Abalone Pearls

I found these two large pearls in an abalone from this weekend. The top one is pretty banged up, but the lower one is better. Any thoughts on how to clean it up and what to do with it?
Thanks!
Andrew

Were they inside the stomach Andrew? I'm trying to find a pic of some gold I had put on one of mine. They are worth about 100.00 a carat I was told by a dealer. 50.00 wholesale.

Craig, no they were just floating around in the shell when I popped the meat out. I think the upper one might have been attached to the shell as it has some pretty jagged edges, but the lower one is pretty smooth aside from a "seam" that runs around the edge.

Would they be worth getting appraised?

Yes. There used to be a guy in Petaluma that was a natural pearl dealer. I took mine over to him to have a look.  Mine was in the stomach. The pearls that are formed on the inside of the shell are called blister pearls. Sometimes you will see a distinctive hump on the inner shell area where the abalone has secreted over an irritant that has lodged between the mantle and the shell. Still looking for that darn pic.

I used to do lapidary work, done a lot of stones, these are not much different only softer and the dust can be toxic if you work it dry..

That being said, if you want to mess around with these things slow and safe, get some really fine wet-dry sandpaper, I'm talking like 600 and 800, get everything wet so there is no dust, sand the imperfections off with bits of 600, sand the 600 grit scrapes out with 800, then buy a stick of that white polishing rouge, get a shop rag wet, scrape the rouge over the wet rag until the rag is loaded up, then rub the pearl with the wet white rouge until shiny. You can do all this in a pie pan on your lap while watching TV, knew a guy who used to work opals this way

If you have access to someone with a cloth wheel it is (kinda) easier, with an irregular shape you really have to worry about holding onto the pearl, if your hand slips the wheel will catch it and shoot it around the inside of the dust hood (seen a few metal rings ruined that way.)

It is worse when you are cutting shells, but just keep everything wet so that you aren't sucking dust, that crap is BAD for you... totally inert if it is wet sludge on your fingers, just bad in the lungs..

There may be chemical ways or dremel tool ways to do this? This is low-tech and slower, but a whole lot safer on the pearl (and on you!) Have fun!

http://www.allnaturalpearls.com/index.htm

 Here he is Andrew.

If you decide to have a professional work on it, call Mark Shim. He is a NCKA member and really good. I had earings made from fish ear bones from a vermilion. Wife LOVES them!!!

  http://markshimizudesign.com/

Hey Andrew! You know how people all get a big boner about their biggest abalone shell? Who has the smallest? here's three of mine. Threadjack , sorry

Here are my smallest, although no where close to as tiny as yours, Craig 

Top to bottom:

New Zealand Paua
Black abalone
Red abalone

Craig, I just looked at that pic again, and it didn't dawn on me until now how small those are! Where did you find them? Very cool.

My Dad found them. After he died we found this aspirin bottle and they were in there. I have no idea where he got them. I would only guess he found them, possibly alive, then brought them home.

Yes.  Gift one to me.  I have two daughters that I would like to give a necklace to each, but I have just one pearl.