Badly drilled pearls

[Slraep]

Lately I've been seeing a lot of badly drilled or off drilled pearls. Many merchants and suppliers, besides not knowing much about pearls, know even less about proper drilling, and the clients seem to almost never notice. There is a lot of it out there.

What constitutes a badly drilled pearl? Different degrees of lopsidedness--- which cause the material the pearl is threaded on to eat into one side of the pearl and cause nasty grooves. If one is buying an expensive commercial round necklace, one should check that all the pearls are properly drilled. You can do this by holding the necklace taut and spinning all the individual pearls to see if they rotate in a balanced fashion. A commercial necklace with off-drilled pearls is not worth as much as a perfectly drilled one. You can ask to have the offending pearls replaced.

I find off-drilling particularly troublesome in valuable keshis. If a keshi is badly drilled, you will start seeing that nasty grooving at the drill hole develop faster than a cheap akoya wears out it's pearly skin. Drilling a keshi properly takes time, skill and some waste(mistakes). Many times, when buying keshi from eBay and other vendors, they will be badly drilled, to the point were I suspect that some farms/suppliers are selling their waste and nobody is the wiser. If buying a commercial expensive keshi necklace, one should always look to see that the keshi have been drilled through the longest point and are not noticeably lopsided. The threading material should not cut into one side more than the other.

Always mention any off-drilling to a vendor. There should be more leeway for antiques, exotics and naturals, though.

Slraep

 

[effisk]

Hi there,

is it possible that badly knotted necklaces make the same result? nasty grooves.

I have recently seen an expensive necklace of large SSP. I don't think the pearls were badly drilled, anyone would have been extra-careful when drilling such expensive pearls, so I thought the result had to do with the knots.

 

[jshepherd]

Off-drilling is something very common in drops and circles. I am sure the same problem relates to keishi. Every pearl has a very specific drill point if it is going in a strand. It can be difficult to find, and if the right point is not chosen the pearls may "wobble" on the strand.

If you are buying finished strands by the hank and you are finding this "wobble", you need to speak with your supplier. Even the most experienced driller will make a few mistakes, but these pearls should be sold off as "scrap", not put into a necklace. If they are in a strand, it is simply an attempt to save money.

There is another common problem as well - double drilling. This is most common with lower grade, off round freshwater strands. Using a two-sided drill, if one bit slips and veers at an angle, the tips will never connect, and you will be left with two holes on one side, and one to two holes on the other.

If you are seeing something that looks like wear near the drill hole, I doubt it is the knotting. I would surmise it is more likely due to a single sided drill. It is much easier to drill solely from one side with a standard Japanese single sided drill, but many pearls will be damaged in the process. When the bit exits the pearl from opposite the entry point, it often breaks off a ring of nacre around the hole. Not every time, but often. It is not always noticable, and can probably be mistake as wear.

 

[Slraep]

Hi Effisk,

I agree with Jeremy in that no kind of bad knotting can cause that kind of damage. It is most probably the type of drilling Jeremy describes. Silk or nylon thread will not cut into a pearl unless the drilling is off.
There is also the possibility that the necklace you saw was at some point strung on one of those nylon coated wires. But I think it is the drilling.

Slraep

 

[effisk]

I agree with Jeremy in that no kind of bad knotting can cause that kind of damage.

oh no, I didn't mean that the knotting could damage the pearl.

I meant that large and unbalanced knots could give the impression that the drill holes are not centered.

 

[Slraep]

Hi Effisk,

Yes, bad knotting will make the necklace look strange. Big unproportional knots are the worst. They can make the most expensive and beautiful necklace look almost barbaric.

Slraep