Tag Archives: Elisabeth Strack

Freshwater pearls of the world

Pearl-producing freshwater mussels occur in a wide geographical distribution on the Northern Hemisphere, resulting in natural pearls in Europe, North America, and East Asia, and, today, supplying the vast quantities of cultured pearls in China.

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The acid test: Preserving pearls’ fragile beauty

Due to their chemical composition, pearls are highly sensitive to acids and have to be handled with care. The reason for this is acids trigger a decomposition process in which carbonic acid is set free, thus causing a pearl to effervesce. This leads to damage to the pearl’s surface that can go as far as complete dissolution.

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