Natural Abalone Pearls

The cluster in #2 has an inlaid jewel effect with nice contrasting colors. A fascinating find—what settings are you considering?

I have not yet given much thought to a setting.
 
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That's a real nautilus curve in those pearls. That is a golden triangle or something?

I'm not sure if it fits any kind of golden mean, but it is a lovely nautiloid curve. Here's the X-Ray with a more horizontal orientation. Note the "ghost" to the right. I think it's a reflection off the film but will be checking further. Also, there's another odd shaped ghost to the left where the lone nodule is in the photos. I think that this nodule is the result of a "sputter" of conchiolin from the mantle and that the light image is from nacre that was deposited over it. That's my working hypothesis so far.
 

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Here is one more from my little collection. It consists of three pearls incorporated to varying degrees into the shell. The large one shows very clearly the alternating layers of nacre and conchiolin within the pearl. Like the previous X-rays, I have enhanced the brightness and the contrast to accentuate the details.

I have added the dimensions of this and the two previous pieces on 2/25/09.
Overall size: 32 mm X 25 mm (unfinished)
Large Pearl size: 6.2 mm X 5.3 mm X 2.3 mm (approx. height)
Double smaller pearls size: 6.1 mm X 4.0 mm X 1.9 mm (approx. height)
The height of these pearls is an estimate of the visible portion only because a portion of the bottom of the pearls are imbedded in the shell to which they are attached
 

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Here is another cluster of a group of small, solid, natural, abalone pearls that have come free from the mantle and were subsequently cemented to the inside of the shell. This must have happened a fairly short time before the abalone was harvested because they have only about one or two layers of nacre covering them. Unfortunately, they were allowed to lay about, probably outside and uncovered, so that they weathered badly and, I believe, have very little value. However, they provide a good illustration of the process of pearls adhering to the shell and starting to be incorporated into it.
 

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Hi Marcus
They seem indeed to have become a rather unexciting brown colour. Might they be a candidate for the gentle application of a large hammer or somesuch to try to extricate the pearls thenmselves, which may survive?
All to win and nothing to lose?
 
I will be travelling to london soon can anyone recomend any natural pearl dealers in that region
 
Natural Abalone Pearl Pendant

Natural Abalone Pearl Pendant

Hi All,

It's been a long time since I could make it on. There's lots of interesting reading for me to catch up on!!

I just wanted to share something with you all. I had 3 horn shaped abalone pearls and I had the two smallest made into pendants for my sons and they love them. It gives them a real connection to their homeland (New Zealand). They were getting a lot of positive feedback from random people and I wasn't doing much with my larger piece so I've also had that made into a pendant and I love it!! With some TLC it has come up great. My son's currently based in london so we thought we might try one of the auction places there, but times are tough at the moment so we'll see.

I have a photo of it on my website www.abalonepearls.co.nz which has a little blurb with it (not much) but I've hopefully attached a small copy of the picture to this post... hopefully.

Please do let me know what you think.

All the best
Large_horn_pearl_pendant_closeup.jpg

 
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That turned out great, and the cleaned pearl offers an impressive variety of color. Please remind us its carat weight and dimensions.
 
Is the link to the first image still valid? I cannot see it for some reason (the rest of the forum seems to work).
 
Strange - seems to work for me. And I copied and pasted the link directly into a browser and the image came up.

If you go to my homepage www.abalonepearls.co.nz the same image is at the very top of the page.

Could someone let me know if I've done this wrong and how I can attach the image instead perhaps?

Thanks and best regards
 
The pendants are beautiful!

A respectful suggestion about your Web site (because it seems to be in the late stages of ongoing construction (the "click here links") — your background is a bit dark. I find that the text is still readable, but it does not stand out. Likewise, the colors of your pearls don't pop, but seem a little swallowed. Saturated backgrounds with darker text is a dated design convention that may not be in line with goods of the quality and price you're featuring.

It's very oceany — I see why that color was chosen and see why you might elect to keep it, but I thought I'd mention it. Thank you for sharing this with us and good luck with auctioning, if you decide to go that route! :)
 
It must be some odd problem on my side: I cannot open your website at all. According to my browser, it does not exist!

Perhaps you provider blocks access from some geographic areas?
Very strange - does anyone else have a problem? As far as I know, everyone should be able to access it.

if you type the address into a browser, what error message do you get?
 
I've got no problems from here. Every link seems to work fine. I would concur with the text on the dark blue background someone mentioned earlier. If you highlight the text it becomes white and much more readable. If you want to maintain the background, just changing the text color in your style sheet to white should alleviate the problem.
 
The error message sounds like this:

"Internet Explorer cannot display the webpage"


Google toolbar and cache do not show any content either.

This is the first time I see this happening too, although if other websites were blocked in a similar manner I may not have suspected it - there is no sign the website exists at all, except the discussion here.

I've just sent this to my Internet provider as well.
 
I'm just trying to figure out how to change the colours to make it a bit easier to read.. I'm not sure how to show the links, but is the text a bit easier now? I've only done the homepage at this stage.

Thanks again for all the great feedback
 
I think that made a world of difference-- definitely easier to read. The contrast also complements the thumbnail better, I think. Seems easier to see the interplay of colors, shine, metal colors, etc. in the pic.
 
The Natural Pearl Factory

The Natural Pearl Factory

Look what we found today,
A Pearl Factory
Any thoughts!!!!
All will be revealed
This photo was taken with a jewellers glass and a digital camera
not sure of the magnificationPearl Factory - Macro - Forum.jpg
 
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OK, I'll be the first to admit I'm having a very hard time making any sense out of the picture insofar as pearls. Looks like a piece of coral. A little hint on what we should be seeing might help before the mystery is revealed!
 
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