Greetings from a new bod?

[PearlMagpie]

I would like to ask if anyone can tell me, what is the cause of the white blemish on the subsurface of this golden coloured Saltwater Pearl. Ie treatment, thin nacre or some other reason the colour is absent? Hope the answer is not too obvious. the picture is very magnified. thank you.
May & Mike

 

[pearlescence]

Hello and welcome to the forum.
Further information would be helpful - how big are these pearls and is the white streaking an indentation in the nacre surface (ie a scratch removing the top golden colour) or is it a natural indentation in the nacre which happens to be white. can you also say where you got these pearls - unfortunately we have had recent experience of novices being lied to by deceitful and possibly fraudulent sellers.
Sorry to fire all these questions at you but they will help form an opinion..
A couple more photos would help too -perhaps the whole necklace for one and then a close up with macro setting of one of the scratches from a couple of angles.
Thanks!
Wendy

 

[Caitlin]

My first wild guess is a bad dye job. At a lecture by Elizabeth Strack about pearl treatments several years ago, she showed us photos similar to that as a way to tell the pearls were dyed. I sincerely hope you did not pay a Golden South Sea Pearl price for those.

If it is gold nacre, there would be no white spots, esp. smears.

 

[Caitlin]

Shows you what I don't know!

 

[Nerida]

Welcome to the forum, May and Mike...
this is a natural inclusion, and just like diamonds, the fewer inclusions, the more valuable the pearl. Mother nature's hand!

 

[Caitlin]

What quality are those pearls?

 

[PearlMagpie]

Thank you all for your prompt and technical replies, very much appreciated.
The pearls in my picture are 10-11mm and quite a deep yellow colour and the actual sea of origin is The Arafura Sea, the Mollusc is of course the Pinctada Maxima. if you would like to see the whole necklace follow this link but i should warn you it is my website and therefore shamefull commercial http://www.pearlmagpie.co.uk/saltwa...th-sea-saltwater-cultured-pearl-necklace.html.
Thank you all again, forgive the time delay we are on GMT

 

[KarinK]

Would that mean that if golden SSP are dyed, then the colour may actually fill the natural scorch marks? If that was the case it would one way of checking for dyed SSP.

- Karin

 

[Caitlin]

I had a thought..... OH, dear, don't run away! Anyway, remember the multicolored circled Tahititian pearls a couple of weeks ago?. I wonder if that streak is the beginning of a circle, that just didn't have time to finish?

And yes, now that my memory has kicked in, Strack showed us in that same lecture, slides of dyed goldens. Some did have the divots filled with dye.

Thanks for the good lesson.

 

[pearlescence]

I've never seen marks like that on GSS. If I did I certainly would not buy them and most certainly would not sell them

 

[waimeamomi]

I've definitely seen those blemishes before in both kinds of pearls. I've also seen color treated Tahitians that were easier to spot because of the dye visibility in the blemishes (go Macy's!). I wouldn't put it past dealers that enhance golden's colors to clear the divot marks somehow. But that's just speculation.

 

[Nerida]

I wondered if the gold was a little enhanced and that made the inclusions more pronounced. The GSS I have seen with similar markings have looked more like the ones in the photos..