Scratched Pearls...can they be fixed?

[KAC]

to me its only cheating(and I use the word lightly) if the pearls are dyed to achieve a color that can and does occur naturally.

If the pearls are dyed or treated to achieve a result that will not occur in nature then why not, as long as the dealer is open about the treatments.

Whatever your thoughts are on Akoya pearls, its hard to argue against the fast that a high quality white Akoya strand is a classic look on a woman; Yet you aren't going to achieve that look without treatment.

As long as the consumer knows exactly what they are buying and the treatments are disclosed then I don't mind. Of course if you can get the look without treatment that would be preferred.

 

[Caitlin]

Shouldn't dyed pearls be considered second rate to beautifully occuring natural ones? Am I alone in thinking it is sort of dirty and cheating?

What is it possible to do with dye to make the pearl look deceptively better?

I just thought of dyed golden colors that increase the pearl's value and are used to trick people if the dye is not disclosed. Strack said in her 2007 lecture in Tucson that such dyes are obvious if people know what to look for, but we all know the dismal ignorance of buyers and jewelrs both.

There is a class of cultured freshwater pearls, that don't make the "best pearl" cut. They are second rate pearls. I prefer the name "commercial grade" to second rate though. These pearls are most often color treated, whether bleached or dyed and the dye jobs are about 99% obvious. These pearls are really fun and have created a way to sell a lot more pearls.

There is one kind of color description of black dyed CFWP that is really cheating which is calling a dyed black freshwater pearl a "Tahitian black pearl". Thus they use those three words to trick careless readers into thinking they will get a Tahitian Pearl.

I am sure I have missed some examples of lousy cheating dye jobs.....

 

[boo]

While I have a preference for naturally colored pearls, I do have a few dyed ones - mostly royal blues, since there are no strong blues in pearls (or so I thought until someone here posted a photo showing otherwise didn't they, Douglas?). I have a fair number of black freshwater as well (again, hints of blues and violets...). However, I would never, ever say that they make the real thing seem bland in comparison. They are gaudy and bright and fun, but they are the cotton candy fluff of the pearl world. I don't stare at them for minutes at a time, like I do my cortez pendant and the Mana necklace I have (a baroque little beauty that is purple on one end and green on the other - I actually wear it most frequently as an anklet so I can admire the pearl while I am wearing it!).

Continue on with your life's goal and make them Tahitians glow with otherworldly color so that they move beyond being simply "black pearls"!

There is a Hawaiian singer who wrote a song which is (ostensibly ) about the pearls he saw in Tahiti called "Ipo Lei Momi". When I heard him teaching the hula to the song, he talked about how he had a cool attitude toward Tahitian pearls because the ones he had always seen were just grey, but that when he visited Tahiti he was blown away by the colors of the pearls that he saw there. Get those colors out there, and folks will see that there truly is no comparison.

 

[Valeria101]

'Dirty cheating' ? Well... cheating is dirty business, no ?

If we were to count all the instances when someone is buying a strand of cultured pearls ignoring the practice of enhancements, but would not have done so if treatments were disclosed Would you think those are many? Dying seems to be a particularly insidious treatment - as it makes such great change in appearance.

I'd call such practice names too... if I dared.

Probably a majority would buy nonetheless, and just a few folks - the ones deeply passionate about their pearls - would turn away, perhaps favoring guarantees, perhaps away from pearls... The story sounds familiar because of those 'orange sapphires' - not that they're not pretty and they do sell, and the large sell for allot of cash even with disclosure. The only side that got hurt by disclosure of treatment a couple of years down the road appears to be the scam business (saying this from an outsider's view) - as those stones have a hard time passing for the real deal at top end. Otherwise, the world seems happy about the a few years down the road. Maybe the story has something in it for pearls too... I think it does, but that's not much saying.

It does seem strange that cases are still reported (by gemological laboratories) of buyers that are not aware of the cultured nature of their impressive pearls! But then, that seems a bit much to blame on 'disclosure' by now.


What do you think?


Brothers! I say:

 

[pernula]

Josh: OK, you are looking at it from the farmer point of view. I was looking at it from an observer point of view. I have thought you were calling people who wear dyed pearls "dirty and cheating," which I think is far from the truth. I see dyed pearls on lots of very nice people.

On comparison: dyed pearl is not even a competitor for Tahitian pearl, so I am surprised you actually did some comparison and call your own stuff "bland"? Someday, if the Chinese freshwater culture industries get so good that they can produce gray/peacock/saturated reddish purple pearls without treatment, even if just a small percentage of the industry does, then you probably would have some very serious competitors.

Ana: the second picture looks pretty nice. Is it really dyed? It looks like it could be natural lavender?

Pernula

 

[Josh]

Boo, yay! I'm glad you are happy with your Mana pearl. Keep your eyes pealed for a true blue post as well.
Ana, what do I think? That you're right as usual about most everything you say. I also think those dyed keishis look like gasoline slicks. Haha, a nice look for the petro-chemical crowd (see me duck while the pans fly at my head).
Pernula, you made me laugh with: you were calling people who wear dyed pearls "dirty and cheating," Most of the time the differences between dyed freshies and natural Tahitians is obvious but I have seen some convincing dye jobs. I was told by a Japanese buyer once that EVERYTHING that comes out of Japan has been treated, no matter the kind of pearl. That's the kind of stuff that freaks me out.

 

[Caitlin]

EVERYTHING that comes out of Japan has been treated, no matter the kind of pearl.

I've heard that on this forum more than once-

 

[Valeria101]

... I was told by a Japanese buyer once that EVERYTHING that comes out of Japan has been treated, no matter the kind of pearl. That's the kind of stuff that freaks me out.

