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La Peregrina was "doctored"?

Lady_Disdain

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Lady_Disdain

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Lol! Altough I doubt it would be worth it to try to repair an Akoya.

Can you imagine how nerve wrecking it must be to try to shave a historical pearl? No thanks.
 

Lady_Disdain

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Lol! Altough I doubt it would be worth it to try to repair an Akoya.

Can you imagine how nerve wrecking it must be to try to shave a historical pearl? No thanks.
 

iLander

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Lady_Disdain said:
I found this extremely upsetting - if true, shouldn't this have been divulged before the sale? The pearl is regarded as untreated, after all.

Summary - a pearl specialist says that after the puppy incident, the top layers of nacre were "shaved", to remove damage.

http://ganoksin.com/blog/mardonjewelers/estate-jewelry/liz-taylors-adventure-with-the-most-famous-pearl-in-the-world

I agree! If I had paid all that money, I would want to know!

I wonder how much was lost? Don't they have records of the original weight somewhere? You would think so . . .

I'm not sure I believe it though. Wouldn't liz take it Harry Winston or something?

Yeah, that would bother me . . .
 

Lady_Disdain

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Since this is in the realm of very specialized knowledge, I suspect that there are a few top notch people in the world that everyone uses. I don't think that there is enough call for repairing a pearl for Harry Winston, or any jeweller, to keep such a specialist in house.

I do think the story is very odd and I would like some more information. It is, after all, a second hand tale. A weight comparison would be great but it would require unsetting the pearl.
 

The Old Pearler

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Harry Winston would be utterly bollixed. I venture to guess Winston hasn't the capability to string a pearl strand lest peel a pearl.

Those that peel pearls are oft referred as pearl doctors, once more commonplace than today. Now there may be only a few in the world. Peeling is reserved for natural pearls and is customary. Quite often if natural pearls show sides or surface with unflattering characteristics, the outermost aragonite layer is peeled off. Under the old layer awaits a new pearl. Per CIBJO and to the best of my knowledge, peeling is not considered a treatment of sorts.
 

iLander

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