(via Wahroongai News, Volume 33, Number 7, July 1999) Mark Liccini writes:
Here is how to heat zircon. You place them flawless……must be real clean or they will crack, and even then some may crack….in a (fire-clay) crucible with activated charcoal. This can be bought from any chemical supply company for about US$30 for a small container. Activated charcoal is the best to use, but there is another way to avoid using of reductive gas. Importantly, activated charcoal will work without creating any smoke. The other way is to put sugar in the crucible, but it starts to put out a lot of smoke when you get up to temperatures of 600°C or more. Although the smoking of sugar stops around 800°C, lots and lots of smoke will be generated. Boy! I mean a lot of smoke!
Then, you then must fill the crucible with zircon and seal the crucible. A good way is window screen and just a layer of plaster (plaster-of-Paris) over the top of the screen. Let it dry; then fill in any cracks after the plaster has dried. You then take the temperature of the crucible up slowly. The slower you go, less breakage will occur….all the way to 1000°C. Hold the temperature there for 2 hours or so. The controlled rise in temperature, depending on your furnace could take all day or longer. Following heating it can take 5-6 hours to cool the crucible down to cold (room temperature). Don’t open the door while the crucible and its contents are hot, or all will crack.
Now here are some tricks of the trade.
You will observe precisely in the bottom of a sealed crucible the best blues will be found. Near the top the heat treated zircons may be white. If you rotate the zircon rough imposition and repeat the heating and cooling cycle again, the white zircons will turn blue. If you overheat the zircons (and bleach them), you can do them again and they will come back blue. Even light blues done again will change to dark blues.
Now there is a trick to produce orange and red colors. You might obtain some oranges and red on the top of a sealed crucible. Indeed, when you first open a sealed crucible you will go crazy. The whole top will be covered with red and oranges. However, beware, for after a few minutes in the air all oranges and reds will revert to white and/or light blue—except a stone or two. These are stable reds and oranges. Now to ensure a high percentage of reds and oranges do the same heat treatment without sugar (or activated charcoal) and in an open crucible.
Note: With both heat treatment methods, you will get better results with a full crucible of zircon rough. Although I have never heat treated Cambodian zircons, I have run tonnage of Nigerian and some from Tanzania and Australia.
Saturday, March 17, 2007
Gigi
Memorable quote (s) from the movie:
Gigi (Leslie Caron): I don't know what you want. You told Grandmama...
Gaston (Louis Jourdan): I know what I told your grandmother. We don't have to repeat it. Just tell me simply what you don't want... and tell me what you do want.
Gigi (Leslie Caron): Do you mean that?
Gaston (Louis Jourdan): Of course.
Gigi (Leslie Caron): You told Grandmama that you wanted to take care of me.
Gaston (Louis Jourdan): To take care of you beautifully.
Gigi (Leslie Caron): Beautifully. That is, if I like it. They've pounded into my head I'm backward for my age... but I know what all this means. To take care of me beautifully means I shall go away with you... and that I shall sleep in your bed.
Gaston (Louis Jourdan): Please, Gigi. I beg of you, you embarrass me.
Gigi (Leslie Caron): You weren't embarrassed to talk to Grandmama about it. And Grandmama wasn't embarrassed to talk to me about it. But I know more than she told me. To take care of me means that I shall have my photograph in the papers. That I shall go to the Riviera. To the races at Deauville. And when we fight, it will be in all the columns the next day. And then you'd give me up, as you did with InÈs des CÈvennes.
Gaston (Louis Jourdan): Who's been filling your head with all these old stories? How do you know about that?
Gigi (Leslie Caron): Why shouldn't I know? You're world famous. I know about the woman who stole from you; the Contessa who wanted to shoot you; the American who wanted to marry you. I know what everybody knows.
Gaston (Louis Jourdan): These aren't the things we have to talk about together. That's all in the past, over and done with.
Gigi (Leslie Caron): Yes, Gaston. Until it begins again.
Gigi (Leslie Caron): I don't know what you want. You told Grandmama...
Gaston (Louis Jourdan): I know what I told your grandmother. We don't have to repeat it. Just tell me simply what you don't want... and tell me what you do want.
Gigi (Leslie Caron): Do you mean that?
Gaston (Louis Jourdan): Of course.
Gigi (Leslie Caron): You told Grandmama that you wanted to take care of me.
