Hello to all
I recently purchased some big Mabe pearls which I intent to set in
silver, and noticed a nasty scratch on one of them. Does anybody
knows what can be done about this ?
Thank you
Cecil, There is a polishing compound for pearls and other
organics…don’t know what its called as the local pearl shop gave
it to me unlabelled.It works just like your metal polishing compounds
and removes scratches easily and quickly using a polishing mop on
your machine.Treat the scratch just as you would in metal by filing
and sanding if needed then polishing with the compound. Someone else
will tell you a brand name I’m sure.
Colin.
You might artistically create a design where a wire crosses over the
pearl covering the scratch - pearls are layers and as such you can
not polish a scratch out like you can on a gemstone. I have heard
one can ‘peel’ the layers off a pearl to an unscratched layer but it
is very difficult and there may not be enough nacre left underneath
for good luster and orient. I have also seen ‘faceted’ fresh water
pearls but this is not something one would do with a mabe.
Good luck, jeanette
Depending on how severe it is its often possible to polish it out
with tripoli and rouge, or just zam. You will probably find that once
you have gotten the surface optically smooth you still see a ghost of
the damage. My guess is that the nacre is ‘bruised’ and the aragonite
xtls have shifted orientation or broken… You might be able to work
around this with creative setting. But still the pearl is damaged and
you might want to price it accordingly.
Nacre thickness will be a big factor in how aggressive you get with
it. Don’t be ham fisted though, keep cool.