[CLICLASP]

Hello PG friends

here is an interesting picture for who wants to know how it is inside a conch pearl, not often seen

http://cgi.ebay.fr/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?...=STRK:MEWA:VRI

Though another picture is available in the book on conch pearls

Conch Pearl Book - October 2007

And to go a bit further this year Tiffany blue book issue shows a beautiful jewelry made of a conch pearl mixed with flower petals cut from the strombus giga shell itself.

[john675]

Could you imagine the disappointment of cleaving the pearl during drilling? That would be a bad day...

It is interesting to see the inside, though - thanks for sharing!
John

[smetzler]

All basic literature I've seen on conchs, confirmed by conversations with jewelers in the Bahamas, says that you don't drill them, you glue them. Same with other calcareous concretions (melo-melo, quahog, etc).

[richipat]

Interesting to see the inside. What a shame it cracked -- it is a pretty thing.

[J Marcus]

Ouch! What a shock that must have been. I have to second the warning about never drilling "calcereous concretion" varieties of pearls. I have a very sad but true cautionary tale of such matters: Many years ago, when I was much younger and inexperienced in such things and much more ignorant even than I am now, a man brought a Tridachna pearl to the store where I was working. It had been a gift to him by a native polynesian islander. Never having seen or even heard of such a thing, we arrived at a design for it that involved me drilling it for a post mounting. Yes, it developed a terrible crack that, if I remember correctly, went most or all of the way around it, though it stayed intact. Needless to say, all involved were in a state of shock and most utter dismay. The customer involved was a reasonable person, and because we were quite willing to do almost anything we could to compensate him, we arrived at a reasonable conclusion. However, we all realized, sadly, that nothing could really make it "right" again. I now approach the unknown with much greater caution. Don't ever drill these concretions!

J. Marcus
http://flyrodjewelry.com/home.html

[smetzler]

Originally Posted by J Marcus

I have a very sad but true cautionary tale…

UL, the University of Life. But it HAS been interesting to see the inside of that conch!

[Ashley]

Poor J, that's awful! You must have felt terrible- I had a jeweler friend of mine trying to size an inlay ring with a gemmy 3 carat Tanzanite that shattered due to stress once; all I can do is cringe and sympathize for you.

I agree though, that the inside of the conch is really interesting; I wonder what a clean cross-section would look like under magnification...?

[La Contessa]

Our pretend son is visiting us for a few days. He now lives in the Dominican Republic where there are loads of conch.

Should I have him keep an eye out for conch pearls? He is not in a commercial area on the island - he runs a resort.

[J Marcus]

It couldn't hurt--they're rare and valuable. If he knows or can meet any of the local people who harvest conchs then he might be able to come across some. I'd check to find out what they're wholesale value is first, though. I'm sure that the conch harvesters are aware of the market. Also, he might check with resturaunts that buy and serve conch.

Good luck,
Marc

[Mervione]

I looked a bit at that picture again and it hitted me that it looks like glass!