Using Olive Oil on White Pearls

[Katbran]

Any news on the pearl experiments or too soon to see a difference?

 

[jshepherd]

The pearls in the olive oil have been in the sun all day. It's been a week now. The pearls in the vinegar are still whole. I'm going to leave them in for 2.5 weeks. Don't worry, I'm taking photos Hisano thinks I'm a little crazy though.

 

[GemGeek]

It's an old "remedy".

 

[Katbran]

Thanks for that Jeremy, I should have figured you'd be documenting this experiment! And, a little crazy is a good thing

 

[jshepherd]

A quick update!

After three weeks I took the pearls out of the olive oil and out of the vinegar. I don't have a good camera with me today, so I've cleaned the pearls and bagged them up for photos later.

Olive Oil
The pearls did not change color. In fact, the olive oil didn't do much of anything to them, even after three weeks! There is not a noticeable difference in the luster when compared to the saved, untreated samples.

Vinegar
You've all heard the Pliny legend about Mark Antony, Cleopatra and the pearl, right? I decided to do the vinegar test too simply because someone recently posted a blog post about supposed pearl myths, yet included the grain of sand theory and the Cleopatra legend as facts, not myths or legends.

I believe the legend is a myth. After three weeks, the pearls are definitely damaged. In fact, they had a very slimy sort of residue on them that rinsed off easily, exposing chalk-like balls. They aren't pretty to look at, but they did maintain their shape. The vinegar began dissolving the pearls very slowly, and they shrunk in size by a tiny amount. Even if the pearls were crushed, I think it would take weeks to completely dissolve them. It's not something that would happen over dinner.

 

[Pearl Dreams]

Fascinating, Jeremy-- thank you for the experiment!

 

[Cyril Roger Brossard]

Very interesting. May I ask what sort of vinegar you used? Was the container closed or exposed to the air?

 

[Nora]

From My Eli:
After reading Jeremy's experiments, I tried to track down the story. I came up with a page that not only gave the direct quote from Pliny, but also lots and lots of facts and gossip about pearls in Rome.

http://penelope.uchicago.edu/~grout/encyclopaedia_romana/miscellanea/cleopatra/cabanel.html

Thanks to Jeremy, we know that the story the way Pliny tells it just couldn't happen. However, Pliny (this is Pliny the Elder, who died at Pompeii when Vesuvius erupted) was writing a hundred years after the story happened.

My take on the story: Cleopatra's relations with Mark Anthony were as much, or more, political as they were romantic (no pun intended). She was a tough lady and she had to dominate one way or another (not that this should have been very hard with Mark Anthony, who - despite the way Brando played him) wasn't the most strong minded Roman around. She wasn't going to lose the bit, so my guess is that as a gal seeped in Egyptian tradition (even if her genes were Greek) and Egyptians being the prime magicians of the ancient world, she slight-of-hand switched the glass with the pearl for a glass of white wine. Still, when Augustus's forces cleaned up after she committed suicide, they only found one pearl earring.

But read the link, lots of juicy gossip. My favorite item is the one about Lollia Paulina, something that Pliny saw firsthand. At her engagement to Caligula, she covered herself with emeralds and pearls to the sum of 40 million sesterces and she had the bill with her to prove it. Sound like anyone you know?

 

[pattye]

Our Douglas of Sea of Cortez fame conducted a similar experiment which he blogged about here: http://www.perlas.com.mx/blog/?s=cleopatra Be sure to watch the video!

 

[Nora]

Douglas did a nice analysis and very through experiment. However, Pliny does state that she dropped the earring into the wine, no mention of crushing. With all due respect, can you see Cleopatra seducing Mark Anthony with a mortar and pestle in hand.

From Douglas's blog: What would have been Cleopatra?s solution? She could not wait for the pearl to dissolve in wine nor vinegar, so the obvious solution was to pound and pulverize the pearl and pour the ?pearl dust? into the wine, ready to be gulped down and become the ?World?s Most Expensive Dinner?.

While I offered the suggestion that Cleopatra did a slight of hand switch, there might be a simpler solution. When we think about big pearls, we're thinking 12-15 mm. But the pearls of Roman times had to have been smaller. The Roman writers describe pearl earrings made up of 3 pearls, so maybe we're talking of 5 mm, which Cleopatra could certainly gulp down.

 

[Naan]

 

[Naan]

after some hours

 

[Naan]

after 2 days

 

[Naan]

This is 9% vinegar and fresh water pearls

 

[Naan]

 

[CortezPearls]

Douglas did a nice analysis and very through experiment. However, Pliny does state that she dropped the earring into the wine, no mention of crushing. With all due respect, can you see Cleopatra seducing Mark Anthony with a mortar and pestle in hand.

From Douglas's blog: What would have been Cleopatra?s solution? She could not wait for the pearl to dissolve in wine nor vinegar, so the obvious solution was to pound and pulverize the pearl and pour the ?pearl dust? into the wine, ready to be gulped down and become the ?World?s Most Expensive Dinner?.

While I offered the suggestion that Cleopatra did a slight of hand switch, there might be a simpler solution. When we think about big pearls, we're thinking 12-15 mm. But the pearls of Roman times had to have been smaller. The Roman writers describe pearl earrings made up of 3 pearls, so maybe we're talking of 5 mm, which Cleopatra could certainly gulp down.

I would also add: Cleopatra was a Queen. The Queen of Egypt...she would have had dozens of attendants around her and one with mortar and pestle ready (she was very clever...I don't think this "pearl dinner" was unplanned) for the ocassion.