Did Cleopatra VII really dissolve a pearl in vinegar?

There are a lot of famous stories about the Greek-Egyptian queen Cleopatra VII Philopator that

are probably not historically true. For instance, as I discuss in this article from August 2019,

while it is highly probable that Cleopatra killed herself, it is highly unlikely that she really did so

by allowing an asp to bite her on the breast. Similarly, as I discuss in this article from October

2020, it is virtually certain that she never owned any sort of vibrator powered by angry bees.

One of the most famous stories about her that I have not yet addressed, though, is the story

that she once dissolved an ancient pearl that was worth tens of millions of sesterces in vinegar

as a party trick to impress her lover Marcus Antonius. Unlike the bizarre vibrator story, the

story about the pearl is actually found in the ancient sources. Nevertheless, it is almost

certainly a fabrication invented by Roman propagandists to portray Cleopatra in the worst

possible ligh

Jordaens - Banquet de Cleopatre