Pearls - family sets

[Needanadultgapyear]

I have been gifted some strings of pearls recently they belonged to my great great Granny and my great great aunt.
I know the need to be worn to keep their beauty. I am in my 50s never felt a particularly stylish person, but also suffer quite a lot from social anxiety about getting things wrong / looking wrong.
There is a single strand that just sits on collar bone, double strand that sits just beneath the collar bone and a double strand that is longer. What would you wear them with.
My work is clinical so wouldn’t wear them then. Can you just put them on with jeans and nice top?

Are any of them the length that you could wear them around your wrist, so it looks like a couple of bracelets?
With the longer set, can you tie a knot in it and wear it like that?

None long enough for a knot. One set can be wrap around a wrist three times.

Yes, I would wear them with jeans and a nice top. I think pearls are lovely and you're fortunate to have been gifted some real ones - enjoy!

Have inherited pearls and worn them with lots of different things and think they’re versatile and fine with casual clothes.

They don’t ‘need to be worn to keep their beauty’.

You can wear them with anything you want. I have a lovely set and just had them restrung as the thread was looking a bit fragile.

I have a single string which I was given over 40 years ago. It now sits at collar bone and a newish single string which is a bit lower. I wear them a lot. They're very versatile.

Ooh could we have a pic OP? They sound gorgeous!

I like pearls but would probably wear individually layering with other necklaces. Id be tempted to get one made into a choker length - looks cool with a t-shirt. Also perhaps made into a bracelet. This would work for me but depends on your style. I would rather have them made into something I'd wear a lot that not ever use

Lucky you! I'm obsessed with pearls and wear them a lot. For general daytime, I usually wear them under an open neck shirt/blouse so you only see the front of them. For more formal daytime eg wedding, graduation etc or evening events I'm happy to have the whole necklace on show. I would wear both of the shorter strands in the day or evening but I'd keep your longer double strand for evening wear.

Do you have pearl earrings you can wear with them? I wear plain pearl earrings for day and evening wear but a pearl necklace also looks good with diamonds.

I'd love a pearl necklace @Shetlands, any suggestions of where to buy?

It really depends on what you want and the size of your budget. I've inherited some real ones, bought some good artificial ones in charity shops and also bought some vintage real pearls from an auction house (you can find bargains!).

I've never bought new pearls myself but I had some as a gift, purchased from a reputable family jewellery business.

If you're completely new to pearls and have a smallish budget, I'd start with good quality vintage artificial ones. If you've seen the film The King's Speech, Helena Bonham Carter plays his wife Queen Elizabeth and she bought the pearls she's wearing in a charity shop. They're very good artificial ones.

If you already have those and want to go up a notch, you could look at online auctions and also visit some antique jewellery shops. New pearls are in all the online jewellers and the cheapest real pearls are usually freshwater pearls, followed by cultured pearls and lastly natural pearls.

I have a pearl necklace that I wore for my wedding as ‘something borrowed’ from my Nan but she told me to keep it. And I think of her when I look at it

That's the definition of precious jewellery.

They need the oils from our skin to maintain their lustre without it they become dull.

Yes there are two sets of earrings a drop pair that each have two large pearls and two smaller that were GreatGreat Aunts going out pearls and earrings. And then Great Great Granny’s day set of pearls have clip on earrings that are stud style.