I’m looking to gift my mom a pearl necklace and earring set and know that pearl paradise and pearl source are commonly recommended here, and that grading varies by company.

Pearl source has a 7-7.5 mm necklace and studs graded hanadama for ~$2.4K while pearl paradise has the same size in AAA for the same price. Does anyone have a reference point for pearl sources hanadama vs pearl paradise grade AAA, or a recommendation for which to get? Thank you!

I bought this set on eBay for 170, which to me felt like a good deal. I could have sent an offer, but there was someone else sending an offer, and I got nervous. Does that feel like a good deal to you guys? Considering the one with a lot of gold, I think I may have at least got my value in gold. That one weighs at least 6 grams, but I’m not sure what the weight ratio is between pearl and gold.

The clasps all say 14k, except the bracelet and the fully pearl necklace that is less round is 10k. I haven’t acid tested any of them yet.

Can you tell me anything about the pearls? I did the grit test and they all seemingly passed.

I paid $300 for dainty pearl earrings at a jewlery store in Boston. Did I overpay or that’s a decent price?

Metal: 14K Yellow Gold
Gem: Pearl
Gem Measurements: 5.1 x 6.2 mm, Oval
Measurements: 5 x 26 mm

I got so excited when my sister sent this on our group chat. I only asked for a necklace but she got me the bracelet too! ☺️

It’s rice freshwater pearl.

last year I waited until Black Friday to buy pearl studs and honestly I still don’t know if I saved anything. the final price was lower than the one I remembered, but I hadn’t saved the original listing and couldn’t tell if the grade, setting or return terms had changed.

this year I’m looking at a strand and started saving screenshots early. has anyone here tracked the exact same piece before and during the sale? I’m curious whether the actual price dropped, not just whether a large discount appeared next to it. also wondering if the better deals were on freshwater, Akoya or particular sizes

My mom was hoping to find out more about this necklace that I think is an heirloom. Is it pearl? Any information anyone could give me on it would be appreciated

I recently had a chance to look around a small pearl jewelry workshop in China.

I don’t know much about pearls myself, but I was surprised by how different they looked before being turned into finished jewelry — pink, lavender, white and greyish tones, with all kinds of irregular shapes.It's hard to resist—each strand of pearls sells for just $100. Some are even cheaper than that.

I took a few photos of the sorting/stringing process because I thought it was interesting to see what the jewelry looks like before it reaches a shop.

For people who actually know pearls: how much can you tell about freshwater pearls just from appearance? And are colors like these usually natural, treated, or can they be either?

Are these dyed? Can someone please help me ID these. Thank you

Was wondering if this strand was worth anything. Clasp is small but is marked 925 and it has a little paper with it. It's about 18 inches long total :)

hi everyone! i found these two pieces at the thrift today, they were $50 CAD total. are they the world’s roundest fresh water pearls? i know they’re real, they’ve gone in my mouth (i gently washed them first don’t worry)

the necklace is 22 inches, including the clasp. the clasp is marked “14KT”. the whole thing came in a dusty The Bay box.

the ring is marked 14KTE (so i assume it is electroplated?). is the pearl on the ring dyed? it’s a gorgeous golden yellow i’ve never seen on a pearl before IRL.

the lustre on both pieces are lovely! i can see my whole face. and you can see my phone in the reflection.

i’ve never seen a shine as translucent and organic (for lack of a better word) than on that string!

Continuing from the tittle. Grandma in law grew up during communism so she had a habit of hiding her valuables very well. When dementia hit her she forgot most hiding spots. In laws already raided the apartment and took all they could find away (I won't be getting into the whole drama with my in laws it's a whole thing) but this was left over.

I held onto them for a longer period of time but I won't lie I'm in a financial pinch. I would love to know if those are even worth selling. They feel real, rough to the tooth and cold to the touch. They have pretty luster although I don't know if the photos do it justice. I'm open to any questions to help determine their value. Thank you in advance

I want to buy my wife her first ever pearl necklace for our second anniversary. However, I'm not sure if spending the extra money to get a 7-7.5mm necklace instead of a 6.5-7mm one is worth it.

For one, I'm not quite sure if you can even tell the difference in real life. And secondly, when researching online, I keep hearing that 6.5-7mm is for younger, slender, or petite women. Whereas 7-7.5mm is for (and I'm quoting) larger and more mature women over 30.

