Hi Jeremy,

The pearls of Tavernier's time were also bleached, albeit only sun bleached. The Chinese pearl factories have already long ago abolished the Clorox-dunking technique in favor of hydrogen peroxide. Actually the results of sunbleaching are better and you do not get significant deproteinization which may later result in undesirable pearl growth which is always going to be lumpy, bumpy, and devaluing. Virtually all modern pearl bleaching treatments result in deproteinization (which is their whole point because the colored conchiolin is causing the pearl to be other than white to begin with). The long tradition of short-cultured pearls has created an expectation that the pearls are going to be worn out and tossed long before the hydrogen bridges in the conchiolin residue can reestablish themselves. If that happens, environmental calcium will start crystallizing on the edges of the conchiolin as it refolds and reaches the pearl surface. The result is pearl growth and a reversion to original color. Nabatee, sindaali, and jiwan are also fine pearl colors. They do not all have to be abiyadh. There is a lot to learn when one wants to bring back the old pearl standards. Anyhow, the freshadamas that I got from you were not deproteinized and thus probably not bleached.

Zeide