Yeah... I am afraid that whatever image is forced on pearls is becoming (or has become) so widely recognized and accepted, that the natural qualities and look of pearls may already need to be 'explained' all over again. Hope I'm dead wrong on this one.

Not sure how the 'untreated' status could be promoted more widely. If there is a point - considering how much fewer the naturally endowed pearls might be relative to the whole production. I have no idea of such stats.. and the intricacies of the matter are far too entrenched in internal industry matters for me to have a reasonable idea of... However, even from the outside - it is HARD to believe that no labels for 'untreated' have appeared yet.

At least 'natural color' is a sort-of used label. It seems so darn easy to bring that sort of guarantee (and branding) to a wider market then the top shelf where it works today

A thought... again.

 

[DFrey]

I think the existence of Be treated sapphires is not what caused all the controversy but how they were introduced into the market place. When they first appeared for sale by the Thai wholesalers the nature of the treatment was not disclosed, buyers were told they were "heated" but the fact that Be was diffused into the surface to get the brilliant and rare colors was not disclosed. We can debate the reason for this nondisclosure of treatment by the Thais at the outset of these Sapphires introduction into the gem market place, but it is the nondisclosure that caused all the initial problems. And I think non disclosure, misrepresentation, is the issue with any treatment of all gem material including pearls, both at the wholesale and retail levels.

Would I use dyed pearls in my work, I don't think so. Do I like them, I don't think so. But I think they have there place as long as EVERYONE knows what they are. And of course I am talking about an ideal world where everyone represents there goods for what they really are--- and thats never going to happen.

DFrey

 

[Caitlin]

It must be the view of many that pearls, like women, look better after they have been "enhanced" with various chemical and dye treatments.......

 

[Josh]

I'm holding my tongue on this one.

 

[Valeria101]

Caitlin, you're out for trouble!

So... you're saying that after a facelift or two, ladies should better wear only enhanced pearls !?

 

[Valeria101]

Ana: the second picture looks pretty nice. Is it really dyed? It looks like it could be natural lavender?

Never seen pearls with such psychedelic colors. Doubt such stuff exists among untreated pearls... The most brilliant things I know of are tiny, crooked oyster and black lip keshi... no larger than 5mm or so. Still, nothing like that. Perhaps, one could imply that pearls of similar looks could eventually grow larger, but ... I haven't seen enough natural black pearls to know. And never heard of such specimens either.

Second your question! Can natural pearls ever look like that, folks ? Ever?

If anywhere such a question could be answered, it would be a forum like this.

 

[Ashley]

DFrey-

I agree with you on the nondisclosure point- those Thais have been known to be veerrryyyy sneaky about their treatments; well, maybe just extremely innovative I love Padparascha's Be-infused or natural- I guess you could say I am just a color junkie...

However, I do have to say that they were cheating, and it's not that people were upset about the nondisclosure- they were- but also that dealers were buying not-so-gem-quality goods at gem-quality prices, and then passing them onto clients totally unawares of any treatment at all... talk about your hard-earned credibility being completely shot

As far as irradiation being used on gemstones recently- it's actually very frequent. The latest is most Blue Topaz being yanked off jeweler's store shelves this past August due to this long-employed treatment by the Nuclear Regulatory Committee (NRC), so they could make sure that the gemstones were safe for public use. In addition, the NRC has requested that "testing centers" and additional liscensing be required in order to make sure that the stones are safe for consumers. While the industry is doing it's best to get up to speed on these regulations, many jewelers are turning to Coated Topaz, which is basically a coating of blue, baked on, and is very scratch resistant. Mystic Topaz, anyone?

What about Chocolate Tahitians? I understand that the desirable Chocolatey color is obtained by bleaching the color out of the Tahitian pearls and then "stabilizing" the new color... does anyone know how this stabilization has been achieved, or is it a secret that Ballerina keeps? What has been disclosed is that the treatment does not involve heat or dye. However, there are many other Chocolate Tahitians out there flooding the market that are in fact, dyed...

 

[Caitlin]

What has been disclosed is that the treatment does not involve heat or dye.

Anyone have a guess about what is involved? Maybe be laid out in the sun?

Is there such a thing as natural chocolate color? How rare it it? Are the chocolate colored Tahitians disclosed if colored?

If they got that way from lying out in the sun, maybe it is really an acceptable treatment?

I have seen only a few Tahitians and the color is rather gray. They get such a rainbow of colors in Peacock dyed CFWP, it is a wonder that more Tahitians aren't color treated too...... Or is it more common than I know?

 

[Ashley]

I've seen quite a few Tahitians with natural brown/bronze/rust overtones... but nothing that could be seriously brand named "Chocolate"... Caramel, maybe! Is there a Milk Chocolate Tahitian out there somewhere? How about a Hershey's? I'm making fun of myself- all too often gemstones remind me of candy!

Sapphires= Jolly Ranchers, Pearls= Jelly Bellys

But really, they are so few and far between in a lot, matching a strand is nigh impossible!

 

[john675]

DFrey-

The latest is most Blue Topaz being yanked off jeweler's store shelves this past August due to this long-employed treatment by the Nuclear Regulatory Committee (NRC), so they could make sure that the gemstones were safe for public use...

I had not heard about this, but found an interesting article in case anybody else is curious about it:

http://www.nationaljewelernetwork.com/njn/content_display/colored_stones/e3i51ae9c03a82458d5471cd122eace2621

I learned something new today...

John

 

[CortezPearls]

While I have a preference for naturally colored pearls, I do have a few dyed ones - mostly royal blues, since there are no strong blues in pearls (or so I thought until someone here posted a photo showing otherwise didn't they, Douglas?). .

Yes Boo!
Check out the "True Blue" thread started by Josh!!!

https://www.pearl-guide.com/forum/showthread.php?t=1851