What happened to this pearl?

[ConnieM]

I have this baroque pearl. It has this... scab? on one side. The other side is fine and really quite pretty. But what is this scab? What happened? It feels rough with a clearly defined border.

 

[jshepherd]

It looks like the pearl had a hole in it and it was filled with a substance - making an otherwise unusable pearl salvageable. I've seen something similar to this before. If you're considering the pearl for purchase, I'd advise against it.

 

[CortezPearls]

I used to see this "scab" on natural pearls and also on pearls that were expelled out of the oyster's gonad and fell inside the shell, between the mantle and the shell. The pearl would become partially attached and would develop this marking.

This photo has some natural pearls with a similar "scab": they were found almost partially attached to the shell.

 

[jshepherd]

It looks similar to a worked blister, but it looks more like a substance was added to the hole. The "repaired" pearls I've seen like this in the past looked like they had be shellacked with some sort of hardening paste. That's what this looks like to me.

 

[CortezPearls]

It could be either. I guess the pearl would have to be examined up close to see better. But I agree with Jeremy in that it is similar to worked blisters as well.

 

[ConnieM]

Thank you both for the education ❤

 

[CortezPearls]

Our pleasure...we are here to help!

 

[ConnieM]

So... not to be obsessed on main, but I was dying of curiosity, so I chucked my weird pearl bead into a glass of vinegar and let the nacre dissolve over the course of a week. After all the nacre came away, I was left with this even weirder shell bead that's totally not round. It is so deformed it looks like entire chunks went missing Why would it be like this? Did a producer seed a mussel with a deformed nucleus on purpose? Anyways this was interesting.

 

[CortezPearls]

It is quite interesting and weird ConnieM but really hard to say much without further analysis. Could it be that the shape was obtained due to the acid's attack and it was originally round?
Could it have been seeded with a natural/cultured baroque pearl on purpose?
Have you ever watched the old video I made about "Cleopatra's Most Expensive Dinner" (on YouTube)? The nuclei in the pearls became deformed due to the acidic attack.
It's quite interesting to see your results.

 

[jshepherd]

The bead is made of mother of pearl, so the vinegar is going to damage the nuclei too, but the shape is definitely strange.

A few years back I soaked a bag of untreated raw freshwater pearls in vinegar for a few days to see what would happen.

https://www.pearlparadise.com/blogs/from-the-ceo/cleopatra-mark-antony-and-plinys-pearls-for-dinner

 

[CortezPearls]

That is a good post Jeremy!
This is the video I was talking about before:

It includes tests on wine, vinegar and muriatic acid.