Help on this possibly amazing pearl necklace!

[Spartcom5]

Bought this pearl necklace couple weeks back for $30 not knowing anything about pearls, it was a gamble. I took them to many jewelers and was quoted anywhere from $1,500 to $2,000. Now i know these are retail prices but I even took it to an estate jeweler and she didn't even wanna begin to give me an estimate and told me I should definitely get them looked at by an appraiser. Here is what i know about it so far, They are real akoya pearls w/ golden hue, AAA quality, 100% spherical and matching, 14k gold clasp with those two 14k things between the pearls, 30 in. long, 7-7.5mm pearls. It came from a very old 1905 house that was being sold... What do you guys think? Should I get them appraised? Any advice is greatly appreciated.

 

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[2Minnesota]

My opinion...

If many jewelers told you $1500-$2000, get them appraised. We're those jewelers telling you what they thought they were worth? Or were they offering to buy them at that price? If indeed you sell them then the appraisal will help buyers know exactly what they are buying. Looks like you are a winner!!!! Nice!

 

[Spartcom5]

My opinion...

If many jewelers told you $1500-$2000, get them appraised. We're those jewelers telling you what they thought they were worth? Or were they offering to buy them at that price? If indeed you sell them then the appraisal will help buyers know exactly what they are buying. Looks like you are a winner!!!! Nice!

Thanks! And yea the prices they were giving me were rough estimates of how much they would be selling them for however some said they could be much more. One jewelry store even had their professional gemologist look at them and he said they were great and to get them appraised. It's like $125 to get a necklace appraised so I need to make sure it's completely worth it!

 

[2Minnesota]

You would have about $150 in to them with an appraisal. I think it would help by giving buyers confidence in what that they are buying.

 

[DeepseekerADS]

You need to make sure it's worth it to have them appraised?

Get them appraised! You'll always wish you'd done that, somewhere down the road.

 

[GibH]

I agree, an appraisal should pay for itself and make selling much easier.

 

[artslinger]

First things first.....Wow! :-) What an amazing find! That thing is beautiful! I'm a guy, and even makes me want to wear them! :-) Second, you already know it is authentic and worth over 1500. $150 may seem like a lot, but the additional potential should erase any doubt in getting them appraised. I think they could be anywhere between $5000-$8000. This is just my opinion on the information available! Let us know the results, and congratulations!

RJA

 

[cheech]

That's a very nice necklace I would get it appraised I bought it ring thinking it is only worth about 1000 and I had it appraised it turned out to be worth about 3800 appraisal value

 

[mugsisme]

What is the hallmark on them? I also think they are worth a lot. Can you get them appraised for cheaper? Here they run around $100.

 

[Spartcom5]

What is the hallmark on them? I also think they are worth a lot. Can you get them appraised for cheaper? Here they run around $100.

Ill have to look into getting a cheaper appraisal. An no hallmark as I can tell, however there is a small symbol in front of the 14k on the clasp, hard to describe but it's like two small triangles one inside of the other, almost looks like the top half of a star I guess. Thanks for the input guys, very helpful!

 

[mugsisme]

Look up Mikimoto. That is what I'm thinking. I think I've seen what you described. I edited this to add a picture of my Mikimoto brooch I found last year. I got almost $900 for it.

 

[Spartcom5]

Look up Mikimoto. That is what I'm thinking. I think I've seen what you described. I edited this to add a picture of my Mikimoto brooch I found last year. I got almost $900 for it.

View attachment 1227571

Hm, Not mikimoto, there's no M anywhere. I don't know what it is or even if it has a brand name

 

[jerseyben]

I'm still scratching my head that an estate jeweler told you to take them to an appraiser? Jeweler must not have known what they were doing?

 

[Tallone]

I totally agree about getting an appraisal. One thing you might want to think about in this regard is the reputation of the appraiser. I would spend a few extra bucks to get a written appraisal from someone highly regarded in the jewelry industry. I could appraise this necklace but it wouldn't be worth the paper it is written on because nobody has ever heard of me. I don't know who should do the appraisal but I would definitely do a little research to find out who the best in the business is and have them do the appraisal. It will be well worth a little extra cost when you sell the necklace.

 

[Spartcom5]

I'm still scratching my head that an estate jeweler told you to take them to an appraiser? Jeweler must not have known what they were doing?

She wasn't in the business of pricing an item for free unless i was interested in selling them to her right then and there lol. So all she said was that they are pretty expensive and to have them appraised. So yea haha

 

[Lucky Eddie]

Wholesale about ~$5K worth of Japanese Akoya pearls there!.

Thats ~100 of @ around 5mm or 6mm (1/4 inch) dia?

The Akoya is a small oyster... but the first one mikimoto managed to culture so the pearls are typically smaller than some other species (maxima) although the pinctada (south seas black) are a similar size.

Managed a pearl farm once (maxima) and we averaged around $50 wholesale / pearl.

They are worth a lot more than that retail when strung or set into jewellery etc.

Its like everything - only worth what someone will pay!

Orange/Pink "roseate" pearls CAN be considered "bad luck".

