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Nice, terrific use of seed pearls!

Deserves a thread of its own!

Thanks Pattye, great to have the Strack background! The matching is reminiscent of the patience required to compose natural pearl pieces. and the 'jacks' configuration vs. lengthwise drilling is especially interesting. Barbara, would you be able to post a photo of the piece as it hangs?

Many small pearls from many small oysters. Decomposition harvesting was generally practiced with the Pinctada Maculata (Pipi) on Penryhn/Tongareva in the Cook Islands, with India also as the primary market. The oyster beds on Penryhn, prominently mentioned in Kunz and other historic sources as...

Shall we add the possible presaging (in miniature, lacking nucleus extraction) of soufflé pearls? It would be interesting to get a lab report done. If the nucleus material is similarly proportioned in all the pearls, they would not seem natural.

Were there any significant early attempts at tissue nucleation of Akoya?

The hole continues to get deeper. But this fee opportunity will surely not go overlooked. And then who will certify the certificate certifications?

I'm a bit mystified that grading reports (subjective opinion) are being presented, charged and accepted as 'certificates' (scientific determination). Nice racket, either as a fraud or legitimate.

To add that the nacre somehow survived the 1500ºF heat of the pyroclastic gases. The woman must have wrapped her body around the earrings as though they were her child. For perspective (and understanding of the woman's priorities): "Roman general (and later emperor) Vitellius was said to have...

The pearls are in remarkable condition! Perhaps just a little rub with Pearl Paradise microfiber cloth…

Simple candling will do. Here from the same paper. I think Krzemnicki was just going after the gullibility of the buyer at a time when purported Melo Melo pearls of large size were becoming unusually common. Such ease of detection would serve to reinforce the advantages of porcelaneous vs...

Tempting to think best to just stay away from iridescent pearls in the modern age of non-bead culturing. But in review of the options, take a look at this 'melo pearl’ as imaged by Michael Krzemnicki of SSEF ("Fake Pearls Made from Tridacna gigas Shells Michael S. Krzemnicki and Laurent E...

If you do decide to watch, it would be interesting to know if they fall in line with the gemmological sector in declaring porcelainous 'concretions' from conch, clam, cassis, scallop, melo melo, etc. as 'not true pearls.'

We can expand the net to include all popular pearl literature, Strack serving a symbolic function. Thus the "burden" I most recently referenced. That's a lot of re-writing to do! But we've made considerable noise here. Someone must be hearing! In all of the referenced papers here I can only...

The Arabic naqur (mollusk shell) is turning out to be a prescient etymology. It would be of great interest to know if you would offer any guidance for Elizabeth Strack on a future update to her comments on nacre. She's one of the most open-minded gemologists I've had the pleasure of meeting!

Should this contain a link?

The nacreous and porcelainous microstructures co-exist within the same shell but preserve their distinct morphologies.

We have discussed "burdens" previously, above. Here I argue that the "common knowledge" being changed (burdened?) is the predominant concept of nacre as the miraculously iridescent 5% organic microstructure with which we are all familiar. Without a more generic overarching term for the...

I like it. I also see that the bulk of the cited research post-dates my time at the SEM in Granada, 2011-2013. It still seems a stretch to apply the term 'nacre', so broadly. Neither do you see such reference in the literature. You would be better than me at finding a more generic term for the...

The equivalencies you are drawing make common usage of the term 'nacreous' as obsolete as the term 'non-nacreous.' Who's going to rewrite the book?