Purple Edison pearl, colored or natural

[Kim.Tutaki]

I'm going through an obsession phase with purple Edison at the moment and come across this colour. Normally I can kinda tell if they are natural or not but this blueish purple really struck me. What does everyone else think. Is this colour treated or natural Edison colour?

 

[Pearl Dreams]

The problem is, some purple Edisons are dyed. We can't tell just by looking at them. And the dyed pearls seem to fade over time.
So, is the price tempting enough that you'd want them even if they turned out to be dyed and they fade in time?

 

[StarryPearl]

The problem is, some purple Edisons are dyed. We can't tell just by looking at them. And the dyed pearls seem to fade over time.
So, is the price tempting enough that you'd want them even if they turned out to be dyed and they fade in time?

Great point, Pearl Dreams. For this exact reason I never dared to buy expensive purple Edisons. But how do we know it’s the dyed ones who fade? Or we just assume the faded ones were dyed?

 

[SteveM]

Natural pigments also fade, thinking especially of porcelanous pearls such as Quahog (purple), Conch (pink), Melo Melo (orange). Owners of those rare treasures must be careful about storage and sun exposure.

 

[Kim.Tutaki]

The most fun part for me at the moment is finding beautiful Edison in all corners of the internet. It's like a treasure hunt. I do try my best to avoid those "shell pearls" and colour added ones.

I read that purple fading article a few months ago. Makes me a bit disappointed that such beauty is not even guaranteed. I did tell myself at the time that I shouldn't buy any expensive purple.

But my dream remains to build a collection of crazy colour just like the Eclipse necklace that BWeave showed.

The pendant is over 50 usd. Not sure I'm willing to pay that much for a single Edison. But I do still love the allure of that Imperial blue colour.

 

[Kim.Tutaki]

Some of my most beautiful colour for you to enjoy

 

[Yens]

Those screenshot photos in the original post don't seem to be legit natural purples. Seems to be treated Edisons. Or, it could be heavily edited video with filters over them. As for fading, natural colors fade but depends on harvest. Many of the mussels used are too young, and the younger the mollusk, the higher chance of fading pearls. Color treated however, do not fade.. At least from our experience.. We've had color treated pearls sitting in a box for 20 yrs and it's the same.

 

[StarryPearl]

Those screenshot photos in the original post don't seem to be legit natural purples. Seems to be treated Edisons. Or, it could be heavily edited video with filters over them. As for fading, natural colors fade but depends on harvest. Many of the mussels used are too young, and the younger the mollusk, the higher chance of fading pearls. Color treated however, do not fade.. At least from our experience.. We've had color treated pearls sitting in a box for 20 yrs and it's the same.

Thanks for your input, Yens. What you said matches perfectly with what my friend whose job is pearl identification told me. So sad the natural ones fade. Unless one has access to Raman Spectrometer, when s/he is sure it's natural, it's faded.

 

[CortezPearls]

Those screenshot photos in the original post don't seem to be legit natural purples. Seems to be treated Edisons. Or, it could be heavily edited video with filters over them. As for fading, natural colors fade but depends on harvest. Many of the mussels used are too young, and the younger the mollusk, the higher chance of fading pearls. Color treated however, do not fade.. At least from our experience.. We've had color treated pearls sitting in a box for 20 yrs and it's the same.

I agree 100%

 

[Lagoon Island Pearls]

Those screenshot photos in the original post don't seem to be legit natural purples. Seems to be treated Edisons. Or, it could be heavily edited video with filters over them. As for fading, natural colors fade but depends on harvest. Many of the mussels used are too young, and the younger the mollusk, the higher chance of fading pearls. Color treated however, do not fade.. At least from our experience.. We've had color treated pearls sitting in a box for 20 yrs and it's the same.

I also agree.

Natural colour is borne of protein, where dyes infiltrate calcite. Much of the fade in naturals results from occlusion by reverted calcite (as opposed to merely disappearing). The mantles (pearl sacs) of these are almost always the least possible thickness to be viable. As such they are metabolically more active than other tissues, hence minutely more acidic, thus postmortem may accelerate the reversion of adjacent crystalline structures. Calcite is reactive with even the weakest acids. I'd expect the most stable dyes are formulated with critical pH in mind. Likely in tandem with polyethylene glycol, which binds to protein and does well to conserve their structures.

Are you at liberty to say whether the colour treatments were pre/post harvest?