Real or fake, cultured or natural?

[RockHugger]

I aquired some vintage pearls and I cant quite figure out of they are real or immitations. They were sold to me by an antique dealer, as natural (not cultured) pearls.

They are somewhat griddy on the tooth test, they arnt uniform or perfect (they are all crazy shapes, and have imperfections) and the 100in strand seems pretty heavy. Here is a picture of a drill hole, and the strand.... What do you think?

strand

 

[RockHugger]

one of the drill holes

 

[HHPmom]

The second picture looks like a bead nucleus below the nacre. You can see the difference in color. The nacre is much whiter and the nucleus is creamy. It would take years to collect that much natural pearls to make a 100" necklace. Just MHO.

 

[RockHugger]

Thank you! I paid 18$ for the necklace, so if it is cultured pearls, that is fine. I am wearing them now and happy .

 

[innerkitten]

I have no idea. They are pretty and look kind of like freshwater pearls to me. For $18 I wouldn''t expect natural pearls I would expect cultured.

 

[pearlie]

Cultured freshwater pearls, definately.

What you're seeing at the drill hole is just part of the nacre that's chipped away due to poor drilling technique. These are tissue nuked, not bead nuked.

Good price for the long strand, enjoy.

julie.

 

[RockHugger]

Thanks guys! I wanted something that I didnt have to baby because they were so expensive, and I found these. That way I can abuse them (like I tend to do with jewelry) and not feel guilty LOL.

I have been wearing them like mad!

 

[HHPmom]

I should have gone with my first instinct that the potato shape was the giveaway for FW, but the 2nd pic looked like nacre on bead. It makes sense that you said it''s because of the not-too-skillful drilling that made it look that way.

 

[peaches5]

They do look like freshwater pearls but thats still a great price you paid for them. very well done!