Angel Skin Coral

Question, I have a necklace of Angel Skin Coral beads bought by
my father in Italy. Today they look a bit dry, any suggestions?
Thank you, Teresa

Teresa, You can polish them with yellow rouge or Zam. You will
have to restring them, of course. You might want to temporarily
thread an inch or two at a time on some wire. Thread would
probably cut when the beads spin. Hold or wire this short length
of beads against a wood block or thick, stiff piece of leather.
Be very careful not to get it caught in the buff. Also, you might
want to look through the archives for comments on polishing
beads. I believe Marcus Amshoff wrote about polishing lapis
beads within the last 4 or 5 months. Good Luck, Donna

I collect old jewelry. I have a piece made of angel skin coral, that
appears a little chalky like someone put it in an ultrasonic cleaner.
Can it be re-buffed?, if so with what medium? or how can I obtain a
more polished surface. Can I apply any type of oil to make it shine,
or make it more glossy. Thanks for any words of wisdom, Patty Glazer
@Gerald_Glazer

Patty, That coral has been exposed to an acid somewhere along the
line…might be lemon juice, Windex, some ultrasonic solutions.
Needs to be repolished carefully and correctly, cerium oxide works,
but it may need resanding first. Any lapidary can do it for you in a
few minutes. Then keep it away from acids and hair spray…

Wayne Emery

Patty, Not sure what might have caused the chalkiness…might have
been ultrasonic or a number of other things as well. But to repolish
the surface I would use ZAM. I find it polishes all solid corals very
well. Use only a cotton muslin stitched buff and keep it well loaded
with the ZAM. Even a 1.5 inch buff in a flex-shaft will do it. Be
careful not to keep the buff in one spot as the coral will ‘burn’ and
cause a spot on the surface that will no longer take a polish.

White diamond, black emory, and some of the other polishes will work
also but ZAM gives the best polish.

Powders such as cerium oxide will do the job but are messy and will
give no better polish.

Cheers from Don at The Charles Belle Studio in SOFL where simple
elegance IS fine jewelry.