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My son's partner collected this many years ago and I have just seen it today. Is there any way to "rescue" the pearl and improve it's appearance and to remove it from the shell, or should it just be kept as a curiosity? Also attached is a picture of a much smaller paua blister pearl which my...

A friend in her mid-eighties asked me to re-string these pearls for her. She said her Aunt had given them to her mother, back in Austria and that she thought they were at least 100 years old. I presume they would be natural pearls? What sort of oysters and regions would have been producing...

I ordered this carved tahitian pearl from Kamoka, just after New Zealand went into Covid-19 lockdown in early April. After a couple of logs with USPS, the tracking stopped and I was really very worried as to whether it would ever be seen again. Celeste from Kamoka was amazing and helped to try...

A friend has brought me her pearls to look at. She says her father brought them back from Japan in the late 1960's and that they are Mikimoto, although she did not expect that they were hugely valuable. She has had them re-strung and it appears someone has likely changed the order of them, as...

Friday my latest package from Kongs Pearl arrived - at only $US40 a strand, I'm rapt with these 9-10mm, AA, near round white freshwaters and am stringing them up for gifts for my workmates... let the pearl contagion continue! I strung these with a sleepy puppy on my knee while dreaming of one...

Earlier this year, I bought a stringing kit from Pattye's shop. I didn't get around to using it until my favourite metallics broke recently, so I sat down one day and had go. It was surprisingly easy and satisfying, so my next project was to order two strands from Kongs pearl on Etsy. I've...

Spurred on by the Mother's Day sale, I added three new items to my collection over the last month. First came a dyed black freshwater AAA strand - just to mix it up a bit with the white strands. Second, some silver tahitian earrings from Kamoko, which will be a very versatile/go to. I haven't...

I'm a big fan of pearl bracelets - I like my pearls where I can look at them all day while I work! Recently, I realised that I really needed some peach-pink bracelets to go with a few outfits. When the latest PP sale went up, I couldn't make up my mind - but fortunately, they were such good...

We have a large green-lipped mussel industry in New Zealand. These mussels have iridescent inner shells, but I have never heard of them producing pearls and nor have I been able to find any research on this subject. I am wondering whether it might be possible to grow pearls in these bivalves...

After a few years of pearl collecting, my jewellery drawer(s) are now an overflowing mess of hard-to-distinguish boxes that I find myself rummaging through each morning. I know I need to do something to establish order, but I'm not sure what? I'm interested to hear (or see) how others store...

I feel incredibly lucky to have picked up a pair of earrings in the Pearl Paradise sale of vietnamese akoya this month. They arrived in the mail today and could not have been more perfect. The colours were very true to the sale pics with plenty of turquoise-green and crimson hues. My photos...

Seventeen years ago, I lost a diamond from my (fairly ordinary) engagement ring. Since then, it had been tucked away in the jewellery box, waiting for some attention. With my 25th wedding anniversary this month, I decided to ask a local goldsmith, Nicola Ann Harwood, to re-model with a small...

I've been taking a few photos of some of my pearl jewellery recently - and since I enjoy looking at the photos others have posted, I thought I would put up my small collection of tahitian pearls. The pendant was my first tahitian, about 11mm in silver - the setting makes it look rather like...

I just bought this from an auction for a few dollars, because it caught my eye. It was advertised second-hand as a "funky pearl" set in silver. I am still trying to make up my mind whether I like it enough to wear, but it is definitely a bit unusual. I presume it has been dyed and comes from...