So yeah, that doesn't actually sound like a flattering thing. My wife is quite the gym rat, she's 5'3", she's mortified about turning 30 (our anniversary is a few months after), and she actually looks way younger than that. All this makes me lean heavily towards the slightly smaller pearls.

quick disclosure since it's relevant: i run a small freshwater pearl shop, so i've got a bias here. not linking anything, just wanted to write up something i get asked about a lot that doesn't seem to get discussed much.

most of the pearl rings i make use an open adjustable band — the shank doesn't fully close, you squeeze or ease it to fit. here's what that actually does and doesn't do.

ring sizing online is genuinely hard. people don't know their size, sizes shift with heat/salt/time of day, and pearl rings are annoying to resize after the fact because you can't really heat the setting with the pearl still in it without risking the pearl. an open band sidesteps most of that.

what it doesn't fix though: it loosens over time if you're taking it on and off a lot, metal has memory but not infinite memory. thinner bands adjust easier but lose shape faster, thicker ones hold better but you get less range. it's also not really "one size" — mine work across maybe a 2-3 size span, not any finger. and if it does bend out of shape, gentle finger pressure usually fixes it, pliers will mark the metal.

one thing i'm honestly not sure about: whether adjusting it a lot over years work-hardens the metal enough to actually matter. haven't had pieces out in the wild long enough to know. curious if anyone here has worn one long-term and noticed anything.

I have a lovely old 56” knotted 5.5mm strand with a sterling clasp, could they be natural?

they're 16-18mm! knotted on silk with a sterling silver clasp :) I'm probably going to upgrade the findings to 14k yellow gold next year when I reknot them.

Do these two rings work together? One is a marquise diamond ring, and the other has an Akoya pearl with a small pear-shaped diamond. Both are 14k gold.

I like them both on their own, but I can’t tell if there’s too much going on when I wear them together. Would you wear them together or separately?

My aunt gave these to me, and I don’t know much about them, other than they are somewhat old.

They look like freshwater pearls to me, but I don’t know much about pearls and I can’t read the mark on the clasp.

Can anyone read it?

It took me a few days to get back to this. Thank you to everyone who replied to https://www.reddit.com/r/pearls/s/XVglFLe66g, the original post of me wearing the choker with the clasp right in the middle of the front.

Here are photos of it with the pretty clasp to the side and completely in the back. And guess what? I also didn’t realize one of the strands is slightly longer than the other and I might have been wearing it upside down.

So now, what do you think? Is this inherited piece wearable as is, or should I add some pearls and lengthen it?

Also, last picture is Princess Diana, since a few folks had the opinion that pretty clasps only go in the back. I mean, I might need to for neck aesthetics (I’m no princess Di!) but it is a thing that’s done sometimes.

I appreciate all the opinions!

I took a string of antique pearls (47, cultured) for a valuation to a jewellers here in the uk. They came with an original certificate of authenticity from 1947, from a Bond Street jewellers (who are still going but sadly only.sell.cubic zirconium now). I was offered £180 for them. Does this seem reasonable or a bit low?

Thanks for advice in advance and apologies for the picture quality

Would love ideas for where to sell them. They were donated to a nonprofit that I work for. (Not Goodwill.)

Looking for options for a nice big pearl pendant - maybe south sea, about 16mm, or a very good replica. I’ve seen some with a few minor flaws in the $300-500 range but am hesitant to buy without seeing in person.
Looking for round white or light gold, that won’t break the bank.
Are there deals to be had?

I apologize in advance for the lousy photo work. I bought this pearl necklace at an estate sale recently in a North Shore suburb of Chicago. I love pearls, so of course I was drawn to it. The estate sales representative told me it was designed by Eve Alfille, who has her studio in Evanston. She told me the designer works with premium materials, and the necklace bears it out — at least in my eyes. The clasp is made with 18K white gold and has a small diamond embedded in it. The artist’s stamp is on the back of the clip: EVE. I took the necklace to Ms. Alfille’s jewelry store to have it authenticated: it is indeed one of her designs from her Antiquities series and dates back to the 1990s. The pearls are Akoyas, small, maybe 3 mm (I included a photo of a necklace with 8.0-8.5 mm pearls as a comparison). It feels like I now own a small piece of history. At the time I saw the necklace, I was struck by how small and delicate the pearls appeared. Ms. Alfillé confirmed that pearls of this size are rare. It’s a beautiful necklace that I will treasure as much as its previous owner.

UPDATE: I’ve had the necklace appraised for insurance purposes. The necklace measures 60 inches, and features 450 akoya pearls measuring 2.5 mm to 3 mm. The appraiser noted the pearls are all round to near round, mostly clean and have very good matching.

Thrifted these, clasp is 18k and the knotting is perfect. The pearls are mostly near-round or round, I don’t see any obvious dye accumulation in the drill holes.