Coral smells

I’m asking this for a non-computer friend of mine.

She loves coral and especially chunk coral. She bought a lovely
"rough" necklace of chunk coral and turquoise and silver. She
took it out to wear it and the coral smelled awful. I suspect it
wasn’t properly processed, and she agrees.

Question is, is the smell (which smelled just like the outskirts
of the Great Salt Lake to me) organic, and can it be removed?
When I used to process tiny animal bones for southwestern bead
jewelry, I’d boil, then soak in a light bleach solution, then an
overnight soaking in hydrogen peroxide to get the organic matter
out of it. Seems a bit drastic for coral, though. Any coral
experts around? Kelly

For those of you who do not live in the Salt Lake Area, as I do,
you have very little idea of what that can be like… It is worse
than the NJ turnpike by the refining tanks. When the wind blows
the wrong way, into town, it is almost impossible to catch your
breath.

If this coral smells this bad, I can’t imagine her even buying
it. The decaying smell from the GSL is so obnoxious, they should
declare it a hazardous zone. m… living in the SLC area.

Not a “Coral expert” either, but I have had some coral pieces
lose their color on me through some fairly mild jewelry
processes. I would DEFINITELY AVOID bleach and boiling - maybe
just soaking in a baking soda solution will remove the odor - it
does wonders for my 'fridge and for some odor-soaked Tupperware
sort of stuff. Mike