How are your Freshwater Pearls holding up?

[v_ni]

what's your oldest freshwater pearl jewellery and do you wear it everyday?

and does it still look as new/good?

 

[airdancer]

Great topic! I've always wanted to know. I do wear mine everyday. I noticed recently that the luster has diminished somewhat despite being very careful about cleaning and putting them back properly. However, they are quite hardy and are not as easily scratched as I had thought they would be. Even the akoyas that I have are not 'hurt' by swimming pool water and everyday shampoo.

 

[Hanaleimom]

luster

luster

I've read, somewhere online and also on a pamphlet from a Tahitian jeweler, that you can use a drop of olive oil on your pearls. I don't remember if the purpose is to bring back luster or not. Has anyone tried this? Does it work? Thanks.

Airdancer, you wore yours everyday but how long in terms of months or years did it take to diminish the luster?

 

[Pearl Dreams]

Olive oil, like other vegetable oils, is weakly acidic...I would hesitate, personally, to deliberately put an acidic substance on the pearls on any regular basis. I would think it would eventually diminish the luster.

 

[Hanaleimom]

pearl

pearl

I found this link on pearl care from Perles de Tahiti. See question # 9.

http://www.perlesdetahiti.net/site/en/621.html

It says that you can polish them with a drop of oil, but does not say which oil?

 

[airdancer]

Airdancer, you wore yours everyday but how long in terms of months or years did it take to diminish the luster?

Oh, they are not noticeable at all to lots of other people, I must strongly qualify. In fact, everyone thinks they are quite lustrous. But I can see that they don't look as shiny as the first day I took them out of the box. I bought them a month ago. I wear this same strand everyday to the office, perhaps the body oils affected it. I don't know. But I found that my earrings still look great.

I would like to try the olive oil method to bring back the fantastic shine - read it here too. I will have to look for a cheap strand to try it!

 

[Pearl Dreams]

It's a good idea, I think, to occasionally wash the cloth that one uses to wipe one's pearls. Eventually the cloths get dust on them; dust commonly contains quartz which is much harder than pearls and will scratch them.

 

[salem]

Hello,

I remember Jeremy wrote about a product a few months ago that I wanted to try. I recently noticed some of my freshwaters needed a pick me up. So I was wondering, has anyone tried the Pear Doctor? It is associated with TPO and think it is worth a try. I would be scared to use olive oil myself, but then, I don't have a strand I want to risk. Hey, I guess I could use some of my craft pearls.

Anyway, here is the link to the other thread.
https://www.pearl-guide.com/forum/showthread.php?t=2206

 

[v_ni]

airdancer, 1 month isn't a long time, did you try cleaning them with soft cloth?

anyone else have their FW pearls longer and wear them consistently?

i'm really curious since i've read a thread about a lady who wore out her mikimoto strand to the bead in 7 years.......wondering if anyone owned a FW strand and wore them for 7 years.....

 

[jerin]

airdancer, 1 month isn't a long time, did you try cleaning them with soft cloth?

anyone else have their FW pearls longer and wear them consistently?

i'm really curious since i've read a thread about a lady who wore out her mikimoto strand to the bead in 7 years.......wondering if anyone owned a FW strand and wore them for 7 years.....

The bit about the Akoyas is quite true, my mom had a beautiful strand, which she did wear only on formal occasions, after about 10 years the were worn down to the nucleus.

I hav a lot of freshwater strands, though not one that is older than 3 years, so I can?t say how long they will hold their luster and "good looks" but I too noticed on some strands that their luster is not the same as it was from the beginning, it must have to do with more than one factor, I think. Bodyoils or acidity may be just some of them, but as we all here on the forum are caring very much for our pearls and wipe them with a soft cloth, there must be some other reasons as well. Perhaps it has to do with treatments done to the pearls before.... and after some years I think the strands would need a new polishing anyway, but unfortunately private persons don?t have a tumbler with bamboo bits so perhaps the "Pearl doctor" from the Pearl-Guide is a good idea, Sunshine cloth has been mentioned earlier too, I personally have not had the guts to try it on my strands, they are all high-end (AAA + up), so I don?t want to risk scratching them. As for olive oil, I wouldn?t do it. Plain clean (chlorine-free) water perhaps would be enough. Don?t wet your strand but just take a moist cloth to wipe of all that?s on the pearls. And if you want to clean them thoroughly, take castill soap and chlorine-free water, but after that you have to restring your strand/s.

If cared for as mentioned I think they will hold up quite well.

 

[airdancer]

Update: tried the olive oil on a cheaper strand. It does look like it has more glow but that's just a trick of the eye. It doesn't improve the luster - ie, the tightness of the reflection.