Gaston (Louis Jourdan): To take care of you beautifully.
Gigi (Leslie Caron): Beautifully. That is, if I like it. They've pounded into my head I'm backward for my age... but I know what all this means. To take care of me beautifully means I shall go away with you... and that I shall sleep in your bed.
Gaston (Louis Jourdan): Please, Gigi. I beg of you, you embarrass me.
Gigi (Leslie Caron): You weren't embarrassed to talk to Grandmama about it. And Grandmama wasn't embarrassed to talk to me about it. But I know more than she told me. To take care of me means that I shall have my photograph in the papers. That I shall go to the Riviera. To the races at Deauville. And when we fight, it will be in all the columns the next day. And then you'd give me up, as you did with InÈs des CÈvennes.
Gaston (Louis Jourdan): Who's been filling your head with all these old stories? How do you know about that?
Gigi (Leslie Caron): Why shouldn't I know? You're world famous. I know about the woman who stole from you; the Contessa who wanted to shoot you; the American who wanted to marry you. I know what everybody knows.
Gaston (Louis Jourdan): These aren't the things we have to talk about together. That's all in the past, over and done with.
Gigi (Leslie Caron): Yes, Gaston. Until it begins again.
A Timely Warning: Pakistani Fakes
(Via Wahroongai News, Volume 33, Number 6, June 1999)
The letter reproduced below was first published in the January – February 1999 issue of The Mineralogical Record.
“I have recently returned from Northern Areas, Pakistan, where I encountered several sophisticated fake specimens. In fact, I am now the proud owner of several, having not recognized them at the time of the purchase. All of the fakes were apparently made of material from Chumar Bakhoor Nagar (the source of the specimens of aquamarine crystals on muscovite crystals). One such specimen consisting of a fairly nice green fluorite octahedron with aquamarine was obtained in the bazaar of Karimabad, Hunza. The fluorite and aquamarine is surrounded by a band of iron stained fine-grained material. This became obvious when the specimen was cleaned. Another consisted of a tabular beryl with an aquamarine crystal which, on examination, could have not grown where it was sited. This specimen fell apart, allowing me to salvage the nice tabular beryl. Another was a specimen of a pink apatite crystal in a matrix of quartz and muscovite. These last two were obtained from the site on the Karakoram Highway known as Rakaposhi Main Point. Get only photos of Rakaposhi here—the summit is 19000 feet above and seven miles horizontally from you. At last fake is really good, consisting of a fine aquamarine crystals on muscovite obtained from the hotel shop at the Riveria Hotel, Gilgit. It should be noted that some of the dealers volunteered the information that certain specimens were fake. It is likely that the dealers from whom I got some of the fakes were also conned by their sources. So all material allegedly from Chumar Bhakoor Nagar should be examined with care.”
This letter clearly reveals that even the experts get conned by the locals of the Hunza Valley. So beware.
The letter reproduced below was first published in the January – February 1999 issue of The Mineralogical Record.
“I have recently returned from Northern Areas, Pakistan, where I encountered several sophisticated fake specimens. In fact, I am now the proud owner of several, having not recognized them at the time of the purchase. All of the fakes were apparently made of material from Chumar Bakhoor Nagar (the source of the specimens of aquamarine crystals on muscovite crystals). One such specimen consisting of a fairly nice green fluorite octahedron with aquamarine was obtained in the bazaar of Karimabad, Hunza. The fluorite and aquamarine is surrounded by a band of iron stained fine-grained material. This became obvious when the specimen was cleaned. Another consisted of a tabular beryl with an aquamarine crystal which, on examination, could have not grown where it was sited. This specimen fell apart, allowing me to salvage the nice tabular beryl. Another was a specimen of a pink apatite crystal in a matrix of quartz and muscovite. These last two were obtained from the site on the Karakoram Highway known as Rakaposhi Main Point. Get only photos of Rakaposhi here—the summit is 19000 feet above and seven miles horizontally from you. At last fake is really good, consisting of a fine aquamarine crystals on muscovite obtained from the hotel shop at the Riveria Hotel, Gilgit. It should be noted that some of the dealers volunteered the information that certain specimens were fake. It is likely that the dealers from whom I got some of the fakes were also conned by their sources. So all material allegedly from Chumar Bhakoor Nagar should be examined with care.”
