Diamond & Jewelry News, Advice and Prices for Consumers
Diamond & Jewelry News, Advice and Prices for Consumers
May 20, 2010
I'm asking because my parents recently returned from China. While traveling through the Chinese countryside, my parents went pearl dicing. They got to keep the cultivated pearls they fished out of the clams. When they returned from their trip they let me have the pearls. The pearls are a faint pinkish color, and they are of irregular sizes and shapes. I thought about asking my jeweler to make a bracelet out of the pearls. I was wondering whether the pearls could be treated somehow, so that they will all match in color, size and shape.
May 3, 2011
There are four ways in which a pearl can be treated prior to its being sold, these are: bleaching, irradiation, dyeing and heating. Bleaching is usually done to make the pearl brighter and is a very common practice. It allows for the colors of the individual pearls to be closer in shade and brightness to one another. The second, irradiation is used in to change the color of the pearls to a gray or lack shade, this process involves exposing the pearl to radiation. The third, dying, is, of course, used to change the color of the pearl. Pearls do naturally come in various different colors, but the shade is not always consistent, so the dye is added in an attempt to make the color more consistent throughout all of the pearls. The last practice is heating, this is one of the more controversial treatments of pearls, and it is used to create pearls that are golden. So, yes, pearls are treated before being sold, the treatment depends largely on the desired outcome.
May 28, 2010
No. Natural pearls are organic substances, they were grown within organic organisms (oysters and mussels), thus they are completely natural in luster and color. Natural pearls do not require any sort of special treatment (unlike gemstones such as diamonds which need to be polished and cut out of their raw forms). In fact, polishing and treating natural pearls may only cause damage to their exterior since pearls are a very soft mineral. They scratch, dent and discolor easily. Best to keep a natural pearl natural.
May 22, 2010
Actually you're wrong. All pearls undergo some sort of treatment before they show up in your jewelry. After they are harvested, natural and freshwater pearls are usually bleached, and all pearls are cleaned and polished. This is all just natural procedure to clean and shine the diamond, and don't change the chemical components or quality of the natural pearls in any way. Cultured pearls, on the other hand, especially low-grade pearls, sometimes get treatments too boost their value. There are three main treatments: dyeing, irradiation and luster treatments. Dyeing uses silver nitrate or various other organic dyes to give the pearl a darker shade; irradiation uses gamma rays to darken the pearl, and luster treatments require heating and cooling the pearl or coating the pearl to enhance its luster or shine.
