Pearls are beautiful and valuable. But since the discovery of these rare gems in ancient times, people have been using machines to produce fake ones. So before we move on to the practical tips you can use anywhere to tell if a pearl is real or not, it’s important to understand the fundamental difference between the two.
What are real pearls?
A real pearl is produced by pearl-bearing oysters either in fresh or salt water. Depending on whether human assistance is involved or not, this organic gem can either be cultured or natural. It’s worth noting that almost all pearls on the market today are cultured. Natural pearls formed without human intervention are extremely rare and are not commercially viable. Therefore, they are usually only found in museums. So the next time you hear someone mention the word “natural pearls” in a store, you know what they really mean is that these are real and not fake.
What are fake pearls?
Fake or imitation pearls are man-made beads. They’re often made from glass, plastic, alabaster or shells that have a pearly coating to give a similar appearance to real pearls. Some fake ones can easily be spotted but some can look very close to the real ones. The most well-known one, Majorica pearl, which is made out of glass, can often fool your eyes.
Now you understand the distinction between the real pearls and the fake ones, let’s go through some of the easy-to-use methods that can help you determine if your pearls are the real deal.
Touch and feel the temperature
The first step you can take is to touch them and feel the temperature. Real pearls are cold to touch for the first couple of seconds before warming up against your skin. Fake plastic pearls have the same temperature as the room temperature and you don’t feel the coolness when you touch them. However, fake ones that are made of glass beads can be cool to touch to start with. But it tends to take them longer to warm up against your skin than real pearls.
Look for tiny irregularities
When you examine real pearls closely or under magnification, you’ll notice tiny irregularities and ridges on each pearl’s surface.
In a strand of cultured pearls, you can always see very tiny differences between them, even when they are top quality and well matched. If the pearls are completely perfect and identical in terms of shape, size, colour and surface characteristics, they are probably fake.
In addition, cultured and natural pearls reflect light differently from the fake ones. The lustre of fake pearls has a glassy look and is unnatural.