Worn Nacre

[Cathybear]

Not sure where this should go, sorry.
A friend has had a pearl pendant for 4 years, and worn it often. The shop said it was a South Sea Pearl. I forgot to measure it when it was here to be photographed but I'd guess it's about 10mm x 8-9mm.
One side has developed a light patch, and since I could see slight lines I'd guess the nacre has worn off.
Can anyone suggest anything to stop more wear (apart from keeping it in a box 24/7), and could it be darkened again in any way?
One photo shows the good side, the other, the worn side
Cathy

 

[Valeria101]

Wow! That's some wear...
I dubt anything can be done other then replacing the pearl.

 

[Caitlin]

It is very disappointing to see it wear out so fast. That is the downside of putting pearl plating on beads.

 

[Cathybear]

Pearl plating on beads?

 

[pattye]

Hi Cathy,

That is a term, abbreviated PPB's, generated here on the forum, (to some it may seem a bit disrespectful), for bead-nucleated pearls. Especially ones like this, which appear to have an extremely thin layer of nacre, causing them to have a very short life and greatly disappointing the owner.

Pattye
so many pearls, so little time

 

[GemGeek]

I've noticed with my quartet that my skin will eat the gold plate right off of our jewelry, while theirs looks untouched. Because of that, I am very careful with pearls.

I've often wondered if there was something I could do to reduce the acidity of my skin. Any ideas? Cathy's friend is probably in the same boat.

 

[Caitlin]

The technique of culturing pearls, by inserting a mother of pearl bead into the gonad of a pinctada and letting it stay until it has the prescribed amount of pearl plating on it produces all the akoya, south sea and Tahitian pearls on the market.

The layer of plating varies in akoyas from .25mm to more than .50. In South Sea and Tahitian, it is more like .8mm to about 1mm. 1mm is about the thickness of a heavy sheet of paper. Acid skin or no, wearing it will wear it out. The more it is worn, the sooner it wears out.

PPb's may have made pearls available to the masses, but they have their drawbacks. Daily wear will wear out PPB's sooner or later. this is one reason I am such a fan of cultured freshwater pearls, most of which do not use beads to culture, but only a piece of mantle tissue, so they are solid nacre.

If South sea, Tahitian and akoyas were to produce solid nacre pearls, they would be prohibitive in cost. Nevertheless there is one way to get a solid nacre sea pearl; buy keshi. You mostly give up roundness, but you have a wearable item thsat will last generations.

 

[Valeria101]

Any way I think of it, it's still disturbing. I mean, if that was a non-nucleated pearl and it would wear at a rate of .8-1mm / year !? There aren't that many natural black drops to munch though.

I am trying to imagine that on this one the nucleus might not have been centered and the nacre particularly thin in one side, but still.

Anyway, looking at the photo, even the nucleus seems flattened on the worn spot - that allot of wear! certainly, that could be an illusion from a bad photo with some wishful thinking thrown in.

 

[Slraep]

I've noticed with my quartet that my skin will eat the gold plate right off of our jewelry, while theirs looks untouched. Because of that, I am very careful with pearls.

I've often wondered if there was something I could do to reduce the acidity of my skin. Any ideas? Cathy's friend is probably in the same boat.

Usually human skin has a Ph of 5.5 and that's not really acidic enough to eat away at much but the Ph of the skin also depends on what a person is ingesting(medication too) or genetics. Those daily midnight drives to KFC just to crunch on their delicious crispy chicken skin have got to STOP now GemGeek.

Skin acid or no skin acid, as Caitlin said, there will be wear. It's awful seeing that! That's the straight-up truth concerning Pearl Plated Beads. All of us can dance around the subject all we want and make like everything is cool(including me), but this is what really happens to a PPB when the nacre starts to wear out. I hear the far delighted cackling voice of that infamous Superfabricator, Zeide G. Erskine in my ear, "That's what you get when you buy PPBs, heheheh!!!".

I have a thing against the very polluting and ecologically scoffing ways of the Chinese freshwater pearl farmer's methods but at least what they are culturing are real pearls(except for flame balls). Naturals, marine keshi and freshwaters are the way to go if you want something that lasts and sometimes even gets better with age.

