Opinions and advices kindly requested - vintage abalone pearl ?

[FrenchPearl]

Yesterday night, we had a wonderful pre thanksgiving dinner with delicious oysters.... but no pearl this time

However, another oyster came by mail, and there was a nice surprise....
This vintage mother of pearl brooch is 5 cm; the pearl is 0.8X0.6; gritty. Color is varying with the light : darker under artificial light; lighter lavender under natural light with overtone of blue and pink... I want to say sometime rainbow color overtones unless it's the reflection of the mother of pearl on the pearl ?

It made me think of an abalone pearl, what do you all think ?

The pearl is glued on the shell, but it has 2 pokes on each side ... Have you ever seen that type of pokes (not holes) before ?

Lastly, what's the best way of "ungluing" this pearl, as it seems to deserve a better setting than the current setting

Thanks in advance for your answers
Sophie

 

[dmj]

its hard to say from pictures but colors match abalone for sure and 99.9 % of all abalone pearls i have have patches and spots on them so its very much possible

 

[hbyrne]

What a cute brooch...it somehow looks really 'smiley'.

Depends what type of glue, but first I'd try a little soak in quite warm water, and a wiggle to free the pearl.

 

[FrenchPearl]

Back from thanksgiving holiday, and catching up on the forum !

thanks dmj and Helen for your answers ! I really think it's an abalone pearl, maybe a pearl than someone found and create this brooch as a keepsake, as the workmanship is really poor but the pearl is really nice.

@Helen: I dipped it in warm tap water for 15 minutes, and surprise ! I actually managed to "wiggle" it free. It worked ! it was glued, and shallowly drilled (2 mm max). thanks for that hot tip !

@dmj: the pokes are actually not like blemishes, it looks more like machine made punctures, as if someone had try and failed twice to drill the pearl before finally succeeding. the puncture shows up close, but from far, one can't see them. Not sure what I'll do with this pearl yet, but maybe drill it through and hide the punctures.

I'll take new picture of the now loose, free and rescued pearl soon !

Best,
Sophie

 

[hbyrne]

Sophie, pleased it worked

 

[FrenchPearl]

Here are some new pictures of the freed pearl. The last pic is from my little (but growing little by little) collection, with the green one being a abalone from Antz. The colorings are similar don't you think ? Is this enough to confirm a presumption of abalone pearl for this rescued pearl ?
The one before last is super blurry, but I added it because it shows the amazing rainbow colors ( is that what is called "hue" ? )

 

[Marianne]

That is one sweet collection!