Haunted by a Cursed Pearl - The Paranormal Guide

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SS_Koombana

The death pearl

On board Koombana at the time of her loss was a Broome resident and pearl dealer, Abraham de Vahl Davis, who had just purchased a famous black pearl, the Roseate Pearl, for £20,000.[SUP][97][/SUP] Davies also owned a sheep station near Port Hedland. He boarded Koombana there for the voyage to Broome, supposedly taking the Roseate Pearl with him.[SUP][12][/SUP] Legend had seven of the previous owners die after acquiring the pearl.[SUP][12][/SUP][SUP][97][/SUP][SUP][98][/SUP] Following Koombana's disappearance, a further legend grew, blaming her loss on this allegedly cursed jewel.[SUP][12]

[/SUP]

[SUP]

Wiki is wrong in attributing this as a blackpearl, it was indeed a orange hued or roseate maxima (white) pearl.

Ever since Pirate of the carribean movie - everythig is a black pearl nowadays!

[/SUP]

 

[Spartcom5]

Very interesting story!! Thanks for all the info! There is actually 93 pearls on the necklace at around 6-6.5mm each, all the same. Any specific way you'd recommend to store them? Also, are you saying that strung pearls are worth more? "They are worth a lot more than that retail when strung or set into jewellery etc." so these could possibly worth more than that $5,000? or less of course!

 

[trdhrdr007]

I would think it's easier to sell jewelry with a written appraisal. The problem is too many people confuse the appraisal with the value of the piece. The vast majority of the appraisals I have seen are for the replacement value at high retail....which has very little bearing on what the piece could actually be sold for.

 

[Lucky Eddie]

Pricing is always tough...

Here's the thing... say your a pearl farmer... and lest say for argument sake you seed say 100,000 shell this year. In 2 years time when you harvest them, (for re - seeding) if you had the very best Japanese pearl seeders, (the little round seeds are made from Mississippi river freshwater pearl shell "spheres") the "take" reate where the oyster doesn't spit the seed out can be as high as 80%. With someone learning to seed it can be as low as 40% or less.

So lets say we get 80% or 80,000 pearls - that sounds like a lot, BUT, to make a string like that with every pearl, graded to the same shape, size, and lustre, as well as the rarity of the roseate color... it might take 3 or more years harvests to get enough of those exact same pearls, to make such a string.

In the days prior to cultured pearl - you can imagine how hard / dangerous it was for pearl divers in their hard hats and lead boots to harvest enough wild oyster off old pearling luggers - to find enough natural pearls all the same size shape color lustre etc to make a string like that - they would be priceless!.

Maybe 30 or more years harvesting and saving them up until you had enough!

But even in cultured pearl - that's not a string any one grower can make in just one years harvest.

You see - that's where the rarity value comes in... it's not just a factor of the number of pearls times their wholesale value of $50 each. Its the fact that they are a one off string - maybe that farm went out of business... how many year s will it be before anyone can produce another string identical?.

How much to do you have to outlay to buy enough pearls to then grade them for shape, size, and lustre, as well as color, - then save them until 2 or 3 more years harvests, and buy them up and save them, until you finally have enough for that one matched string?

So you may have a LOT of capital out for 2 or 3 years to come up with those specific pearls and that all adds to the cost of producing a string like that! Rough guess $10K - maybe more at auction depending on the day and the bidders and of course the auction fees. I'd start with a reserve of $10k...

As for care - keeping them out of direct sunlight (i.e. in a felt lined jewellery box is a good start) BUT actually wearing them is important the oils from human skin enhance the lustre believe it or not...it keeps the pearls lubricated....sounds stupid but you will see jewelers in the know - handling pearls to keep them lubed...with human oil from the skin!

What you have to be careful of is the age of the string and whether they are due for re stringing so that you don't have the risk of the string breaking due to age / deterioration and possibly lose / damage any on the necklace.

It's a seriously nice piece - I would have it professionally appraised for insurance / replacement purposes if it were me!.

What people don't see... is the young guys who probably risked their lives every day, swimming the pearl lines, when those pearl oysters were just young "spat" from the hatchery put out into cages for the first time, to clean off any silt algae growth etc so that the young oyster got the maximum nutrients out of the passing water from each tide shift! At our Farm it was 7 meter tides (so 23ft) diurnally (2 complete changes every 25 hours) and they would swim those pearl lines every day, for months & months among the tiger sharks, crocodiles, irrucangi jellyfish, blue ringed octopus, cone snails and stone fish, everyone of which could kill you!.
It's not a job for the feint of heart... my 2 lads did it every day, but they carried "appropriate protection" in case of attack...and weren't afraid to employ it when needed.
Few understand the risk capital involved in pearl farming.
Our place we "inherited" after a cyclone hit it in 1999, wiping it out completely... we had to rebuild EVERYTHING from the ground up!
And - it's isloated/ remote area work our nearest neighbors were 35Nmiles away by boat.

These big boys were always swimming past the pearl lines... the black and white one bottom left not breaking the surface is a great white the size of a tractor trailer trying to separate the whale calf from its mother to eat it!. (humpbacks or southern right whales probably).

Then there were the crocodiles as well.

Every mangrove creek onshore nearbye had its resident population of snappin handbags!.

 

[Spartcom5]

That was great information!! Very very interesting!! However, I think 10k would be extremely high... I'm definitely getting it appraised and getting to the bottom of this. One thing one jewler noticed was that in white light the pearls seem to be 2 different colors.... So they're not all the same color. Like some are more pink than others and some are more golden. Its only noticeable in white light, so hope this doesn't affect the value too much and someone said they were A+ quality which I would have to disagree.....