[ruby_shoes]

Hello,
I'm new to this forum, but have been reading all your posts for the last few hours! Very enlightening

I recieved a pair of Tiffany and Co cultured sea, 7.5mm pearl studs for my birthday yesterday. I am paranoid about damaging them when talking on the phone!

Are pearls hard enough not to be scratched by a phone to the ear? Or should I be worried?

TIA!

[Zeide Erskine]

Hi,

If they are 7.5mm from Tiffany & Co they are akoyas and you should be worried if you are phoning a lot because that will wear them down. Dangles are better for frequent phoners because then you only wear down the gold and not the pearls.

Zeide

[jshepherd]

Unless you are on the phone 24/7 for the next several years, pressing and rubbing the phone against the side of your head, do not be that worried about the earrings. Akoya pearls are not fragile to the point of wear while on the phone.

I sincerely believe my wife spends more time on the phone than anyone I have ever met, and she never takes her 10mm Akoya studs off - she has been wearing them for several years - and they are still beautiful.

[ruby_shoes]

Agghh conflicting information!
Sincerely appreciate both your replies however
I'm not on the phone all day everyday, and am only talking on a plastic style cordless home phone.
Fingers crossed, as I'm unable to return them now! They were bought from New York City, and i'm in Sydney Australia.

[ladykemma]

unless you answer phones for a living, i would not be concerned.

[Zeide Erskine]

I thought phoning for a living was the concern.

[jshepherd]

No, she simply stated she was concerned to talk on the phone while wearing the earrings, and unless she makes a practice of banging herself in the head with the phone, there is no risk to the pearls. If she uses any hairspray or other products, that is where the risk is.

[Mia Mesa]

I'm on the phone almost all day, along with the other ladies of PearlParadise.com, and my stud earrings are in great condition! I have noticed however that I've developed a phone technique when I'm wearing my studs. I only press the ear piece down onto the top part of my ear and leave the part over the stud earring just hovering several millimeters away from the pearl. So the phone never actually touches the pearl. I must say I also keep the volume on my phone turned up pretty high that I can probably hold the whole phone a foot away from my ear and still hear the conversation, along with others in the same room!

[Zeide Erskine]

Hi Mia,

One should add to the desiderata for phone-compatible pearl studs that the posts should not be overly long daggers as are popular among the "serious" jewelers. Frequent phoners wearing pearl studs with the long posts will sooner or later stab themselves behind the ear. This particularly applies to Tahitians and South Seas. It once happened to me and I have never worn the offending earrings ever again. It has also led to the curious phenomenon that I do not anwer the phone anymore when wearing studs.

Zeide