Natural pearls from what I'm told (From a free establishment) and though I know a fare share about pearls at this point I'd still appreciate any input

[Jimportant]

 

[Jimportant]

Just purchased couple hrs ago....$35.00 Canadian

 

[Beaders Secret]

They look like Akoya cultured pearls.

 

[yssie]

Not sure what you're looking for here to be honest.
If you know a fair amount about pearls then you already know that your odds of getting a strand of decent quality natural (as in - non-cultured) saltwater pearls for $35 aren't low, they're flat zero.

 

[Jimportant]

They look like Akoya cultured pearls.

That's what but I thought at first but was told throug lightning or something that theres no beed..Either or there perfect for price

 

[Jimportant]

Not sure what you're looking for here to be honest.
If you know a fair amount about pearls then you already know that your odds of getting a strand of decent quality natural (as in - non-cultured) saltwater pearls for $35 aren't low, they're flat zero.

 

[Jimportant]

Basically just showing off what most would agree is a great find for little money wanted to know what people thought of my little find is all..As to Knowing a fare bitt about Pearl's I should of said after only a short period of time and a few months of research and experience I know a far bitt more then I should at least enough to know when I'm at a thrift super market and see a strand of notted Pearl's with a gold clasp and a price tag of 35 bucks to pull out my loupe and have a closer look at things like luster,mottling ,score Mark's or pits or drill holes and what not and ya chances of finding a string of natural rounded Pearl's that share both matching size and color throughout each pearl is rare because natural Pearl's are not as easy to match as cultured Pearl's but either way cultured or not those are Pearl's with a 14k gold clasp for 35 dollars..Wierd huh thanks though cheers

 

[Snowdrop13]

Some of them look a bit off round. If there’s no bead, they could easily be freshwaters. Anyway, at $35 you’ve paid for the clasp so the pearls are free!

 

[Pearlescence]

They look to me like some of Grace's early attempts at Akoya-copy bead-nuked freshwaters. Very thin layer of nancre. They were sold for..if memory serves, about $10 a strand. I'd also be suspicious of that clasp. The 14k stamp is poorly aligned.

 

[Pearlescence]

Is this one of the necklaces you posted last month?

 

[seaurchin]

Natural, non-cultured pearls would not be that uniformly round. So they're either cultured freshwater or akoya pearls, or else they're just beads that look like real pearls.

The clasp can be an indicator of the value of the pearls. 14k GOW, hmm. I guess GOW is most likely the manufacturer's mark. But "GO" can mean "gold overlay," in other words a gold-filled clasp with 14k gold plating, rather than solid gold. I don't know what the "W" would mean in that case, though.

 

[yssie]

Basically just showing off what most would agree is a great find for little money wanted to know what people thought of my little find is all..As to Knowing a fare bitt about Pearl's I should of said after only a short period of time and a few months of research and experience I know a far bitt more then I should at least enough to know when I'm at a thrift super market and see a strand of notted Pearl's with a gold clasp and a price tag of 35 bucks to pull out my loupe and have a closer look at things like luster,mottling ,score Mark's or pits or drill holes and what not and ya chances of finding a string of natural rounded Pearl's that share both matching size and color throughout each pearl is rare because natural Pearl's are not as easy to match as cultured Pearl's but either way cultured or not those are Pearl's with a 14k gold clasp for 35 dollars..Wierd huh thanks though cheers

My guess would have been cultured akoya, many pearls with visible nucleus (this is only possible if nacre is extremely thin - what @Pearlescence was commenting on). I don’t know what the old bead cultured FW looked like though.

I did some Googling and I can’t identity the GOW stamp either. Could be a makers mark, could be a comment on material. So Ditto @seaurchin, I have no idea whether it’s solid 14k, 14k filled, 14k plated…

Jim, you clearly enjoy the hunt and no one here will begrudge you that. My advice is three-fold:
1. Leave the loupe at home. You don’t need it. Pearl quality factors can and should be judged by what you see by eye.
2. Keep learning more about pearls. Take a closer look - in daytime outside, in daytime inside - at the strand you just got. Compare it to your other strands, see what you like and don’t like. Regardless of the quality of this strand, as @Snowdrop13 said $35 for a functional clasp and a live-in learning experience is not $35 wasted.
3. Buy because you like what you see. Don’t try to bargain-hunt. Whilst there are bargains out there odds of running into one aren’t good - in general it’s better to go in with the understanding that you aren’t getting some steal of a deal. Probably not even a good deal, to be frank. But if you like what you see that’s okay.

 

[pearlsngems]

I think they are cultured akoyas with thin nacre/ not very good luster.
Rub 2 of them together gently. If they slide easily they may be imitation; real pearls feel a bit gritty.

I like having my loupe with me so that can read the mark on the clasp, but also so I can get a better look at the surface. At 10x magnification imitation pearls look a bit coarse while real pearl nacre looks smooth.

You did okay assuming the clasp is really gold.

 

[pearlsngems]

One comment about the term natural. People who don't know pearl terminology sometimes refer to non-imitation pearls as "natural." As though "natural" were the opposite of "imitation".
But the opposite of imitation is genuine.

Genuine pearls form in a living animal (oyster, mollusk, snail etc.) in salt water or fresh water.
There are two categories of genuine pearls:
1. wild pearls, formed without any intervention from humans. We call these "natural pearls". They are rare.
or
2. farmed pearls, also called "cultured pearls". The pearl market is almost entirely a cultured pearl market.

Imitation pearls, by contrast, are made in factories. Their pearlescent coating may have organic components such as fish scale extract, but it is applied by man or machine, not laid down by a living animal.