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How can I tell a
real pearl from an artificial pearl?
Here’s a traditional test—just rub the pearl gently across your
teeth. A real pearl will feel gritty, but an artificial pearl will feel
smooth and slippery. Remember, cultured pearls are real pearls, so they,
too, will feel gritty.
This test works only on glass beads made to look like real pearls. Rubbed
against the teeth, modern “shell pearl” imitations feel just like real ones.
Are cultured pearls “real” pearls?
Yes, cultured pearls are authentic pearls. They are made exactly the
same way a natural pearl is in that a pearl oyster secretes the same mineral
and protein around an irritant.
The difference is that in a cultured pearl, the irritant is introduced by
man rather than nature. To make a pearl, workers actually surgically implant
a piece of tissue in freshwater pearl mussels, or a piece of tissue plus a
polished bead (made from the shell of a freshwater mussel) into a marine
pearl oyster.
Are cultured pearls as valuable as natural pearls?
Natural pearls once commanded much higher prices than cultured pearls.
Today, however, many cultured pearls can come with quite a hefty price tag.
Often natural pearls are imperfect, but the culturing process can create
pearls of superior size, color, and shape.
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Are They
Real or Fake?
Here are a few
guidelines and tests that may help you figure out whether your pearls
are genuine meaning cultured or natural. Experts suggest using a number
of these tests on your pearls to best help in ruling out the possibility
of fakes. No one assessment is fool proof, and certain tests are less
successful with unusual types of pearls.
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Test |
Real |
Fake |
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Tooth Test: Rub the pearls
lightly across upper front teeth. |
Real Pearls should feel gritty or sandy |
Fake Pearls will feel smooth |
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Magnification: Examine the
surface of the pearls with a magnifying glass. |
Real Pearls should appears unusually
fine-grained |
Fake Pearls may appear grainy |
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Drill a hole in the Pearls:
The examine the hole with a magnifying glass. |
The edges of the hole in Real Pearls are
smooth and sharp |
The holes in Fake Pearls may may appear
bumpy or ragged |
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Weight: Bounce the pearls in
your hand. |
Real Pearls feels heavy to hold |
Fake Pearls should feels unusually light
(unless they are solid glass beads) |
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Flaws: Examine the pearls
for flaws and blemishes. |
Most Real Pearls will have at least
minimal flaws |
If they appear absolutely flawless they
are most likely Fake Pearls |
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Price: Compare the price to
similar pearls from other dealers |
Real Pearls have reasonable or
comparative price |
A Fake Pearls price is unbelievably low
or discounted |
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The Arabs have shown
the greatest love for pearls. The depth of their affection for pearls is
enshrined in the Koran, especially within its description of Paradise, which
says: "The stones are pearls and jacinths; the fruits of the trees are pearls
and emeralds; and each person admitted to the delights of the celestial kingdom
is provided with a tent of pearls, jacinths, and emeralds; is crowned with
pearls of incomparable lustre, and is attended by beautiful maidens resembling
hidden pearls."
Before the creation of cultured pearls in the early 1900s, natural
pearls were so rare and expensive that they were reserved almost exclusively for
the noble and very rich. A jewelry item that today's working women might take
for granted, a 16-inch strand of perhaps 50 pearls, often costs between $500 and
$5,000. At the height of the Roman Empire, when pearl fever reached its peak,
the historian Suetonius wrote that the Roman general Vitellius financed an
entire military campaign by selling just one of his mother's pearl earrings.
Majorca Pearls is a brand name for
a type of fake pearl. They were originally manufactured on the island of
Majorca in the Mediterranean, but are now made in Spain. The company uses a
glass bead and coats the surface with a paste made from North Atlantic fish
scales to make the imitation surface look like a real pearl. The bottom line is
that a Majorca Pearl is fake and is not a pearl at all. Pearl Oasis only sells
real cultured pearls that come from oysters.
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