1622 sunken treasure contains 1,000's of pearls
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Casey.R
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Wow! Thanks for the link. I love hearing about sunken treasure.
Good thing the pearls were protected.
Good thing the pearls were protected.
C
Casey.R
Guest
I would like to see pics too! I didn't catch who found them in the artcle but perhaps they have a web site? I'm going to have to go back and look again. I think Odessy has pics of their finds on their site so maybe these people will too.
Not pearls here, but this link has some pics of cool things found on sunken ships.
http://www.quest4treasure.com/imagetoc.htm
Not pearls here, but this link has some pics of cool things found on sunken ships.
http://www.quest4treasure.com/imagetoc.htm
I heard this yesterday coming home from work on NPR.
They were openin the wooden box while the reporter was there. Once the got the lid open, you could hear ohs and ahs in the backround. However, the guy she was interviewing said "These are worth hundreds."
I laughed because of they are as old as they think, the pearls must be natural and they are worth hundreds of thousands.
They were openin the wooden box while the reporter was there. Once the got the lid open, you could hear ohs and ahs in the backround. However, the guy she was interviewing said "These are worth hundreds."
I laughed because of they are as old as they think, the pearls must be natural and they are worth hundreds of thousands.
Here is the link.
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=11118144
And you can watch the box being opened here:
http://www.bluewaterventureskw.com/news/pressrelease061107.asp
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=11118144
And you can watch the box being opened here:
http://www.bluewaterventureskw.com/news/pressrelease061107.asp
V
Valeria101
Guest
No pearl news escapes this forum! 
The content of the box - the range of sizes and shapes, is quite intriguing. As if someone had bought all usable output from some pearling operation rather than choose.
Wonder how damaged those pearls really are - they look rather disheartening in the pictures. And how they might be restaured (pealing?) ...
On the bulletin board of MellFisher.com there is THIS back of the envelope evaluation and a few more bits of info. Looks like the pearls will be up for grabs eventually
The content of the box - the range of sizes and shapes, is quite intriguing. As if someone had bought all usable output from some pearling operation rather than choose.
Wonder how damaged those pearls really are - they look rather disheartening in the pictures. And how they might be restaured (pealing?) ...
On the bulletin board of MellFisher.com there is THIS back of the envelope evaluation and a few more bits of info. Looks like the pearls will be up for grabs eventually
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C
CortezPearls
Guest
Some years ago (can't remember when) some Treasure Hunters were looking for two famous Spaniard Ships that sunk with great wealt on their voyage back to Europe. These ships were the Guadalupe and the Tolosa.
They found the treasure and recovered One thousand pearls...I made a copy of part of the article: the one that had a photo of the pearls
They found the treasure and recovered One thousand pearls...I made a copy of part of the article: the one that had a photo of the pearls
Attachments
![Perlas rescatadas [%P].jpg](/data/attachments/1/1113-279df7c1201ab77eea63cc25fe18ac6a.jpg?hash=J533wSAat3)
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Valeria101
Guest
Douglas, any idea what could be the state of conservation of such pearls ?
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knotty panda
Pearl Knotting & Wire Expert
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The website says they're in good shape, attributing that to the silt in the box. What I want to know is, are they fresh or saltwater or a mix, and how are they going to determine what they are.
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Valeria101
Guest
knotty panda said:
Yeah... they just do not look quite that 'fresh' in the image. And if they were in wearable condition, I would have expected this bit to be part of the headline... which it isn't. No idea how pearls fare in sea water, amazingly... from those in 'dry' archaeological finds, some are in pristine shape, some simply melt away and all that remains on the jewelry are the tell-tale pegs.
As far as I know, the origin of pearls (freshwater vs. salt, and to some extent more specific origin) can be ID'ed with spectrometry tests which can be performed at the main gemology laboratories. There is a bit of literature I do not remember off-hand (for really casual, pearl-guide related browsing, oups!
)... e.g. THIS advertising the use of RAMAN spectroscopy to ID types of pearls, and THIS- using LA-ICP-MS spectrometry to differentiate species of salt and freshwater MOP and nacre. On the other hand, pearls from archaeological finds have been identified already (or at least their collection labels pretend as much!)... whether by the standard testing used by gemological labs or not, I wouldn't know. Besides, even for more recent historic jewelry with natural pearls the difference is academic.
This is about all that comes up at a first thought, it doesn't sound like a trivia question, and would bet that at least one of the major labs concerned with pearls (SSEF, GRS, GAAJ...) should be interested. If the folks who found those pearls would consider...