Slraep

 

[GemGeek]

You got a good laugh out of me! Actually, I eat a lot of Japanese and Chinese food. As you can tell from my photo.... Yes! You can eat too much rice!

Would that raise Ph?

 

[Satine De La Courcel]

I've noticed with my quartet that my skin will eat the gold plate right off of our jewelry, while theirs looks untouched. Because of that, I am very careful with pearls.

I've often wondered if there was something I could do to reduce the acidity of my skin. Any ideas? Cathy's friend is probably in the same boat.

For Gold Plate I use a coat of clear nailpolish.. after a wile it will wear down.... but it does give the gold plate a longer life, I am fine with real gold 14k and higher as well as real silver.

Ouch sorry to see the pendant wear so quickly!

Good luck!

Cheers
Ash




cheers

 

[Slraep]

You got a good laugh out of me! Actually, I eat a lot of Japanese and Chinese food. As you can tell from my photo.... Yes! You can eat too much rice!

Would that raise Ph?

You look great in your profile photo! Whatcha talkin' about?? The "girls" and you look amazing in the photo you posted in a thread too.

Anything "refined" with a high glycemic index would lower Ph. Sugar, white flour, white rice, also meat(unless raw), cheese "products", dairy in general, and coffee...

To raise Ph, the best way is to eat a nice big raw mixed greens and veggie salad for lunch or supper everyday.

Slraep

 

[pearllove]

The pictures are disturbing. I think I have to rethink some South Sea and Tahitian purchases I was planning to make.

 

[Fiona]

I am revitalising this thread because of my recent 'aha' moment (which took far too long) where I realised just how thin the nacre is for marine pearls, or at least how thin it is likely to be. I can't quite get my head around necklaces that sell for many thousands of dollars that cannot be worn for a significant period (months? few years?) without wearing out. The term 'pearl plated beads' may displease people but it's pretty much true if we are talking less than 1mm of actual nacre. That may be relatively thick, but to a lay person like me it's still shocking. Hearing about peeling Akoyas is bizarre given the prices....

What guarantees can a newbie person like me have that the Tahitian and South Seas pearls I buy will last years of regular use?

 

[Dizzie]

I would say that the example shown here is quite an extreme case. Surely there is some wear but as a rule it is not that significant. Especially for necklaces I would not expect such dramatic results soon.

 

[Bodecia]

I cannot believe that a genuine Tahitian pearl would wear like that or have that ultra thin nacre covering. Tahitian pearls are governed strictly to avoid this type of thing. Similar applies with South Sea pearls. Yes, Akoyas are PPB's, some with a reasonably decent nacre covering and others that are shockers. Go with Keshi, totally Natural pearls or good quality freshwater pearls to avoid this kind of horror entirely.


Dawn - Bodecia
http://www.ebay.com/sch/dawncee333/m.html
eBay Seller ID dawncee333 and natural pearl collector and all round pearl lover.

 

[pearlescence]

One guarantee is that you buy from a reputable source to ensure that your Tahitians have been checked and x-rayed before legal export. smuggled pearls are likely to have thin or unbalanced nacre.
same goes for akoya - thin nacred pearls come from bad sources
Your pearls will last for many many years even with daily wear under normal circumstances

 

[Pearl Dreams]

I'm being only partly facetious: The solution is to buy more pearls, rotate wearing them, and then none will wear out as fast.

 

[Fiona]

Thanks all. My problem is identifying what reputable means, and whether even the reputable sellers can themselves be taken in by poor quality or smuggled pearls. If a hypothetical seller is a jeweller with qualifications who vouches for the strand, and the strand looks great, am I to still not buy because I haven't seen evidence of legal export, x-rays etc? If my hypothetical jeweller bought from one of the big markets, say in HK, what is she/he supposed to see to verify authenticity and quality?

 

[Cyril Roger Brossard]

One guarantee is that you buy from a reputable source to ensure that your Tahitians have been checked and x-rayed before legal export. smuggled pearls are likely to have thin or unbalanced nacre.
same goes for akoya - thin nacred pearls come from bad sources
Your pearls will last for many many years even with daily wear under normal circumstances

Hi just being curious, found this thread quite interesting, thin coating do indeed exist. You mentioned a reputable source that would x-ray all pearls before export. May I ask if this is already done or if this is what you would like to see being done? GIA does this but the cost is quite high...