Democratic Sentinel, Volume 9, Number 18, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 29 May 1885 — The Luster of Pearls. [ARTICLE]

The Luster of Pearls.

Pearls deteriorate by age, contact with acids, gas, and noxious vapors of all sorts. This is especially true of pierced pearls. Various means of restoring them have been tried, but experience shows them to be useless. The best way to preserve pearls is to wipe them with clean linen cloth,after being worn, and deposit them, wrapped in linen, in a closed box or casket. A leading importer of peanls advises that pearl necklaces, which are liable to deteriorate by coming in contact with the skin, be restrung once a year, as drawing the silk thread out and m through the pierced parts tends to cleanse the pearls. In Ceylon, we are assured on fairly good authority, that when it is desired to restore the luster to Oriental pearls the pearls are allowed to be swallowed by chickens. The fowls with this precious diet are then kitted, and the pearls regained in a white and lustrous state.— Jewelers' Circular.