This letter clearly reveals that even the experts get conned by the locals of the Hunza Valley. So beware.
A Rare Biological Gem Material: Aromatic Resin (Myrrh) Necklace
(via Wahroongai News, Volume 30, May 1996) Grahame Brown writes:
Myrrh, one of the three gifts to the baby Jesus by the three wise men of the Bible, is an aromatic resin produced by the desert tree Commiphora myrrha. In Western Africa the hardened resin from this tree has been hand shaped into beads to be worn for decorative or other purposes.
As determined by Robert Kammerling, and described in the Fall 95 issue of Gems & Gemology (p.210), this very rare biological gem material has the following properties.
Hardness: scratched with fingernail (<2½)
Fracture: granular
Color: yellowish brown to brown
Diaphenity: translucent
Specific gravity: 1.27
Spot refractive index: 1.40
Fluorescence: LW UV (moderate, even, chalky yellow); SW UV (weak, even, chalky yellow)
Absorption spectrum (visible): cut off at 430nm
Absorption spectrum (infrared): broad peaks at 5180, 4778, 4000 cm ¯¹, sharp peaks at 4339 and 4252 cm ¯¹
Thermal stability: readily melts
Characteristic odor: sweet and spicy odor following abrasion and / or rubbing.
Myrrh, one of the three gifts to the baby Jesus by the three wise men of the Bible, is an aromatic resin produced by the desert tree Commiphora myrrha. In Western Africa the hardened resin from this tree has been hand shaped into beads to be worn for decorative or other purposes.
As determined by Robert Kammerling, and described in the Fall 95 issue of Gems & Gemology (p.210), this very rare biological gem material has the following properties.
Hardness: scratched with fingernail (<2½)
Fracture: granular
Color: yellowish brown to brown
Diaphenity: translucent
Specific gravity: 1.27
Spot refractive index: 1.40
Fluorescence: LW UV (moderate, even, chalky yellow); SW UV (weak, even, chalky yellow)
Absorption spectrum (visible): cut off at 430nm
Absorption spectrum (infrared): broad peaks at 5180, 4778, 4000 cm ¯¹, sharp peaks at 4339 and 4252 cm ¯¹
Thermal stability: readily melts
Characteristic odor: sweet and spicy odor following abrasion and / or rubbing.
Rocks, Minerals & Gemstones
By I.O.Evans
The Hamlyn Publishing Group Ltd
1972 ISBN 0-600-37537-4
The Hamlyn Publishing Group writes:
Everybody, at one time or another, has stopped in their tracks, bent down and picked up a beautifully colored or curiously shaped fragment of stone and marveled at the artistry of nature. Prehistoric man was no exception and it was not long before he realized too, the many uses to which he could put the rocks, their minerals and the gemstones. Since then man has become more and more dependent on the minerals he extracts from the Earth’s crust and today these and their derivatives make up a bewildering variety of familiar everyday objects—from out nuts and bolts and diamond rings to our computers and supersonic jet aircraft. In fact civilization as we known it is completely reliant on rocks and minerals and so their importance in our lives, and the effect that the depletion of mineral resources could have on our future, is considerable.
This book presents a broad illustrated survey of the rocks, their constituent minerals and the gemstones. The nature of the rocks, their composition and the way in which they affect the build of the countryside is discussed first (including a consideration of rocks from outer space), and then the extraction techniques of the more important mineral ores are explained, together with a summary of mineral characteristics and the various crystal systems in which minerals form. A selection of the most important and most interesting minerals then follows and details are given for each of its properties, mode of occurrence, characteristics and uses. Gemstones are discussed at length and interesting aspects range from fascinating details of diamond extraction and cutting to descriptions of gemstones of organic origin. A final very useful section deals with the practical possibilities for the rock and mineral enthusiast and includes much advice on how to collect, identify and enjoy mineral specimens.
A very readable, non-technical text is supplemented by a fine collection of over one hundred excellent photographs, thirty of which are in full color.
