Hi Guys,
This is my 2nd post on this site, so please forgive any mistakes I may make.
I have really enjoyed reading the forums, but I have a question that I have not see addressed in anything I've read so far. If it's been discussed elsewhere, please let me know.
At what point do you retire a pearl from a string/necklace. I have a 2nd hand baroque Akoya necklace, that I acquired recently that has a damaged pearl at the end of the strand where it abuts the catch. The fastener has dug into the nacre, quite deeply it seems to me, but I'm a novice about pearls so maybe this is minor damage and to be expected. The damage has not reached the bead as I still see iridescence under all the grime and cannot see any bead whatsoever even with my microscope. Is this a problem, at what point do you retire a pearl? Does this pearl just have really thick nacre? Or am I missing something? And finally, this seems a nice pearl, outside of the obvious damage, could it be recycled into an earring, if you all recommend I remove it? I've seen Art Deco Chinese bead earrings with really wide, I don't know what the proper term is, supports on the base of the bottom bead. A support such as that could cover the damage entirely. Is this possible?
I'm going to try attaching a photo of the pearl, but so far I haven't been successful in adding photos. If the pic doesn't show up I'll add a link to Photo Bucket.
Thanks.
This is my 2nd post on this site, so please forgive any mistakes I may make.
I have really enjoyed reading the forums, but I have a question that I have not see addressed in anything I've read so far. If it's been discussed elsewhere, please let me know.
At what point do you retire a pearl from a string/necklace. I have a 2nd hand baroque Akoya necklace, that I acquired recently that has a damaged pearl at the end of the strand where it abuts the catch. The fastener has dug into the nacre, quite deeply it seems to me, but I'm a novice about pearls so maybe this is minor damage and to be expected. The damage has not reached the bead as I still see iridescence under all the grime and cannot see any bead whatsoever even with my microscope. Is this a problem, at what point do you retire a pearl? Does this pearl just have really thick nacre? Or am I missing something? And finally, this seems a nice pearl, outside of the obvious damage, could it be recycled into an earring, if you all recommend I remove it? I've seen Art Deco Chinese bead earrings with really wide, I don't know what the proper term is, supports on the base of the bottom bead. A support such as that could cover the damage entirely. Is this possible?
I'm going to try attaching a photo of the pearl, but so far I haven't been successful in adding photos. If the pic doesn't show up I'll add a link to Photo Bucket.
Thanks.
