Restoring lustre of south sea pearl

I have a 20mm golden baroque south sea pearl that was slightly
damaged by heat/hot water, and it has became a little dull on the
surface. How do I get back the lustre? Help!!!

Anne…

Not strictly “kosher” but… lightly polish with Tripoli, should
remove the outer nacre layer and as long as the damage is not toooooo
deep, that should do the trick. Don’t rouge, as it will give it that
"cheap" look. (You can actually rouge it and then polish it back with
Tripoli) This gives the lustre without the high gloss.

The old remedy was to feed pearl to a chicken. After it passes
through a pearl restored to it’s beauty. That was when pearls were
natural with thick layer of nacre. Cultured pearls probably will not
survive this trip. All depends how thick is the nacre.

Leonid Surpin

If there is a dull white look…it has had the nacre worn/rubber
off…then nothing really can be done.

I find the cheap fresh water pearls these days are awful. I joke and
say they wave the pearl medium over the oyster and call it FWP.

Buyers need to be particular about quality in this hurry up and
catch the next wave market. I criticise cheap beading trends for
cheap products.

Having said that, education of customers as to why mine are more
expensive than lulu’s beading down the road strung on nylon is good.

I figure if we keep asking for better products there will always be
suppliers for our level of need.

Simone