HELP with South Sea Pearl Mounting: Question?

[MotherOfPearlTrumpet]

I purchased some 14K white gold diamond French back earrings with the intention of removing the small pearl on them and replacing it with a beautiful pair of South Sea Round pearls that are 12.5 and 12.8 respectively. The pearl pair is so beautiful and needs findings that have front/back support for these big dangle pearls.

My question is this: (See Photos Below) the "stem" coming down from the pearl cup is so thin, and on one earring, it is so short, that I'm concerned there won't be enough surface area to hold these larger pearls.
I could put some glue on the inside of the "cup" for added glued surface area to hold the pearl to the pearl cup, but since the cup is so deep, the only place where it would touch a 12.5mm pearl would be the bottom rim of the earring cup.
I think I could take these findings to my jeweler and have them remove the current ring/peg (it hangs off the earring and feeds through the top of the cup with a small soldier just insider the cup to keep the peg from spinning) and have them replace it with a longer one pearl peg, but that might be tricky, although I think it would be possible...

So, do you think the best way forward is glue the peg and inside rim of the pearl cup? If so, I'll have to be really careful with the glue, not to over do it, so it won't squish out and look "gloppy" where the pearl hits the cup.
OR
Take it to the jeweler and see what they can do about installing a new ring/pin that will go deeper into the pearl?

Pictures below for your consideration.
The old glue on the original pearls was SO STRONG I unfortunately had to drill and pretty much destroy the original pearls to get them off. That was a little sad, but the new South Sea's are just so beautiful they "need" diamond findings. As I've said in my thread "My Pearling Story" I'm always looking for the perfect "marriage" between pearls and findings.

Thanks for your advice...

 

[MotherOfPearlTrumpet]

Hello out there...any advice for mounting these??? Please read and let me know. especially if you have experience with mounting South Sea Pearls.

 

[Pearl Dreams]

I can only tell you what I would NOT do, and that is to glue the pearls into the finding as it is now. It would not be secure.

 

[MotherOfPearlTrumpet]

I can only tell you what I would NOT do, and that is to glue the pearls into the finding as it is now. It would not be secure.

Yes, that is what I was feeling, even if I used glue on the bottom circle of the cap that is limited "grab" for the pearl.
I guess I'll take them into my jeweler and see what they can do.

 

[jshepherd]

I agree. You won't get much grip from from the bottom of the setting. The need longer pegs so the glue can set deeply and the pearl can hug the rim of the setting without any glue.

 

[MotherOfPearlTrumpet]

Update: So, I was able to get my jeweler to attach a new post to the existing one. They said starting fresh would be difficult. When gluing the pearls, I got one on beautifully, the other, I stopped just long enough to wipe away the excess super glue and WHOOPS, the glue would not let me finish pushing the peg onto the pearl. Yikes. I immediately applied the de-bond but when I tried to pull the peg out, the weaker part of the bond between new and old peg broke. So, one earring is fine, and the other is being repaired, again. I'll post the photos when they are both done.

Thanks for recommending repair. You pushed me to do what I already knew would be best...I was just trying to save a trip to the jeweler. The one peg might have been OK, but the shorter peg would definitely have been too short, and messy glue around the base of that pretty pearl cup would have been ugly on such a high-end piece.

 

[jshepherd]

You've really got to go in with one movement, or pretty close to it. Some of those glues work really fast. I agree on the length of the peg. The longer the better for important pieces.

 

[MotherOfPearlTrumpet]

You've really got to go in with one movement, or pretty close to it. Some of those glues work really fast. I agree on the length of the peg. The longer the better for important pieces.

Yep, one fast fluid motion, I learned that the hard way!!! Oh well, sometimes we learn best by doing it wrong!

 

[pearlescence]

That's why having a glue which you know can be dissolved is a solace when you've made 20pr of earrings and go back later to see one finding has hydrauliced (?) itself out of the pearl

 

[MotherOfPearlTrumpet]

All done. Only 2 trips to the jewelry store, but they look GREAT! Another beautiful marriage of finding and pearls. I'll enjoy wearing these with my South Sea strand. Thanks for all your help, and I'm so glad I didn't skimp and try to glue them as pictured above. Your advice pushed me to do the right thing. Soldering the new screw-back earring post into the cup not only gave me a new post to cut to the appropriate length, but also those screw threads provided extra hold for the glue. I'm guessing even with dissolver it's going to be difficult to ever get the new pearls off the findings, but then again, why would anyone want to!

 

[jshepherd]

They came together nicely!

 

[CortezPearls]

They sure did come out very nicely!

 

[CatMom]

Beautiful!

 

[heartofawareness]

All done. Only 2 trips to the jewelry store, but they look GREAT! Another beautiful marriage of finding and pearls. I'll enjoy wearing these with my South Sea strand. Thanks for all your help, and I'm so glad I didn't skimp and try to glue them as pictured above. Your advice pushed me to do the right thing. Soldering the new screw-back earring post into the cup not only gave me a new post to cut to the appropriate length, but also those screw threads provided extra hold for the glue. I'm guessing even with dissolver it's going to be difficult to ever get the new pearls off the findings, but then again, why would anyone want to!
View attachment 464488

Your new pearls make these earrings look spectacular!! Gorgeous! enjoy @MotherOfPearlTrumpet