half black and half white pearl (ring)

[meagan]

Hi Everyone -

I have a ring from my grandmother that has a white pearl with some black on it (I would call it a half white/half black pearl, or maybe a 'dirty' white pearl.) I know white and black pearls come from different species, so I was wondering how this happens and whether it is a good thing (i.e. rare) or a bad thing (i.e. flawed)?

And does anyone know where I can get another one? This is one is cracking badly and I want to know if it is replaceable. Or also how to protect it.

Anyway, any thoughts on this pearl and what causes its coloring would be greatly appreciated!

thanks!

 

[KAC]

hey meagan,

Welcome to PG! The bad news is that pearl is badly damaged and there isn't much that can be done to restore it as the nacre is peeling.

The good news is you can replace that pearl very easily, I actually think a black pearl would look really good in that setting since its kind of exotic.

 

[meagan]

Is it possible to replace it with another half and half pearl? Is there a term for these kinds of pearls?

 

[jshepherd]

Do you mean two mabe pearls? Are you going for the two-tone look? It would be difficult to do that. Mabe pearls are typically a lot wider than the pearl in your ring.

Right now it looks like the nacre has completely peeled from the nucleus with only a smidgen left on the top

 

[meagan]

Maybe the picture is bad, but the nacre hasn't peeled at all; that's how the pearl came originally. It has a naturally dark top as if the pearl was two-tone (as opposed to two different pearls in different colors). That's why I'm so curious about how it came to be and how to replace it with one similar. I've tried looking around but no one seems to be familiar with a single pearl with two different colors on it.

(obviously it's weaker that way, or else it wouldn't have cracked so easily. But just to clarify nothing has come off the the pearl yet, it's just recently cracked but not peeled.)

 

[jshepherd]

Can you shoot it with a macro lens so we can really see the top well? The side and the top, actually.

 

[meagan]

Yeah - thanks for taking a look. Are these any better? The angle on the first should make it a bit more clear. (especially the crack - it's easy to see here).

 

[jshepherd]

So is that a crack in the top and not a microfilm of nacre? It really appears to be a slightly elevated piece of nacre. Can you feel a ridge at all?

The color looks like damage because I'm pretty certain the color is coming from the nucleus and not the nacre. Striations in the nacre wouldn't look like that. The only way I could think to replicate it is to hold a pearl over a heat source (like a lighter) for a while and then let it sit for a few days to darken.

 

[pearlescence]

Holding a pearl over a lighter makes me think of certain market sellers in some countries who try to set fire to everything as some way of demonstrating how totally fabulous it is (?)

 

[pattye]

There are some beautiful Tahitian keshi pearls that exhibit light to dark tones, but of course, not round like that one. Did it start out as a completely white pearl?

 

[meagan]

There's no ridge. I'll take a closer look when I get home (I stopped wearing it because of the damage I was doing to it). But if I remember correctly, the discoloration splatters a bit - like drops of paint outside of the circle on the top. Does that even make sense? I'll try to upload some better pictures early tomorrow when I'm home and the light is good.

pattye - I can't know for sure since my grandma had it for 50 years before it came to me. But it's been with my mom and I for about 20 years and it's always been that way. I remember my mom saying she took into a jeweler once and they didn't know how to explain it, but I can't remember what he said more specifically.

I'm still kind of mystified, since I don't know much about pearls. But can it be an incomplete layer of nacre? With the white being the nucleus? (Is that the right way to think of it?)

 

[jshepherd]

Nacre is not opaque (unless the pearl is a Tahitian) so you would be able to see the bead through a thin layer. This is why beads with heavy striations aren't used for relatively thin-nacre pearls like akoya. Thin nacre tends to wear off, especially with pieces that rub against something. Unfortunately, what you are left with is little more than the bead that was originally inserted into the mollusk.

Something appears to have happened to the bead though to darken it like that. It looks like heat damage to me.

 

[meagan]

Thanks Jeremy. Sounds like I need to heat up a couple pearls and see if I can get the same result!
At least I have a better idea of what might have caused it.

 

[la_corsetiere]

Great setting on that ring! I have several two-tone pearls that exhibit similar qualities - white south seas or tahitians with irregular splotches of silvery nacre on the surface. I incorporated them in my really long mixed ss/tahitian rope. I may have gotten them (cheap) from a vendor called hugepearl or something similar on ebay. Not sure what size the pearl is in your ring, but you might take a look...

Sheri

 

[meagan]

thanks Sheri - just what I needed!

 

[lisa c]

Is everybody looking through their pondslime pearls to see if they have one to help her? Not Nudging, just curious!

 

[meagan]

thanks for the tip Lisa - I looked into pondslime pearls (something I'd never heard of) and it looks like they might be a good replacement option.

 

[lisa c]

The name's quite a hoot, isn't it? Did your mouth drop open when you read it? Mine did!

I hope you find one you like - do you want folks who sell them to get in touch w you? They can be reached by their addresses underneath their posts, bottom left corner. No one will pester you, don't worry. Not everyone will have undrilled pondslimes, but they're out there.

Good luck with this quest, and will you let us know if you find one? We love to hear, and we're mad for pics!

p.s. That's a really intriguing setting. I'm torn between finger bones and bamboo, but I haven't seen anything like it before.

 

[meagan]

Thanks Lisa - Anyone who sells undrilled pondslime pearls is more than welcome to post! It definitely makes my job easier when it comes to finding a replacement. I'm going to wait till this one completely breaks before replacing it, so it may be a while and all the more reason to have a couple names on hand when it does need to be done.

And yes, the name made me smile. The first thing I did was call my mom, who had the ring before I did, and tell her. She started laughing too.