pearls. I did find an online source for the VERY TINIEST, but in this year of super-slow postage, I went with what I had. If I was doing this again, I would have gone for the VERY TINIEST.



With the necklace on, and my shoulder-length hair, you can't see the extension section. And after the restring, it feels so much more solid and, well, wearable - which was the point!

My final note is that the antique clasp is difficult to get on and off. At least I know it's secure when it's on.

Thank you all again for sharing your thoughts!

Goodness!
It looks gorgouse on you
It really suits your colouring
Defiantly a happily ever after story

 

[meely]

Wow. Necklace is so pretty and it looks absolutely beautiful on you, amazing with your coloring.

 

[Made in London]

Got the necklace back and here it is!


This is our 'conservative extension' using readily available 2.5mm seed pearls. You can see what a difference 1mm makes when you're working with such tiny seed pearls. I did find an online source for the VERY TINIEST, but in this year of super-slow postage, I went with what I had. If I was doing this again, I would have gone for the VERY TINIEST.



With the necklace on, and my shoulder-length hair, you can't see the extension section. And after the restring, it feels so much more solid and, well, wearable - which was the point!

My final note is that the antique clasp is difficult to get on and off. At least I know it's secure when it's on.

Thank you all again for sharing your thoughts!

Thank you for sharing your completed necklace with us, it looks lovely on you

 

[eac]

Thank you all so much for your delightful comments! Moral of the story, get that restring done!