Thanks for the pearl doctor link - I forgot about that! Maybe when I get a really really really expensive strand, I'd get that kit.

 

[Pearlgully]

In a prior post (can't find right now), I said that I occasionally dab a drop of olive oil on my pearls. Back in 1999, I went to the French Polynesian islands and it was there that I read about the olive oil. It was in a book and also on several "Caring for Your Pearls" cards given to me when I purchased pearls. Here's a quote from one card ".........Occasionally, after drying them, rub the pearls with a few drops of olive oil placed on a chamois. The oil will restore the pearl's luster and keep them from drying out." I have only seen olive oil recommended on Tahitian paraphanelia. AND.......yes, I followed those instructions and lovingly rubbed my pearls with the stuff. (Years ago I was more neurotic than I am now.) I too, have some very high-end pearls. Do they look any better? Honestly, I can't tell. They don't look worse, either; they look the same as when I bought them. I am not recommending anyone try olive oil, I'm just sharing my experience.


Gail

 

[jerin]

Hi Gail,

that does sound reassuring but if there is no difference I will not try it! I think the silk or what one has strung the pearls with may get oily too and if it is a white strand, perhaps it looks yellow?!

 

[Raisondetre]

I'm guessing the olive oil fills in the porous surface of the nacre and makes it look better. It also prevents evaporative dehydration assuming there is still some moisture left in the pearls in the first place. A little bit won't do any harm. Most pearls are oiled anyway.

 

[Casey.R]

Hmmm, Well ....I had a small dyed black pearl on a pendant that I bought 10 years ago and it still looks okay but I haven't worn it much lately and it's at my mothers house right now so I can't check.
My akoyas are 4 years old and are holding up very well.
I have a pair of freshwater earrings, also dyed black, that look terrible. they are also about 10 years old but I wore them ALL the time and didn't know how to care for pears back then. The rest of my pearl collection is from wthin the last few years.

I hope that with proper care they last a long time.

 

[Caitlin]

Longevity of freshwater pearls.
I think it is the duke of Norfolk that still has a FW strand from the first Queen Mary. It is from the river Tay in Scotland. It is in perfect condition after 400 years. It is in one of those traveling shows and we have put up pictures of it here before.

In general, I do not think a distinction was made between sea water and freshwater pearls in the heyday of natural pearls, both were used and reused over the decades, even centuries, and most of them in the Book of the Pearl by Kunz (1908) are still being restrung and worn. That book has literally hundreds of people wearing piles and piles of pearls. By the 19th century, it looked like all the royality and nobility were saturated with pearls and wore them lavishly for photographs. That book is hard to find and expensive, even though it is a Dover book, but the entire book is online- I am sure there is a link in the Pearl Book and Resources section.

I think the black dye in CFWP was not as good ten years ago, (and neither was the quality of the pearls) but I only have those rice krispie looking pearls from that far back- none of which I have worn every day, none of which are black either. They are shiny metallic colors, bronze, gold, silver.

I do have some white pearls from Pattye that have chips missing from the surface. The nacre showing through the chips is just as shiny as the parts that aren't chipped.

So even though CFWP of good-to-great quality are still youing, a look at history tells us something about the longevity of solid nacre pearls.

 

[Valeria101]

Does UV bleach and/or dull pearls?

There's this one rumor I've picked up about pearls (the source was an old book abut jewelry and pearls, the title escapes) - that they change somewhat with the first exposure to sunlight.

Any truth in it?

I can't test it, since there's no way to get pearls fresh out of water, LOL!

The idea to get a few on a tanning bed sounds a tad wacky to try...

 

[Pearlgully]

I have read that sunlight does effect the natural colored pastel CFWP. I don't think that is a rumor at all. I am sure that I read this in a book but off the top of my head I can't remember which one. I think that significant exposure to sunlight can lighten the color. I am going to look though my books to see where I read this. I have not read anything regarding the first exposure to sunlight.


Gail

 

[pattye]

I would think if there were any rapid or extreme color change our pearls would have to come with a disclaimer!!!! And that information would be much more openly discussed and available that it currently is.

Pattye
so many pearls, so little time

 

[Pearl Dreams]

I have read that sunlight does effect the natural colored pastel CFWP. I don't think that is a rumor at all. I am sure that I read this in a book but off the top of my head I can't remember which one. I think that significant exposure to sunlight can lighten the color. I am going to look though my books to see where I read this. I have not read anything regarding the first exposure to sunlight.


Gail

The only pearl that I've read is lightened by daylight is the conch pearl (and maybe that applies to the Melo melo as well?). Perhaps you are remembering having read this?