I was recently given a four strand gold pearl necklace purchased in the Philippine Islands in the 60's. I am questioning their authenticity.
How do I tell? Were the pearls abundant enough then that "Faux pearls" were less frequent?
Thanks-
Catherine
Dear Catherine,
I would also question whether a 4-strand necklace purchased in the Philippines in the '60's was indeed made of Philippine South Seas golden pearls.
While there might have been a few natural South Seas pearls available at that time, they would have been very rare, never enough to make a whole strand, and this leads me to think that, if they are indeed pearls from oysters, they might be cultured Japanese pearls from the Akoya oyster, the type of oyster that is cultured in Japan. After World War II, U.S. servicemen often returned with Japanese cultured pearls they purchased as gifts on their overseas postings. Sometimes those were quite nice, but generally not very large since the Akoya oyster is small, and the technology of the period did not often produce pearls beyond 7 1/2 mm.
This Akoya oyster is best known for its white pearls, but it does also produce light or medium yellow pearls as well as grey ones. Akoya pearls from the 60's would have been fairly small, probably graduated in size, with the largest no more than 7 1/2 to 8 mm.
But are they in fact pearls from an oyster, or man-made? That is fairly easy to know: the simple test is to rub them one pearl against another (you can rub fairly hard).
Pearls cultured from oysters are gritty in feel, while faux pearls feel smooth when you rub them together. You can also rub a pearl against your teeth, if you like, and you will get the same impression.
This is due to the fact that the organic substance deposited by oysters consists of microscopic crystalline plates, whereas man-made pearls are beads of glass ( or plastic) coated in one or more layers of varnish.
Go ahead and do the test; also measure them with a millimeter gauge or ruler. Do let me know what you find. I hope this is of help to you .
If you would like to learn more about pearls in general, you might like to become a member of The Pearl Society and receive the quarterly newsletter. Dues are $25 a year, and include bimonthly meetings held in Evanston, in the Chicago area .
You might also enjoy Pearl World, a very informative and well-researched publication ; for information contact its editor, R. Torrey, at trd1010@qwest.net.
Thank you for contacting us. If you will be in the Chicago area, you are welcome to meet with me and we can look at your pearls together for more information.
Eve Alfillé
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