I thought cave pearls were always basically round (aka pearl shaped!) but I've recently run across some info (forget where) that suggests they can be any shape. So now I'm wondering if some stones that seemed cave-pearl-esque but weren't round (so I called them "almost cave pearls") really are cave pearls. They were forming in a shallow small pool of water dripping off some formations above. I was the only one who saw them and wished I had flagging tape with me to mark them off to everyone else...surrounding area was mud and I'd hate for them to be trampled on!
My other question on pearls is about hydration. I saw some photos of dried up pearl beds and they aren't so pretty and shiny anymore, and I've heard that is the case with them. Why do they change? Is there any way to "re-hydrate" them? I only ask the later because the other day out walking around near an old limestone quarry (that they did intersect with small caves as they were mining) I saw a 2-cm diameter round stone that was interesting among all the small quarried out bits and shards, only round thing there. For a bit I thought it was a geode (it's very light) and, being above ground in the parking lot for the quarry I pocketed it. But on closer inspection doesn't seem right to be a geode, and a friend commented perhaps a dried cave pearl (there are stories that one of the caves they intersected with the quarry had pearls but no one knows it seems). Looking at photos like
of dried up pearl beds looks like what I found. It's cool whatever it is, but it'd be awesome if there was a way to make it shiny and happy again if it is a pearl.
My other question on pearls is about hydration. I saw some photos of dried up pearl beds and they aren't so pretty and shiny anymore, and I've heard that is the case with them. Why do they change? Is there any way to "re-hydrate" them? I only ask the later because the other day out walking around near an old limestone quarry (that they did intersect with small caves as they were mining) I saw a 2-cm diameter round stone that was interesting among all the small quarried out bits and shards, only round thing there. For a bit I thought it was a geode (it's very light) and, being above ground in the parking lot for the quarry I pocketed it. But on closer inspection doesn't seem right to be a geode, and a friend commented perhaps a dried cave pearl (there are stories that one of the caves they intersected with the quarry had pearls but no one knows it seems). Looking at photos like
