Vintage Sterling Silver Screwback Earrings with Rare Natural Abalone Pearls

Vintage Sterling Silver Screwback Earrings with Rare Natural Abalone Pearls Discover an extraordinary find with this rare pair of vintage sterling silver screwback earrings, featuring stunning natural abalone pearls. Natural abalone pearls are among the rarest pearls in the world due to the abalone mollusk's unique and irregular shell structure, which makes pearl formation highly infrequent and often asymmetrical. Even more remarkably, culturing abalone pearls is notoriously difficult, almost impossible for larger sizes, due to the mollusk's high risk of infection when nucleated. This makes finding a genuine pair of natural abalone pearls, let alone in a matching set for earrings, an exceptional occurrence. Each iridescent pearl displays the mesmerizing "orient" – the play of colors unique to abalone, shimmering with greens, blues, purples, and pinks. They are elegantly suspended from sterling silver screwback findings, a popular mechanism indicative of mid-20th century jewelry. Marked "Sterling", these earrings reflect their authentic silver content. There is some wear to the nacre consistent with their vintage age, which only adds to their unique character and history. These captivating earrings measure approximately 1 15/16" long from the top of the earring.