Fai
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Tridacna Pearl
- Thread starter Fai
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Valeria101
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Fai
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Tridacna pearl
Tridacna pearl
I have a friend who stay in one of the islet of Sulu, Philippines. His business is buying dried tridacna meat. And tridacna pickers sometime got a chance of getting pearl in the meat and you can't believed they are holding hundreds of tridacna pearsl. Sulu archipelago is reach in marine resources, korean and Taiwanes are making good profit in marine products from abalone to tuna to mention a few.
May be this pearl is just a collectors item but their luster is also good and the surface is 100% free from blemish I think it can also be use for jewelry set.
Tridacna pearl
Hi Caitlin,
I have a friend who stay in one of the islet of Sulu, Philippines. His business is buying dried tridacna meat. And tridacna pickers sometime got a chance of getting pearl in the meat and you can't believed they are holding hundreds of tridacna pearsl. Sulu archipelago is reach in marine resources, korean and Taiwanes are making good profit in marine products from abalone to tuna to mention a few.
May be this pearl is just a collectors item but their luster is also good and the surface is 100% free from blemish I think it can also be use for jewelry set.
Caitlin
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No not all species are protected, but so far I haven't seen anything but pearls from giant clams. The size of that one seems large.
It is very similar to the ones Tom Stern has gotten from the same neighorhood. Maybe he could say what species his are from- they were all recently certified by the GIA lab.
Does anyone know what happens when they are drilled? I doen't think the non-nacreous pearls are very good to drill, they splinter or split.
It is very similar to the ones Tom Stern has gotten from the same neighorhood. Maybe he could say what species his are from- they were all recently certified by the GIA lab.
Does anyone know what happens when they are drilled? I doen't think the non-nacreous pearls are very good to drill, they splinter or split.
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Caitlin
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Yep. That one. I also heard that quahog pearls can't be drilled either (they collapse). Might be a good rule of thumb not to drill non-nacreous pearls until someone dares to experiment!
Makes me wonder what would happen if they tried to drill the Pearl of Allah for carbon dating testing? It was never done, so we don't know.
Makes me wonder what would happen if they tried to drill the Pearl of Allah for carbon dating testing? It was never done, so we don't know.
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Slraep
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I agree with Caitlin, and if I may add, Tridacna pearls are not really "pearls"---they are polished "calcium concretions" that have no nacreous glow because there is no fine crystalline aragonite in their composition. Not the most attractive of things.
I'll also echo the part where they are from a protected species, the T. gigas.
Slraep
I'll also echo the part where they are from a protected species, the T. gigas.
Slraep
SteveM
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I say, DRILL it!
Caitlin
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That is so right on!
Now that the owner who possessed it is dead, I am curious what will happen to the pearl.
Maybe instead of hyping it with spurious appraisals, they will actually get it drilled and carbon dated...And gee- if it splits open on being drilled- well darn it. Maybe that will signal the end of the baddest mojo calcareous concretion ever to come to light.
I really hope the family will not let Victor Barbish's foibles (dare we say greed?) spread to investing that thing with any unrealistic value.
DrTKStern
Natural Pearl Connoisseur
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Drilling a Tridacna
Drilling a Tridacna
Yes, let's find out. I've got quite a few, and I'll have my guy in San Francisco drill one, all the way through. Then I'll report.
Best to all,
Tom Stern,MD
Drilling a Tridacna
Yes, let's find out. I've got quite a few, and I'll have my guy in San Francisco drill one, all the way through. Then I'll report.
Best to all,
Tom Stern,MD
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Slraep
Guest
smetzler said:
How about throwing it back into the DEEP sea! That should get rid of its bad mojo forever. Unless some poor fisherman's dragnet snags it...
Frankly, after following the whole Pearl of Allah story, I find myself wondering if the old saying, "pearls will bring tears", was about giant clam concretions and not nacreous pearls. I mean, you could burst out crying, having to look at the Pearl of Allah for more than a few minutes. I don't want to personally test out the bad mojo thing, so I think I'll pass on owning any T. gigas concretions. I wonder if any forum members who have one/any, experienced any bad times after having acquired it/them. Hmmm.
Slraep
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pattye
Guest
It needs to be left out on the sun to cleanse for at least a month before throwing in the ocean, not fair for the ocean to have to absorb all that negative energy, it has enough trouble already.
Pattye
so many pearls, so little time
Pattye
so many pearls, so little time
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Slraep
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smetzler said:
Lord, no.