The Hamlyn Publishing Group Ltd
1972 ISBN 0-600-37537-4
The Hamlyn Publishing Group writes:
Everybody, at one time or another, has stopped in their tracks, bent down and picked up a beautifully colored or curiously shaped fragment of stone and marveled at the artistry of nature. Prehistoric man was no exception and it was not long before he realized too, the many uses to which he could put the rocks, their minerals and the gemstones. Since then man has become more and more dependent on the minerals he extracts from the Earth’s crust and today these and their derivatives make up a bewildering variety of familiar everyday objects—from out nuts and bolts and diamond rings to our computers and supersonic jet aircraft. In fact civilization as we known it is completely reliant on rocks and minerals and so their importance in our lives, and the effect that the depletion of mineral resources could have on our future, is considerable.
This book presents a broad illustrated survey of the rocks, their constituent minerals and the gemstones. The nature of the rocks, their composition and the way in which they affect the build of the countryside is discussed first (including a consideration of rocks from outer space), and then the extraction techniques of the more important mineral ores are explained, together with a summary of mineral characteristics and the various crystal systems in which minerals form. A selection of the most important and most interesting minerals then follows and details are given for each of its properties, mode of occurrence, characteristics and uses. Gemstones are discussed at length and interesting aspects range from fascinating details of diamond extraction and cutting to descriptions of gemstones of organic origin. A final very useful section deals with the practical possibilities for the rock and mineral enthusiast and includes much advice on how to collect, identify and enjoy mineral specimens.
A very readable, non-technical text is supplemented by a fine collection of over one hundred excellent photographs, thirty of which are in full color.
Friday, March 16, 2007
An Alternative African Source Of Vegetable Ivory
(Wahroongai News, Volume 30, No.7, July 1996) Grahame Brown writes:
Vegetable ivory, a long used effective imitation for elephant ivory, is derived from the dried nuts of several species of palm tree. The common commercial source of vegetable ivory is the Corozo or Tagua palm (Phytelephas macrocarpa) from Central America and northern South America. This ivory colored vegetable material (nut) has a hardness of 2½, a specific gravity of 1.40 – 1.43, a spot refractive index of 1.54, and in hand specimen displays the polygonal outlines of its component plant cells.
Another source of African vegetable ivory was suggested by Webster to be the Doum or Gingerbread palm (Hyphaene thebaica) of north and central Africa. According to the 5th edition of Webster’s Gems, the rounded nuts of this palm have a reddish brown skin, and edible underlying spongy layer which is commonly converted into an alcoholic beverage, and a hard inner seed (the source of vegetable ivory).
A recent purchased guide, The Shell Field Guide to the Common Trees of the Okavango Delta and the Moremi Game Reserve, by Veronica Roodt, has provided some additional details about the African source of vegetable ivory.
According to Dr Roodt, the source of vegetable ivory in the Okavango Delta—a wildlife and vegetation-rich area of 18000 km² that is the terminus of the Cubango River in Botswana—is the Real Fan Palm (Hyphanae petersania). This majestic tree grows to a height of 20m, and has a bare stem crowned by arched fan-shaped green leaves.
The tennis ball sized fruits of this palm take 2 years to mature, and up to 2 years to fall. Consequently, this palm is decorated with fruit throughout the year. The nuts of the Real Fan Palm yield a whitish milk, that resembles and tastes like coconut milk, once the hard exocarp of the nut has been fractured. The external pulp of the nut is edible, and tastes like gingerbread. It may be fermented into a very potent palm wine. The hard, hollow internal endosperm of the nut is the source of vegetable ivory.
Elephants play a major role in the dispersion of the seeds of this palm, for elephants love the taste of these nuts. The endosperm (vegetable ivory) passes through the elephant’s digestive tract unscathed and may be collected from the animal’s faeces (as large brownish furry tennis balls). If the nuts are not harvested, the faeces act as a natural fertilizer to hasten the germination of seeds.
So, there you have it; an African source of vegetable ivory confirmed, and correctly assigned to source.
Vegetable ivory, a long used effective imitation for elephant ivory, is derived from the dried nuts of several species of palm tree. The common commercial source of vegetable ivory is the Corozo or Tagua palm (Phytelephas macrocarpa) from Central America and northern South America. This ivory colored vegetable material (nut) has a hardness of 2½, a specific gravity of 1.40 – 1.43, a spot refractive index of 1.54, and in hand specimen displays the polygonal outlines of its component plant cells.
Another source of African vegetable ivory was suggested by Webster to be the Doum or Gingerbread palm (Hyphaene thebaica) of north and central Africa. According to the 5th edition of Webster’s Gems, the rounded nuts of this palm have a reddish brown skin, and edible underlying spongy layer which is commonly converted into an alcoholic beverage, and a hard inner seed (the source of vegetable ivory).
