my akoya pearls, freshwaters, coral

[Black Jade]

these are akoyas, bought in Japan in 1981. They are a superb quality. This quality was not available for export at that time, not even by Mikimoto. This is before the pollution that has created such problems for the cultured pearl industry in Japan in recent years, also.
I was given the choice of rose pearls (more white) and cream colored pearls (not gold, but a bit of a gold undertone). I was told that ''foreigners'' (non-Japanese) usually chose rose, because it went with pink-toned Caucasian skin, while the cream went better with most Japanese complexions. (Japanese can be very, very white-skinned, but almost never pinkish). I went with the cream pearls, because I have an olive complexion and I''ve never been sorry.
The camera does not do these justice. You cannot see the ''orient'' these pearls have. Especially against your skin, they have a glorious soft glow.

 

[Black Jade]

Another photo. The clasp is not original. I didn''t like the Japanese clasp for this, so when I had them restrung, I changed it. I put the original clasp on a string of jade beads that I may photograph for you later.

 

[Black Jade]

This is a string of freshwaters that my husband got for me in China in the 1990''s, when the Chinese first began to do the really good quality freshwaters, which were more expensive then than now! It''s a nice string. I like it a lot and wear it often. But when it''s next to my Akoyas, the difference in quality realy shows. It''s interesting to notice that you can''t see the difference in the photos, except for size. In person, it is not a subtle difference. The white string of the freshwaters does have lustre, but the Akoyas knock it out of the water. The black string of the freshwaters (it is a double-strung necklace) is very pretty and is the reasonw why I wear the necklace so much (besides the fact that my sweetie chose it for me), but it is certainly dyed, it doesn''t jump out at you but these pearls did not come out of the oysters black.

 

[Black Jade]

The two strings together.

 

[Black Jade]

These aren''t pearls, I hope it''s okay to post! This is a lovely string of coral beads I have. They were bought in Formosa in 1980. It''s the kind of coral that the Italians call ''angel-skin'' and it''s very beautiful. It was very stylish in Victorian times and then it went out of style and hasn''t ever come back. People who love to wear coral prefer to wear the ox-blood coral nowadays, the very red sort, but unfortunately, all coral is being fished out too much/destroyed by pollution both in the Mediterrenean and in the Pacific (and also the black Caribbean coral, I have a pendant of that that I will post later), if its okay.
Or does the coral belong in colored gemstones? It seemed more related to pearls.

 

[Skippy123]

Lovely collection!!!

 

[Kelli]

Date: 5/12/2009 12:18:08 PM
Author: Skippy123
Lovely collection!!!

Ditto! The coral beads are so interesting too!

 

[Black Jade]

Date: 5/12/2009 2:44:20 PM
Author: Kelli

Date: 5/12/2009 12:18:08 PM
Author: Skippy123
Lovely collection!!!

Ditto! The coral beads are so interesting too!

I''m going to have to do the coral again. Probably I shouldn''t have put pink bead against red? they look like plastic in the picture. IRL, you would never mistake them for plastic. They''re not a flat pink--they look as if they are blushing. I loved the necklace very since I first saw it. I had never seen anything else like it before.
There''s hairpin that went with it, carved like a rose. I''ll see if I can dig it up. I don''t know if it''s home or in the bank. I kind of rotate things and when I''m not wearing them, they''re in the bank (though I don''t think the bank is really good for pearls or coral, because they''re organic.)

 

[innerkitten]

Pretty pearls! I really like the coral necklace too.

 

[diamondseeker2006]

You have some beautiful pearls and the coral is so pretty, too!