First, I am not a gemologist. I have recently come to understand that a triple string of Pearls I inherited many years ago may be considerably valuable. I have been told that I should x-ray them to see if they have an artificial nucleus or not. Also to see if the nacre is visible in the x-ray, so as to determine if they are natural or cultured.
Does anyone know what setting to use on the X-ray machine. I am planning to have a veterinarian friend of mine do the x-ray. She doesn't have any idea what setting to use. None of it makes much sense to me. I have been told to "get a good idea" of natural vs. cultured before I go to the expense of sending these pearls to the GIA.
Thanks in advance for any help any of you may be able to provide to me.
GIA published a PDF X-RAY COMPUTEDMICROTOMOGRAPHY: DISTINGUISHINGNATURAL PEARLS FROM BEADED ANDNON-BEADED CULTURED PEARLS by Michael S. Krzemnicki, Sebastian D. Friess, Pascal Chalus, Henry A. Hänni, and Stefanos Karampelas
Joined: Wed Jan 23, 2013 5:29 pm Posts: 1047 Location: Paris
For me it didn't work. All pearls x-rayed by my dentist looked alike, with or without nucleus. The nucleus just didn't show (although I knew there were some). So be careful with x-raying. If I were you I'd rather have the necklace rayed by a gemology lab, not just any ray device. You might get a wrong idea and false hopes.
Also, if you could put online magnified pictures of your necklace, that would show the shape of the pearls, the clasp, and so on, maybe we could help - at least tell you if it looks worth to inquire further.
Any reliable date when the strands might first have been purchased ?
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