A recent purchased guide, The Shell Field Guide to the Common Trees of the Okavango Delta and the Moremi Game Reserve, by Veronica Roodt, has provided some additional details about the African source of vegetable ivory.
According to Dr Roodt, the source of vegetable ivory in the Okavango Delta—a wildlife and vegetation-rich area of 18000 km² that is the terminus of the Cubango River in Botswana—is the Real Fan Palm (Hyphanae petersania). This majestic tree grows to a height of 20m, and has a bare stem crowned by arched fan-shaped green leaves.
The tennis ball sized fruits of this palm take 2 years to mature, and up to 2 years to fall. Consequently, this palm is decorated with fruit throughout the year. The nuts of the Real Fan Palm yield a whitish milk, that resembles and tastes like coconut milk, once the hard exocarp of the nut has been fractured. The external pulp of the nut is edible, and tastes like gingerbread. It may be fermented into a very potent palm wine. The hard, hollow internal endosperm of the nut is the source of vegetable ivory.
Elephants play a major role in the dispersion of the seeds of this palm, for elephants love the taste of these nuts. The endosperm (vegetable ivory) passes through the elephant’s digestive tract unscathed and may be collected from the animal’s faeces (as large brownish furry tennis balls). If the nuts are not harvested, the faeces act as a natural fertilizer to hasten the germination of seeds.
So, there you have it; an African source of vegetable ivory confirmed, and correctly assigned to source.
The Thomas Crown Affair
Memorable quote (s) from the movie:
The Psychiatrist (Faye Dunaway): I want you to talk about women. Mr. Crown?
Thomas Crown (Pierce Brosnan): I'm sorry?
The Psychiatrist (Faye Dunaway) : Women. You get to talk about women.
Thomas Crown (Pierce Brosnan): Oh, I enjoy women.
The Psychiatrist (Faye Dunaway): Enjoyment isn't intimacy.
Thomas Crown (Pierce Brosnan): And intimacy isn't necessarily enjoyment.
The Psychiatrist (Faye Dunaway): How would you know? Has it occurred to you that you have a problem with trust?
Thomas Crown (Pierce Brosnan): I trust myself implicitly.
The Psychiatrist (Faye Dunaway): But can other people trust you?
Thomas Crown (Pierce Brosnan): Oh, you mean society at large?
The Psychiatrist (Faye Dunaway): I mean women, Mr.Crown.
Thomas Crown (Pierce Brosnan) : Yes, a woman could trust me.
The Psychiatrist (Faye Dunaway): Good. Under what extraordinary circumstances would you allow that to happen?
Thomas Crown (Pierce Brosnan): A woman could trust me as long as her interests didn't run too contrary to my own.
The Psychiatrist (Faye Dunaway): And society? If its interests should run counter to your own?
The Psychiatrist (Faye Dunaway): I want you to talk about women. Mr. Crown?
Thomas Crown (Pierce Brosnan): I'm sorry?
The Psychiatrist (Faye Dunaway) : Women. You get to talk about women.
Thomas Crown (Pierce Brosnan): Oh, I enjoy women.
The Psychiatrist (Faye Dunaway): Enjoyment isn't intimacy.
Thomas Crown (Pierce Brosnan): And intimacy isn't necessarily enjoyment.
The Psychiatrist (Faye Dunaway): How would you know? Has it occurred to you that you have a problem with trust?
Thomas Crown (Pierce Brosnan): I trust myself implicitly.
The Psychiatrist (Faye Dunaway): But can other people trust you?
Thomas Crown (Pierce Brosnan): Oh, you mean society at large?
The Psychiatrist (Faye Dunaway): I mean women, Mr.Crown.
Thomas Crown (Pierce Brosnan) : Yes, a woman could trust me.
The Psychiatrist (Faye Dunaway): Good. Under what extraordinary circumstances would you allow that to happen?
Thomas Crown (Pierce Brosnan): A woman could trust me as long as her interests didn't run too contrary to my own.
The Psychiatrist (Faye Dunaway): And society? If its interests should run counter to your own?
