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Akoya Pearl Necklace from Midcentury

Name: Akoya Pearl Necklace from Midcentury
Brand: Unknown
Rating: 5 (147 reviews)

$1,750List Price

About the Item

Look at the pictures of these pearls glorious, luminous. Doesn't it appear as though I have Photoshopped them completely out of reality? The way they glow, as if they are plugged into a wall outlet. Including the 14K white gold filigree clasp, upon which rests a 4.42 mm pearl, this strand of otherworldly-beautiful pearls measures 24", which is two-feet for those of you as hobbled by basic arithmetic as I am. A two-foot strand of pearls that are just shy of 8mm each, averaging approximately 7.65 mm each. These are cultured saltwater pearls from the Pinctada fucata; more popularly known as the Akoya oyster. In the 1950s when these pearls were grown in the cold waters off the coast of Japan, cultured pearls remained in the water for a longer duration than today. Which resulted in thicker nacre. Nacre (pronounced NAY-ker) is the "pearly" exterior of the pearl and is composed of the mineral, aragonite. In the cold waters off the coast of Japan, the aragonite —the nacre— is deposited by the oyster in a tight, more compact crystal structure which results in the high lustre displayed in these vintage pearls. Early cultured pearls kind of give you the best of both worlds: the perfection of perfect (or near-perfect) roundness offered by the cultured pearl together with the thick, durable nacre of the natural pearl, which is solid nacre all the way through. These creamy-white pearls exhibit high luster with only minor surface blemishing and a lovely soft pink overtone. In many ways, this is the perfect strand of classic 7mm Akoya pearls that will go out of fashion on the same day Burmese rubies or Russian alexandrites go out of fashion, which is to say: never. Timeless, classic but definitely not boring, this lustrous strand of pearls feel luxurious to the touch. They hand around the neck with a significant and satisfying weight of 46 ¼ grams. It is soothing and calming to feel the weighty drape of these gleaming sea-gems hang from your neck, to feel the weight of the pearls through the bones in your chest. Another thing to love about pearls is not merely their "timelessness" but versatility. Name one thing a bride wears on her wedding day that she can wear the following month at the weekend farmer's market. Her dress? Her shoes? Her tiera? Yeah, no. But she can wear her pearls. She can wear them on her wedding day and then wear them on her in-search-of-rhubarb day. Pearls are appropriate when you are marring the future king of England and when you are wearing a white lab coat and telling your seven-year-old patient to stick out her tongue. I'm not going to list all the iconic women who have worn strands of cultured pearls from the 1950s because that list would fill a book. But I am going to share my opinion about why I believe cultured pearls from this era are a wise purchase. Some of today's cultured sea pearls are allowed so little time in the water to create nacre, that the nacre can actually wear away before your eyes. The result is a necklace you can't pass on to your daughter or granddaughter or anybody at all. But with a strand of pearls from the 1950s, you have an enduring treasure. This necklace might cost more than a new necklace of cultured pearls but you're getting something for those extra dollars: extra nacre. And that's going to assure that these pearls look just as beautiful on your granddaughter they do on you.

Metal:
14k Gold
Stone:
Cultured Pearl
Style:
Modern
Place of Origin:
Japan
Period:
1950-1959
Date of Manufacture:
circa 1950s
Condition:
Beautiful condition with no signs of damage or repair. Recently restrung on white silk cord, knotted between each pearl using the traditional pearl stringing method.
Seller Location:
Northampton, MA
Reference Number:
1stDibs: LU158918515581

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