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C
Casey.R
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The photo above is from a different ship wreck right? I don't think I've seen any images from the recent one.
knotty panda
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Valeria: Thanks for the info! Yes, they will be assessed properly, I have no doubt. Wouldn't surprise me to find out that some of our very own forum members have been contacted already for a look-see. Wouldn't that be exciting?
knotty panda
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I had almost given up any hope of Blue Water Rose updating their website, but they finally did!
http://www.bluewaterventureskw.com/News/NextAfterPearls.aspx
http://www.bluewaterventureskw.com/News/NextAfterPearls.aspx
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Valeria101
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Interesting how the pearls have changed! Wonder what might have happened to their structure over time, salt saturation and reversal, etc. If the effect is similar to the extreme iridescence of pearls from buried treasure, what luck! 
Man, wish they had posted all 180 pages of the lab report...
Man, wish they had posted all 180 pages of the lab report...
knotty panda
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I would have liked that too. I definitely think some invitations to Mr. Fisher and his folks to stop by for a little chat are in order. Yes, I noticed the improved color condition as well. I chalked that up to clean water. They shouldn't be white at all, if they are Venezuelian pearls, they should be a pink color. And why take the salt out of them? Is that done routinely today? What's the purpose?
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Valeria101
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Haven't heard of new pearl de-salting...
Just to throw in 2c:
From trivia of marine archeology, it appears that such practice is common to avoid salt becoming trapped and crystallizing inside the structure of materials as they dry. I don't think I have nearly the whole story of why this is done: one argument is that the salt crystals forming inside things as they dry out cause things to crumble, crack, discolor, etc. What happens to non de-salted pearls... no idea.
I would imagine that new pearls do not contain inordinate amounts of sea salt (shell meat doesn't!), those old ones must have soaked it in from sitting in sea water afterwards.
If the resulting white (or the grays in the old pictures) are anywhere near the original colors of the pearls makes one interesting question!
What pink pearls were/are found in Venezuela?
Just to throw in 2c:
From trivia of marine archeology, it appears that such practice is common to avoid salt becoming trapped and crystallizing inside the structure of materials as they dry. I don't think I have nearly the whole story of why this is done: one argument is that the salt crystals forming inside things as they dry out cause things to crumble, crack, discolor, etc. What happens to non de-salted pearls... no idea.
I would imagine that new pearls do not contain inordinate amounts of sea salt (shell meat doesn't!), those old ones must have soaked it in from sitting in sea water afterwards.
If the resulting white (or the grays in the old pictures) are anywhere near the original colors of the pearls makes one interesting question!
What pink pearls were/are found in Venezuela?
knotty panda
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They believe these were part of a haul back to Spain and were harvested in Venezuela from the pinctata imbricata which was fairly prominent for pearling at the time. Stories of pearls the size of robin's eggs, and such. Perhaps they are now certain where the pearls originated. Anyway, the resultant pearls, if that is indeed where they are from, are pink. But then again, I'm just reading this stuff and really know zip. Akira Hyatt -- where are you?
I had considered that "salt dries things out" theory and agree with it. But I didn't know if that was part of the normal harvesting process done today or not.
The pearls were in an iron box for 400 years. The pictures you initially saw were some really dirty pearls. They've had a bath and are beginning to get cleaned up for their debut. I'm quite sure nothing is being done to them that isn't straight by the book. Shipwrecks are big business and making sure everything is recovered properly is a huge concern.
Akira? Hello? Are you out there?
I had considered that "salt dries things out" theory and agree with it. But I didn't know if that was part of the normal harvesting process done today or not.
The pearls were in an iron box for 400 years. The pictures you initially saw were some really dirty pearls. They've had a bath and are beginning to get cleaned up for their debut. I'm quite sure nothing is being done to them that isn't straight by the book. Shipwrecks are big business and making sure everything is recovered properly is a huge concern.
Akira? Hello? Are you out there?
S
Satine De La Courcel
Guest
Hi All..
This is just MHO the pearls look to be no to be "improved quality" nor changed in any way to me but cleaned up. If stuffed in a Iron box for 400 years then found I am sure I wodl definately need a srub down after that... LOL
Question? How do we know that those are the exact same pearls as posted in the original picture??
Answer: We do not its all conjecture. did they label them somehow to accurately show the cleaning process of those exact pearls from the original picture posted??? I highly doubt that..
These coudl be those or they could be others that were in "good shape"
that is what I want to know . are these on the website picture in the jar ( which from tall the descriptions I do not think that that picture represents all the pearls found.
Yes I want to know that much detail...
cheers
Ash
This is just MHO the pearls look to be no to be "improved quality" nor changed in any way to me but cleaned up. If stuffed in a Iron box for 400 years then found I am sure I wodl definately need a srub down after that... LOL
Question? How do we know that those are the exact same pearls as posted in the original picture??
Answer: We do not its all conjecture. did they label them somehow to accurately show the cleaning process of those exact pearls from the original picture posted??? I highly doubt that..
These coudl be those or they could be others that were in "good shape"
that is what I want to know . are these on the website picture in the jar ( which from tall the descriptions I do not think that that picture represents all the pearls found.
Yes I want to know that much detail...
cheers
Ash
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