Search results

I'm not sure this is a fix insomuch as a countermeasure because fading takes a long time. Older mollusks produce slightly thicker nacre so it stands to reason this would be a good first approach to the problem. Likewise, discontinuing post harvest treatments are also a good measure. Fading is a...

So if it's not a pearl it's an emerald then? Emeralds do not occur in Quartzite. Emeralds (and most corundum, tourmaline, garnet, beryl) are associated with pegmatites which are igneous rocks. Quartzite is a metamorphic mineral.

Minerals vary widely in specific gravity. From 2 to 20 on average, which is a huge range difference. There is no such thing as "the same like a rock".

These are interesting strands, if you can call them that. More like temporary stringing on monofilament. Size graduation is typical. Individually drilled, mostly on the Z axis with some exceptions. The color is balanced, mainly butter white with some red shift (likely ambient source). Highly...

When pearls are in settings, it's difficult to get complete views of each object. My scoring system does much help here either, because many of the points are masked by the settings. I'd definitely like to see other images from aside and the backs. The pearls present with smooth, uniform...

Quartzite, not a pearl.

It does not appear to be a pearl, instead a broken fragment of shell.

Yes, thank you for pointing that out. And yes a weathered piece. Umbo (strombus perhaps). Natural grinding in absence of tool marks.

It is a pearl. However other than a slight pink(ish) touch on < 10% of the surface, it's insufficient to support strombus origin. While conch pearls often express with chatoyancy, the slight flame patterns at the edges of this piece more resembles that of Giant Clam (Tridacna gigas). Likewise...

It's an akoya pearl which judging by the surrounding structure is definitely attached to the shell naturally. It's a cultured pearl and the shell has been cleaned up at the edges. Ornamental value only.

In the 90s, 400/oz was still a lot of money. Clasps have different parts which need to be fit for assembly. A run of gold findings commissioned by Mikimoto seem much more likely than a one-off to merely copy a Miki clasp. Being good quality gold, the post may been to thin/soft and bent or...

I completely agree, Pattye. It doesn't make much sense why anyone would replicate a gold Miki clasp in the first place. The price of gold being what it is, there would be no added value. Even if it were created to add value to other pearls, a silver clasp could have been used to that end instead.

Why use expensive compounds and elaborate materials when a simple shell grind would suffice? Any object has a thermal co-efficiency value. Donor objects must be near or identical to that of the recipient. Any drilling, especially into nuclei harder than the surface will expand and crack the...

Excellent questions. External signs. Sometimes, but not as a rule. From livestock, I tend to target large, over-mature shells with shell anomalies. From deadstock (demised by whatever reason) they'll sometimes gape. External to internal bore-type parasites are visible from the outside, but...

It's a coin pearl. So named for the coin shaped/size of the nucleus made from another shell used in the production process.

Here are images of the shells from where the soft tissues in the previous images resided. The pericardium parallels the dorsal line along the interior of the right valve. Medial to the organ (likely highest blood pressure point) a blister pearl occurs adjacent to the hinge. Otherwise healthy...

Individually. At least up to the genetics part. If that's where I end up, I'll be content with providing the materials.

Scarcely a few microns in size, new pearls born to the world.

I've been back in the field collecting specimens. I set out this year to revisit a theory on the incidence of pearl formation related to heart disease. In almost every specimen found to contain pearls, a great percentage were found within <50% of the radius from the center of the anatomy. This...

They're the same, but the angle is deceptive. I agree it seems like foreign matter or at least not part of the nuclear material of the piece. A pendant or bracelet may have been fashioned with this then broke free to become lost on a beach. Or at least that rationale seems more realistic than...