How Can You Take Good Care Of Your Pearl
(Wahroongai News, Volume 28, No.6, June 1994) H Komatsu writes:
How to take good care of pearl can be summarized into the following 4 points:
1. After wearing your pearl, you make it a custom to clean and dry it with a soft cloth, and keep it in a jewelry box. This is to prevent from the dullness of pearl luster from perspiration or cosmetic.
2. Your pearl should not touch with other jewelries such as diamonds, precious stones, gold jewelry, etc otherwise, some flaws might occur on the surface of your pearl.
3. Your pearl should not be exposed to light while it is kept, because light might make it yellowish after many years.
4. Your pearl should avoid extreme dryness and humidity; otherwise, cracks might occur after many years.
What is most important among the above 4 points is (1), that is, to clean and dry your pearl with a cloth after you wear it.
A pearl is far stronger than a marble.
The principle ingredient of a pearl and a marble consist of calcium carbonate, or a sort of calcium crystallization. It is reported that a marble is damaged by acid rain in Europe. Grand edifices and sculptures made of marbles are exposed to weather in ancient European cities, such as Paris, Rome, etc. And those historical structures are deformed, being melted by acid rain caused by waste gas from automobiles. Calcium carbonate is strong and solid crystallization, but it is melted by chemical reaction when influenced by acidity. On the other hand, the principal ingredient of a pearl is calcium carbonate, but the structure of its principal ingredient is greatly different from a marble. A marble is simply a mass of crystallization, but a pearl appears to be tiny bricks which are visible only with an electron microscope. Pearl nacre composes of many, many brick-looking materials. As a matter of fact, a pearl of 7mm composes of 220, 000, 000, 000 bricks. To our further surprise, every brick is covered up with a protein film. Generally speaking, protein is strong against acidity, and a pearl covered with a protein film is much stronger than a marble.
The surface of a pearl will become clouded with perspiration.
Since a brick near the surface of a pearl is exposed to the air and touches with your skin, its protein film may be damaged and it may become melted with acidity, such as perspiration and cosmetic. When a brick becomes melted, the surfaces of a pearl become uneven, though it is a micron in size, and loses its luster, which is called ‘cloudy phenomenon’. The same principle applies for a frosted glass which becomes clouded when a flaw or unevenness is found on the surface of a transparent glass.
It is easy to make clouded surface clean by cutting and polishing its surface.
Cloudy surface appears to be very serious when you notice it one day. You will be shocked to find powdery materials or white cloud on the surface of your pearl. However, it is easy to solve the above problem. By principle, we can remove one brick with flaws on the surface, and take out a new brick below the old one. You can restore pearl luster by polishing its surface with a cloth containing an ordinary abrasive. Since the thickness of a brick is 0.5 micron, you can feel relieved that cutting off such thickness does not reduce the size of your pearl.
To clean and dry your pearl with a cloth is the fundamental rule regarding how to take good care of your pearl.
We advise you not to have your pearl clouded, though you will be able to restore it. There will be two methods:
- To stay away from acidity. In case of a pearl jewelry, it is impossible to do so unless it is coated with special chemical, because you wear it on your skin.
- To remove acidity. The only method will be to remove perspiration and cosmetic on the surface of a pearl. Any soft cloth will do, but strictly speaking, the cloth which is suitable for soaking up the chief ingredient of perspiration, that is, water and oil, will be the best.
A pearl is one of the softest gems.
According to Mohs hardness index, a pearl is harder than a marble, but it is softer than any other gems. It is true that the hardness index of a pearl, which is 4.5, creates its unique luster, but we advise you not to mix it with other gems in a jewelry box.
Let’s not get your pearl sunburnt.
As we told you, pearl brick is covered up with a protein in film. This protein film will become yellowish and get sunburnt. This is the same principle with human beings becoming sunburnt in the sun. However, in case of a pearl, it takes many decades before it becomes discolored. You need not worry much about it so far as your pearl is carefully kept in a jewelry box.
A pearl is breathing.
Furthermore, water inside a pearl is actively moving around. When water inside becomes dry, it will get outside. Then, a pearl will become dry up, and lose its transparency, and may get cracked. On the other hand, when water becomes wet, it will get inside. Then, the protein film will get melted. Therefore, your pearl should be kept at a certain moderate state, not in too high nor too low humidity.
In conclusion, we would like to advise you to keep your pearl in a jewelry box which is designed to function, adjusting humidity naturally.
