stinky pearl dilemma!

S

sleight

Guest
I had the strangest thing happen with a Tahitian pearl necklace I was making yesterday...

Here's the background info: I have the worst strand of Tahitians I've ever seen. After seeing the posts of the illegal imports, I feel certain these must belong in that category. (Note: I did NOT buy them!!! I know better!!!) I've had them for 1 1/2 years because I just didn't know what to do with them. I looked at them yesterday and determined that there was one pearl that I actually liked and could use.

So immediately upon taking it off the strand, I noticed it had 2 drill holes, side by side, and a dislocated nucleus. Sounded like a rattle...

But I went ahead and made my necklace, cleaned it and prepared to send it away to a buyer...

Thankfully, before I sent it off, I noticed a distinct odor - coming from the pearl! Like a nasty, something crawled up in there and died kind of odor! I think water seeped in from the cleaning and triggered some kind of nasty reaction. I'm talking NASTY!!! Is this the remnants of a little gas pocket? Weird.

So, it's definitely out of the sales box. But I'm wondering, should I chuck the pearl for its offensive odor violation? Or is there a pearl deodorant I could give it to help it out?

One crazy thought - could I somehow insert glue inside to fill up the cavity and cut off the odor?

Any other ideas? Or should I really just give up and toss it...
 
I have a cowry shell that I picked up on the beach. I did not realize it had a hermit crab or whatever in there. I washed it in soap and water and left it on the bathroom counter. It turned stinky for over a week and then it was fine. I think whatever was inside just shrank and dried up. :)
 
I've been told that keishi pearls stink when drilled too! But the smell will soon go away. I will hope that happens in this case! I would definitely give the pearl a chance to completely dry out.
 
Sleight...... I know what you mean. I posted a while back for advice when I drilled my South Sea keshi pearls. Not only was the odor beyond horrible, but brown liquid kept oozing out of the pearls. GROSS!!! Ultimately, the smell and the brown stuff disappeared but only after I realized that I had to stop washing the pearls in water and just let them dry out. (It took several weeks.)
I have since learned that this is quite common in baroque pearls, be it SS or freshwater. I guess it's just the organic matter substance that forms within the pearl.
The worst part however, was cleaning my pearl drilling machine; the brown liquid splattered all over it.
Anyway, leave the pearl by an opened window for a few weeks and see if that helps; the odor should disappear. Don't put it in water.

Gail
 
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Pearls -all varieties: natural, cultured, keshi, etc- can contain organic matter embedded between nacre layers or between the nucleus and the newly deposited nacre/conchiolin layers. This organic matter (usually gonadal tissue, sometimes part of the mantle intself...it can have multiple origin) will decompose (thanks to bacteria or the oyster's own defensive mechanisms) and form "pockets" of what we tenderly call "Pearl Petroleoum" (or "PePe" to shorten).
When you drill a pearl and hit a "Pepe" you will sometimes find this hidden treasure ("Black Gold"??? :eek: )and -oh boy!- the stink is sometimes quite strong. A pungent odour will hang on to the pearl for a while...unless you try something.

  1. Pearl bleaching: by allowing the pearls to sit in a mild chloride solution you will bleach your pearls AND remove odours. I don't recommend this.
  2. Baths:Allow the pearls to sit in plain tap water for a full day, then change the water and repeat for a full week. Then pat dry the pearl and allow it to dry on a towel for another week. If the smell still clings to the pearl repeat the procedure.
  3. Dry Cleaning: cover the pearl with baking soda for a week. Remove excess baking soda and smell...hopefully you will only smell your coffee.

Hope this helps
 
When you drill a pearl and hit a "Pepe" you will sometimes find this hidden treasure ("Black Gold"??? )and -oh boy!- the stink is sometimes quite strong.

Brilliant, Douglas!! Black Gold- ewwww- that really is the perfect name for it!

Sleight,

I think almost everybody who has drilled enough pearls runs into this little stinkaroo from time to time- welcome to the wonderful world of pearls! ;) Lol, Just try not to get any on your hands- lemon juice is a good deodorizer too
 
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Lemon Juice is indeed a very good option to remove the stink from cloth or your hands (another excellent option, but harsh on your skin: sulphur soap...yep! that little yellow bar of soap can even remove the stink of rotten whale's carcass from you in a jiffy!) but you don't want the lemon's juice near the pearls, that is why I did not reccomend it.

Forgot to mention that "Gas Pearls" are a good source of "Pepe"...with oil prices going up maybe it would be worth to develop a new by product of pearls: Pearl Gasoline. Anyone know a good source of research funds for such a noble project??? ;)
 
Sorry, you are absolutely correct- I failed to specify that lemon juice is acidic, and harmful to pearls (great for the hands, I use it everytime I dice onions!)
 
Pearlgully said:
Don't put it in water.
Click to expand...

I see that CortezPearls disagrees with this and although he is the expert, the reason I said this was because after I washed the pearls and let them dry, the brown liquid dried up, too. Each time I put a pearl back in water, that horrible brown stuff would loosen and ooz out again. Although, this took place almost a year ago, I have a feeling that if I put the pearls in water now, it would start oozing out again.

Gail
 
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Gail,
I think that's what happened with this particular pearl. I bought it already drilled and strung and odor-free. But the quality of the strand is so low, I'm not surprised that this one good quality pearl had this hidden flaw. I didn't notice anything until I cleaned the necklace and the water unleashed the odor.

But maybe soaking it long enough will get the crud out. And baking soda is a good idea! I'm a big believer in the powers of baking soda.

Thanks for all the input!
 
The best solution

The best solution

Hello,

I should have the best solution for your problem.
First of all, the "stinky" water that comes from your pearl is due to certain kind of bacteria that were trapped inside the pearl during his maturation; it causes a fermentation with a result of gas and water that smell really bad.

In Tahiti, we are using Hydrogen Peroxide; it is H2O2 (to compare to water H2O) and it is very safe for the pearl. So you have to put the "stinky" pearl inside a solution of Hydrogen Peroxide diluted with some water (not to many). Miracle ! the odor should disappear very fast.

For information for the acidity:
pH = 2 for Lemon juice
pH = 5 for H2O2 (pure)
pH = 7 for water

But anyway, we drench the pearls with water after the Hydrogen Peroxide process.

regards,
Marama
 
I hate hitting those stink bombs... I drill hundreds of pearls at a time it really ruins the fun when you come across of few of the nasty buggers.... I will make sure to try the Hydrogen Peroxide treatment...
 
Don't want to make anymore chocolate pearls... Quite frankly I am sad the whole fad started...
 
He's got some great stuff on his site...
 
OK, I've got my stinky pearl soaking in hydrogen peroxide now. Hope it works and doesn't turn the pearl brown 'cause a brown stinky pearl has no chance of redemption. It'd be a pearl turd and that's just wrong!!!
 
In Tahiti, we are using Hydrogen Peroxide; it is H2O2 (to compare to water H2O) and it is very safe for the pearl. So you have to put the "stinky" pearl inside a solution of Hydrogen Peroxide diluted with some water (not to many). Miracle ! the odor should disappear very fast.

For information for the acidity:
pH = 2 for Lemon juice
pH = 5 for H2O2 (pure)
pH = 7 for water
Click to expand...

Be careful when using the hydrogen peroxide as it comes in 2 strengths that I know of. There is a 6% strength and another strength. Not sure if the other one is weaker or stronger. Forget. But it would make a difference on the formula. Great stuff that has many applications but be careful with it.

Dawn
 
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