[YHammouda-Eyre]

Hello Pearl Guiders recently a visitor from Grayling, MI, USA wrote in to ask where she could get her pearls refinished, they are quite chipped and scratched and she would like to get them refinished. Would anyone have any ideas? I am not in the USA.
On the same topic - what does the process of refinishing pearls involve exactly? Do they polish out the flaws? Thanks again.

with regards
Yvonne Hammouda-Eyre
www.antique-jewelry-investor.com

[pattye]

Hello Yvonne,

It is possible from the description of "chipped and scratched" the woman's pearls could very possibly be faux pearls. I am not aware of any way to refinish pearls--genuine pearls, or fake pearls.

Extremely dirty genuine pearls such as from smoking, makeup, might appear to be refinished after cleaning.

She needs to take her pearls somewhere reliable to have them evaluated.

There are a few people who "peel" pearls, but not a whole strand. It is a rare art! There is info somewhere here on the forum about that.

Just my opinion,

[Caitlin]

Are they chipped around the drill hole or in the body of the pearl? What is under the chips?

She can wash them in a gentle soap or detergent solution herself, then lay them out flat on a towel to dry and see how they look.

If they are chipped and scratched, maybe the best course is to replace them. An excellent freshwater strand can be had for an extremely reasonable price.

[Esther Sonenblick]

Hi Catlin,

Sometimes to use soap could be risky because some of them could acctually run the pearls by drying them out. But they could get a special pearl cleaning solution from let say Hagerty that I had used for about 500 strands of pearls or they even could get one at Target that I think works quite good. Good look by cleaning them.

[Caitlin]

One caveat. If those are thin skinned akoyas, forget it. Washing would finish them off.

Dr Bronner's soap has always been considered as safe for pearls. There is also a cleaning solution you can find in the pearl care forum. Rehydrating can be done by leaving the pearls in a seashell or some such, in the bathroom, for a couple of days once the silk is dry.


I am always curious what the commercial products have in them that makes them better, then say, baby shampoo or other gentle detergent. I wore a freshwater pearl bracelet 24/7 for a year- dishes, showers, everything, to test out power pro as an alternative to silk. At the end of a year, they looked as good or better than when I started. And the Power Pro never stretched or even got dirty! My conclusion- freshwater pearls love soap and water. Dang, they are fantastic pearls!

It is only the silk that gets stretched and ruined by washing unless you lay them on something to dry out without pulling. I find that stretching is a major flaw of silk strung pearls.

[pattye]

How True, Caitlin!

If those are thin skinned akoyas, forget it. Washing would finish them off.

So I guess the point is, without knowing specifically what kind of pearls and their condition, no advice should be given. What's safe to do, if anything, depends on many factors, requiring careful consideration, even with pearls in hand.

[YHammouda-Eyre]

Thanks for all the great advice.

Unfortunately though I haven't a photo of these pearls, so I haven't any idea what type of pearls are chipped and peeling.

I've read somewhere, (I can't remember where now) that placing some types of pearls in a jar of potato flour gently shaking them in the jar for a couple of minutes, leaving for about a day , shaking again, leaving for another day, giving them a final shake, removing them from the jar and brushing off the powder with a soft cloth, is a safe way to Clean pearls. But like pattye, I 've never come across a process of Pearl REFINISHING before. Thanks again.

Yvonne
www.antique-jewelry-investor.com