Featured Help with some pearls?

I'm terrible with pearls. From what I've been able to find online, WAKO is a nice department store in Tokyo. But, is this brooch anything special? It's marked only with "Sterling" on the back and is in a WAKO box.

The second brooch is in a Munetomo box, but I can't find any info online about Munetomo. What kind of pearls have this bluish-silver color?

And finally, is this necklace made of baroque pearls?

 

Ones that have been dyed.

Any pearl that is not spherical is baroque, although the term is not usually used for things like seed pearls. In another thread, someone called these potato pearls.

 

They could be dyed, as Bronwen said, but they could also be from the black-lipped oyster:


Which could mean Tahitian pearls, or South Sea pearls.
The shop name sounds Japanese. The style of the brooch looks 60s-70s, which means the pearls could be Australian. Australia was the main supplier of South Sea pearls to Japan at the time.
There are different classifications, the ones in the shell above are of better quality than yours.
Sorry, nothing definite, but pearl determination can be tricky.

Here is something on baroque pearls:
https://www.pearlsonly.com/blog/what-are-baroque-pearls-and-how-valuable-are-they/

 

Thank you both for your help!

 

Cool looking pearls those south sea bluish ones, are they more expensive than regular white ones?

 

if they are real South Sea.....& the white are not 12 mm plus natural round..!

 

Just found a tiny 18K mark on the gold part of the first brooch.

 

The pearls in the second one seem to change color dramatically with the light source. They looked bluish in front of the window when I took the pic yesterday. They looked like ball bearings when I checked them with the loupe earlier today. Tonight they look like they have a lavender tone. Pretty neat!

 

YAY !!!!!

 

Black Tahiti pearls are the most expensive, even more than 'regular' South Sea pearls, but it always depends on the quality, size, lustre. They aren't really black, but the colour range you see in the photo.
I have an ivory white 'Tahiti pearl in the shell' pendant which is worth only slightly more than comparable white pearls. But my black Tahiti pearl pendant is worth much more than other black or peacock coloured pearls.

 

Perfect! The pearls on that one have a very nice lustre.

 

I own a brooch in the same design as the first one pictured. My dad bought it for me from Munetomo Pearls in Tokyo. It is set with cultured pearls on a sterling silver and 18k gold mount. Interestingly, my cousin used to be the gemmologist for Munetomo.

 

Welcome to Antiquers, @bonBon1920 -- I am going to tag the original poster, @sassafras , and hope that she sees this.

 

Appreciate the tag, @Figtree3

Thank you so much for the info @bonBon1920! So, my first two brooches are in each other's boxes and need to be switched. If I could only remember where I put them....