Posted 11 years ago
ho2cultcha
(5051 items)
I don't have any experience w/ red coral, but i thought these pieces were so large and chunky that they looked pretty cool. the price seemed cheap to me, so i bought them yesterday. Can anyone tell me anything about red coral or recommend a site where i can learn how to evaluate pieces? I bought them from an old man who said he'd had them for many years. they look to be pretty old too. i strung them on a piece of wire because they were all loose.
The deal with coral like this is that its not actual Precious Coral that you used to see in the Victorian era. All of that was harvested near extinction and now its protected and rare. Whenever you see this stuff that you have here, its dyed Bamboo Coral, and almost all of the contemporary red coral you see today is. Good news though: no one knows and no one cares. I sold a necklace like this for a bunch of money once, big chunks like that. Here's a good little tutorial on coral:
http://www.softflexcompany.com/WSWrapper.jsp?mypage=spotlightarticle_Oct09.html
Yeah they're not old, I see them at the GIA show every year. Doesn't really matter though, people still pay money for them, and they're lovely
I don't think there's a danger of that actually. Its not like they just dip it in food coloring, its a non water-soluble dye, very stable
I've actually never seen dye coming out of enhanced stones. Have you?
i've heard that you can tell whether one has been dyed by putting it in cow's milk. if the cow's milk turns pink, it's the real thing and if it doesn't, then it's dyed - counterintuitive.
Weird, never heard that. Maybe the calcium in the milk leeches the calcium from the coral? I don't know.
i read it online, so it must be true...
haha
i spoke to the guy i bought these from and he says that they are at least 25 yrs old, and that seems to make sense considering the wear and grunge buildup on them. i washed them and dried them on a white towel and don't see any sign of bleeding from them. i think that they're pretty beautiful, but seem way too large and heavy for anyone to wear them.
can anyone give me a value on them or point me in a direction where i can find that info?