How to take good care of pearl can be summarized into the following 4 points:
1. After wearing your pearl, you make it a custom to clean and dry it with a soft cloth, and keep it in a jewelry box. This is to prevent from the dullness of pearl luster from perspiration or cosmetic.
2. Your pearl should not touch with other jewelries such as diamonds, precious stones, gold jewelry, etc otherwise, some flaws might occur on the surface of your pearl.
3. Your pearl should not be exposed to light while it is kept, because light might make it yellowish after many years.
4. Your pearl should avoid extreme dryness and humidity; otherwise, cracks might occur after many years.
What is most important among the above 4 points is (1), that is, to clean and dry your pearl with a cloth after you wear it.
A pearl is far stronger than a marble.
The principle ingredient of a pearl and a marble consist of calcium carbonate, or a sort of calcium crystallization. It is reported that a marble is damaged by acid rain in Europe. Grand edifices and sculptures made of marbles are exposed to weather in ancient European cities, such as Paris, Rome, etc. And those historical structures are deformed, being melted by acid rain caused by waste gas from automobiles. Calcium carbonate is strong and solid crystallization, but it is melted by chemical reaction when influenced by acidity. On the other hand, the principal ingredient of a pearl is calcium carbonate, but the structure of its principal ingredient is greatly different from a marble. A marble is simply a mass of crystallization, but a pearl appears to be tiny bricks which are visible only with an electron microscope. Pearl nacre composes of many, many brick-looking materials. As a matter of fact, a pearl of 7mm composes of 220, 000, 000, 000 bricks. To our further surprise, every brick is covered up with a protein film. Generally speaking, protein is strong against acidity, and a pearl covered with a protein film is much stronger than a marble.
The surface of a pearl will become clouded with perspiration.
Since a brick near the surface of a pearl is exposed to the air and touches with your skin, its protein film may be damaged and it may become melted with acidity, such as perspiration and cosmetic. When a brick becomes melted, the surfaces of a pearl become uneven, though it is a micron in size, and loses its luster, which is called ‘cloudy phenomenon’. The same principle applies for a frosted glass which becomes clouded when a flaw or unevenness is found on the surface of a transparent glass.
It is easy to make clouded surface clean by cutting and polishing its surface.
Cloudy surface appears to be very serious when you notice it one day. You will be shocked to find powdery materials or white cloud on the surface of your pearl. However, it is easy to solve the above problem. By principle, we can remove one brick with flaws on the surface, and take out a new brick below the old one. You can restore pearl luster by polishing its surface with a cloth containing an ordinary abrasive. Since the thickness of a brick is 0.5 micron, you can feel relieved that cutting off such thickness does not reduce the size of your pearl.
To clean and dry your pearl with a cloth is the fundamental rule regarding how to take good care of your pearl.
We advise you not to have your pearl clouded, though you will be able to restore it. There will be two methods:
- To stay away from acidity. In case of a pearl jewelry, it is impossible to do so unless it is coated with special chemical, because you wear it on your skin.
- To remove acidity. The only method will be to remove perspiration and cosmetic on the surface of a pearl. Any soft cloth will do, but strictly speaking, the cloth which is suitable for soaking up the chief ingredient of perspiration, that is, water and oil, will be the best.
A pearl is one of the softest gems.
According to Mohs hardness index, a pearl is harder than a marble, but it is softer than any other gems. It is true that the hardness index of a pearl, which is 4.5, creates its unique luster, but we advise you not to mix it with other gems in a jewelry box.
Let’s not get your pearl sunburnt.
As we told you, pearl brick is covered up with a protein in film. This protein film will become yellowish and get sunburnt. This is the same principle with human beings becoming sunburnt in the sun. However, in case of a pearl, it takes many decades before it becomes discolored. You need not worry much about it so far as your pearl is carefully kept in a jewelry box.
A pearl is breathing.
Furthermore, water inside a pearl is actively moving around. When water inside becomes dry, it will get outside. Then, a pearl will become dry up, and lose its transparency, and may get cracked. On the other hand, when water becomes wet, it will get inside. Then, the protein film will get melted. Therefore, your pearl should be kept at a certain moderate state, not in too high nor too low humidity.
In conclusion, we would like to advise you to keep your pearl in a jewelry box which is designed to function, adjusting humidity naturally.
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