Is there any online way to appraise vintage jewelry?

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#16
SHHMOM said:
My family claims they are natural, is there a place I can take them to, to find out?
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Yes; find someone in your area who specializes in pearls. People make the mistake of thinking cultured pearls are somehow fake. They aren't. The process of getting the mollusk to produce the nacre is started by a piece of mother of pearl or small piece of shell being placed in the shell of the mollusk; with natural pearls, this occurs randomly and thus rarely. This irritates the mollusk, causing it to produce the nacre ... which creates a pearl.

My guess is that your strand is cultured.
 
#17
mistikat said:
Yes; find someone in your area who specializes in pearls. People make the mistake of thinking cultured pearls are somehow fake. They aren't. The process of getting the mollusk to produce the nacre is started by a piece of mother of pearl being placed in the shell. This irritates the mollusk, causing it to produce the nacre ... which creates a pearl.



My guess is that your strand is cultured.
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Maybe, I have ones I know are cultured, the do look and feel different. These are a bit more creamy. This specific stand was my moms and she claims they are all natural from the ocean. My grandparents were well to do, so it's possible but it's also possible she is confused because she had been wrong about something's and right about some. Do you know of any pearl specialist in NJ?
 
#18
SHHMOM said:
Maybe, I have ones I know are cultured, the do look and feel different. These are a bit more creamy. This specific stand was my moms and she claims they are all natural from the ocean. My grandparents were well to do, so it's possible but it's also possible she is confused because she had been wrong about something's and right about some. Do you know of any pearl specialist in NJ?
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Cultured pearls come from the ocean and there are all kinds of quality variations in them. Some are creamier than others, different colours, different thickness and quality of nacre.

I'm sorry, I don't know of anyone in your area but as you are also close to NY, you might try the GIA in NY:

http://www.gia.edu

http://www.gia.edu/submit-a-gem-duplicate
 
#20
SHHMOM said:
Thanks I'll look into that.
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Pearls have to have x-ray microtomography to see if they are natural. I had a pair of natural (slightly baroque) pearl earrings, but they had rose-cut diamonds set in them so couldn't be tested.

Natural pearls tend to be pre-1920s. On a whole strand, usually only 10 pearls are tested but these are done randomly. It's not cheap to get pearls properly tested. Once tested, if proved natural, appraisal for natural pearls with GIA Cert will obviously be much higher than without.
 
#21
papertiger said:
Pearls have to have x-ray microtomography to see if they are natural. I had a pair of natural (slightly baroque) pearl earrings, but they had rose-cut diamonds set in them so couldn't be tested.

Natural pearls tend to be pre-1920s. On a whole strand, usually only 10 pearls are tested but these are done randomly. It's not cheap to get pearls properly tested. Once tested, if proved natural, appraisal for natural pearls with GIA Cert will obviously be much higher than without.
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Thanks, I think mine are from the 50s. I asked my mom again and told her about the thread and asked her if she is sure. She said she bought them in ny with her parents for her 16th birthday and they picked each pearl out and were told they "were not cultured", not sure if there is something else. She also said she thinks they were 1200-2000, back then. So I am thinking they must not be natural or they would have been more? My sister is a radiologist I guess she can't X-ray them, it has to be done by a jeweler?
 
#22
SHHMOM said:
Thanks, I think mine are from the 50s. I asked my mom again and told her about the thread and asked her if she is sure. She said she bought them in ny with her parents for her 16th birthday and they picked each pearl out and were told they "were not cultured", not sure if there is something else. She also said she thinks they were 1200-2000, back then. So I am thinking they must not be natural or they would have been more? My sister is a radiologist I guess she can't X-ray them, it has to be done by a jeweler?
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I'm not sure you understand.

Pearls were at the epitome of popularity for the masses in he 1950s. Even cultured pearls (which are real pearls, just grown non-accidentally) were very expensive and could be bought separately.

Pearls have to be tested by a GIA certificated geologist. It's a specialist test done with specialist equipment examined, judged and opined by highly trained and qualified gemologists. Your sister X-raying them will mean nothing I'm afraid and my ruin the pearls, whatever type they may be.
 
#23
papertiger said:
I'm not sure you understand.

Pearls were at the epitome of popularity for the masses in he 1950s. Even cultured pearls (which are real pearls, just grown non-accidentally) were very expensive and could be bought separately.

Pearls have to be tested by a GIA certificated geologist. It's a specialist test done with specialist equipment examined, judged and opined by highly trained and qualified gemologists. Your sister X-raying them will mean nothing I'm afraid and my ruin the pearls, whatever type they may be.
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I know that's what I was saying. I was saying that it's a shame I can't just do that. Sometimes I don't write things quite the way I mean to.
 
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