Joined: Fri Oct 10, 2014 9:54 am Posts: 23 Location: NJ
Hi,
I've been given an opportunity to buy this ring. It's a vintage ring with most probably Basra pearl (as told by seller). I know Basra pearls are very expensive so I decided to buy this ring. I don't have it in my possession yet but from the given pics wondering what the experts think about it? I'll post more pics later when I receive this ring.
When you get it, drag it across your top teeth. Should feel a bit gritty if it's real, but really smooth if it's fake. That won't tell you anything other than whether or not it's a pearl though.
Joined: Fri Oct 10, 2014 9:54 am Posts: 23 Location: NJ
Thanks I'll try that, hope I don't end up eating it.
Any idea about AGL (Americal Gelogocal lab). I'm close to their NYC location and had my yellow sapphire tested by them earlier. They were very good in identifying and grading it. Not sure which is the right place for Pearl testing though.
Joined: Wed Jan 23, 2013 5:29 pm Posts: 1047 Location: Paris
It looks like a real pearl. I suppose your question is : is it a natural or a cultured pearl ? And this, only a lab can tell you with certainty. To me it looks like a natural pearl, but then it is only a look, and supposing that it is natural, it doesn't look like a very expensive one. Not all natural pearls are valuable ; it all depends on the size, shape, color, surface. A charming old ring anyway !
Joined: Wed Apr 18, 2007 4:38 am Posts: 142 Location: New Delhi,India
most advanced technology is used by GIA and Gublien labs to test pearls. have you got it lab tested or not yet? please share lab results. i bought an antique pearl string from an erstwhile royal family here in India.by all means they were looking natural pearls,but GIA certified them to be beadless cultured pearls,their explanation to this term,was that the pearls formed with some unknown human intervention,probably they formed naturally in a pearl farm meant to culture and harvest pearls. technically,pearls retrieved from WILD mussels are given natural pearl certificates. beadless cultured are 100 percent natural pearls,but not from wild mussels. i don't know how they determine the difference between wild pearl and a pearl coming from controlled environment but their term "beadless culture" convert the pearls in an item for which we fail to find buyers.
_________________ Money demands that you sell, not your weakness to men's stupidity, but your talent to their reason.
Joined: Wed Jan 23, 2013 5:29 pm Posts: 1047 Location: Paris
The strict definition of a natural pearl is a pearl formed without any human intervention so beadless cultured pearls (most of them are chinese) don't qualify. Chinese freshwater pearls are the majority of cultured pearls today, and the cheapest sort.
Wild mussel pearls come mainly from North America and the north of Europe (two different types of mussels) and are very rare.
Most natural pearls come from saltwater oysters and the chemical difference between freshwater and saltwater nacre is easy to distinguish for a lab.
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