Slraep
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Slraep
Guest
pattye said:
Oh, I didn't think of that! You are right! What about cleansing the thing and then burying it deep in the earth, or sinking it in a tar pit? What about letting it dissolve in a huge vat of wine and then marketing the resulting drink? No, maybe not. Seems blasphemous to market an alcoholic beverage made out of something named "The Pearl of Allah". Sigh. Maybe a little side trip on a space shuttle---no, that's too close to the earth's gravitational force and it will just become more dangerous space junk if dumped. How about ejecting it half way to Mars by one of those landers? But then, some unsuspecting planet will eventually pull it in, or it will somehow weasel its way back to the earth hitting us in the form of a destructive meteorite. No, no, this needs careful thinking out...
Slraep
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Valeria101
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Returning to the subject...
I've been living with the impression that relatively small Tridacna pearls are usually symmetrical baroques like this one. Of course, not all might have that perfect, classic 'sugarloaf'shape like this one does - it's got to count for something.
Not sure what counts as good / bad lustre for these pearls. I just have not seen that many, and the few I know looked like porcelain (i.e. with pretty good lustre). Rare and unusual as all Tridacna pearls are, I'm wondering whether anyone has come up with a story of what constitutes 'good quality' for them. If one is of a shape and size suitable for wear (like this one), I'm sure it gets extra points. Just from my point of view, even texture and spotless color makes up 'quality'. I am not sure if 'defects' on the underside of a button pearl (like this one) would even be a reason for discount.... no more then they are for natural nacreous pearls, perhaps.
Another question may be whether Tridacna pearls may be compared with the other, better known non-nacreous pearls (Melo and Conch) which loose points for lack of color. Although this comparison makes a bit of sense, it also seems unfair since Tridacna pearls are always white. Your call to put this bit straight
Basically, I believe that at this point no one came out of the woods with a bag (i.e. large stock) of Tridacna pearls to promote the type. And no one came up with a quality standard as yet - even Gems & Gemoloy has nothing on them yet. The above is just my own 'idea' of what could go into such a quality standard. But I do not have the bag of pearls... so that doesn't really count.
All in all, I find the subtle look of these pearls (i.e. definitely not the showy kind of jewelry, are they) extremely attractive: the 'objects' have instant appeal and invite explaining. Not everyone wants their jewelry to be a 'conversation' piece, but that's another story.
I've been living with the impression that relatively small Tridacna pearls are usually symmetrical baroques like this one. Of course, not all might have that perfect, classic 'sugarloaf'shape like this one does - it's got to count for something.
Not sure what counts as good / bad lustre for these pearls. I just have not seen that many, and the few I know looked like porcelain (i.e. with pretty good lustre). Rare and unusual as all Tridacna pearls are, I'm wondering whether anyone has come up with a story of what constitutes 'good quality' for them. If one is of a shape and size suitable for wear (like this one), I'm sure it gets extra points. Just from my point of view, even texture and spotless color makes up 'quality'. I am not sure if 'defects' on the underside of a button pearl (like this one) would even be a reason for discount.... no more then they are for natural nacreous pearls, perhaps.
Another question may be whether Tridacna pearls may be compared with the other, better known non-nacreous pearls (Melo and Conch) which loose points for lack of color. Although this comparison makes a bit of sense, it also seems unfair since Tridacna pearls are always white. Your call to put this bit straight
Basically, I believe that at this point no one came out of the woods with a bag (i.e. large stock) of Tridacna pearls to promote the type. And no one came up with a quality standard as yet - even Gems & Gemoloy has nothing on them yet.
The above is just my own 'idea' of what could go into such a quality standard. But I do not have the bag of pearls... so that doesn't really count. All in all, I find the subtle look of these pearls (i.e. definitely not the showy kind of jewelry, are they) extremely attractive: the 'objects' have instant appeal and invite explaining. Not everyone wants their jewelry to be a 'conversation' piece, but that's another story.
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Valeria101
Guest
Make that vinegar - really strong! You'd need lots of acid in it to dissolve all that chalk.
Besides, it seems to take forever to damage (let alone dissolve) a normal pearl in wine. That myth sounds bogus. Has anyone else tried?
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Slraep
Guest
Valeria101 said:Make that vinegar - really strong! You'd need lots of acid in it to dissolve all that chalk.
Besides, it seems to take forever to damage (let alone dissolve) a normal pearl in wine. That myth sounds bogus. Has anyone else tried?
Yes, I know you need something quite acidic to dissolve a pearl (and we are taking about The Pearl of Allah here, so we may need battery acid) but, just think, if the wine-infusion works, you could plaster a mock scene of Cleopatra handing M. Anthony a cup of T. gigas vino on the finished bottle. What a great marketing ploy! How romantic!---but only if Allah doesn't get annoyed and send a thunderbolt out of the sky to bast you...
I think it would dissolve fairly rapidly in some Coca Cola. But where is the romance in that? Although you could market it as Coke--- flavoured with an element from a species on its way to extinction.
Slraep
