Featured What kind of coral is this?

I think this is real coral. It weighs about .3 pounds (136 grams).

 

Bet @Any Jewelry has something to say about that!!!!!

 

It is gorgeous, and yes coral. A pretty generic ethnic style, my guess is the region Middle East to Northern India.
The coral could be natural, it could be dyed. First look in the drill hole. If the inside of the hole is white, it is dyed. Will you let me know the result? I have a test, but I don't generally recommend it.

 

Thank you!
I'm not home now, but I'll let you know once I get back.

 

I'll say dyed...but still a nice piece !

 

If it's dyed, how much would a necklace like this be worth? Versus undyed?

 

That's a hard call, but off the cuff I'd suspect undyed would be worth 3 to 4 times as much.....IMO.......off the cuff !!!

 

Let's wait until you've seen the inside of the beads. When you're home, could you take a picture of the clasp? It looks like there is no clasp at all, but you would have mentioned it.

 

There's a clasp. The picture just didn't turn out as well as I would have liked. I don't know if there's a mark on it; I wasn't the one who took these photos. I'll let you know soon.

 

With that Western style clasp on an ethnic style necklace, northern India is more likely than the Middle East.

 

don't I see a light scuff...far right 2nd to last pic..?

 

Seeing the clasp, size of the coral pieces, I suspect bamboo coral:
https://www.dhgate.com/product/about-10x20mm-orange-color-sea-bamboo-coral/251677616.html

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

 

undyed bamboo coral is white

 

my thinking also....

 

It's absolutely a BEAUTIFUL necklace!!!!!!!! Is this circled area any indication of anything???? Fourth image down......

 

Just that it really is coral. If the metal isn't silver, that increases the odds the coral is dyed. Natural coral chunks that size would be on precious metal.

 

To me that lobster clasp looks out of place with the rest of the hardware..

 

They sometimes use them in India on modern ethnic or ethnic inspired necklaces. I have a modern Banjara (Rajasthani Gypsy) necklace with a similar clasp. The symbols of the necklace are traditional, the execution, including the use of sterling silver, is modern.
Clasps can be replaced, but in this case I think it is original to the piece.

 

It looks it, but looks can deceive, which is why asked barn to check, and also why I didn't want to hint at a value.

I thought this was dyed bamboo coral at first, but after testing each bead separately with acetone (I know..., don't try this at home), they all turned out to be natural:


White blotches are not always an indication that coral is dyed, by the way. This 19th century Yemeni necklace is made using even older Mediterranean or Red Sea coral:

 

In ethnic jewellery, the fact that non-precious metals are used is not an indication. This huge Palestinian necklace is made of gorgeous Mediterranean coral, but the metal beads are base metal. Only the focal piece is silver and niello.


Because of all of this, I'd rather wait until barn has looked at the drill hole. If it is white, it is dyed. If it is red, we can see what's next.
Ethnic jewellery can be very complicated.