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How to know if a pearl is real or not. Pearls - how to distinguish natural

Eleonora Brik

Jewelry made from natural pearls is elegant and noble, and to become the owner of such a value, you need to spend a lot of money. Therefore, in order not to buy a fake or imitation, arm yourself with a few tips on how to distinguish real pearls from fakes.

Pearls are a precious gift from the sea, which people have appreciated for its exceptional beauty and perfection since time immemorial. In addition, they do not need to be further processed and immediately after extraction they are ready for use. grows 5-7 years from sand or stone chips in a clam shell. Around the foreign body that has fallen into the shell, natural mother-of-pearl is deposited in the form of thin films in concentric layers of mineral organic matter that do not touch each other.

Since the 16th century, they began to produce artificial or cultured pearls, and now a mother-of-pearl bead made of natural materials is manually put inside the mollusk and returned to the reservoir for pearl cultivation. This is how natural cultured pearls are obtained, which, in terms of aesthetic characteristics, are not inferior to pearls of natural origin.

Mining natural pearls is prohibited.

But "wild" pearls sometimes come to the market from poachers and they are sold only at auctions. And by real pearls they mean cultured.

They are always interested in how to distinguish natural pearls from artificial ones, because there is often a huge range of prices. The search for a good product takes a lot of time, and it is especially painful for buyers who are not versed in jewelry of this type to experience all this. How to find out if real pearls will be described in the article.

Pearl

In order to understand how to distinguish natural pearls from artificial pearls, it is necessary to know about the existence of a cultivated and artificial mineral. Natural is a rarity.

People who do not know enough information about this mineral want to understand how to quickly distinguish natural pearls. It will be quite difficult to do this if you do not have sufficient knowledge about the varieties of pearls. All of them are presented below.

"Wild"

cultivated

Some tips on how to distinguish real from artificial pearls are given below, but first you need to understand the characteristics of a cultivated mineral. It is obtained in the same way as "wild", but the difference between them lies in the fact that during cultivation, the stimulus implant is introduced into the oyster's body intentionally.

This technology originated in Japan around the 19th century. After conducting as many as 20 experiments, a specialist named Kokichi Mikimoto patented a method for grafting oysters, which is actively used to this day.

Artificial

This type of pearl differs from the previous one in that mollusks do not take part in its appearance. These beads are the result of the creation of human hands. It is worth noting that even when the synthetic core is coated with natural mother-of-pearl, the pearl remains artificial in any case.

The very first fake pearl was created in Rome in the 15th century. Since that time, technologies have been improving, and the artificial mineral is hiding under all sorts of names.

Professionals know exactly how to distinguish natural pearls from artificial ones, but it is almost impossible for beginners to do this quickly, because skills in this area have to be developed over the years.

"Majorica"

This variety is one of the most beautiful and common. Majorica pearls are sometimes also called "orchid". It has been created for about 120 years on the well-known island of Mallorca. First, a porcelain or alabaster ball is made, and then it is covered with a thin layer of mother-of-pearl, after which it is additionally treated with cellulose acetate or nitrocellulose to ensure durability.

The finished beads are quite round and velvety, so it is almost impossible to distinguish them from natural pearls. Under artificial lighting, it looks great.

Parisian and Venetian

The technology of making French (Parisian) pearls originated at the beginning of the 17th century. It is actively used to this day. The beads are made from blown glass and then filled with wax or colored paraffin.

The Venetian technology is quite similar to the way French pearls are made, which is why it is no less popular. In this case, the balls are also formed from blown glass, but with the addition of pearl dust and wax.

shell

This technology is the most modern. It was developed in the USA and is famous all over the world. Layers of lacquer are applied to the mother-of-pearl ball, which consists of a mixture of polymers, as well as mica, and lead carbonate.

12 ways to distinguish natural pearls

To date, professionals have developed several methods to help distinguish a natural mineral. After getting acquainted with them, the question of how to distinguish real pearls from artificial ones will no longer frighten beginners.

So, here are the main ways to distinguish a natural product:

  1. Price. First of all, you should pay attention to the price of the goods. Low cost for natural pearls is unacceptable, although some scammers can sell a fake for more than a natural mineral.
  2. Weight. A natural pearl has more weight, because it consists exclusively of mother-of-pearl, but artificial pearls contain lighter materials.
  3. Test. Since ancient times, a well-known way to distinguish a fake is to "try it on the tooth." If you run your teeth over the pearl, then the natural stone will creak, while the fake one will not make a sound. If you already have experience in distinguishing pearls, then you can knock it on the teeth - real and artificial will give different sensations.
  4. Height. When falling from a height of about half a meter, a real stone will bounce off the surface, and artificial pearls will simply fall without movement, which is explained by different densities.
  5. Mechanics. Owners can easily check the stones in it by rubbing. If you rub a pair of pearls against each other with minimal pressure until they form, small scratches will remain on the natural one, which quickly disappear, and the mother-of-pearl layer will simply be erased from the fake.
  6. Comparison. In addition to the previous method, necklace owners can check pearls by comparison. Natural stones are individual and not like all the others, so the same pearls should not come across in the jewelry.
  7. Inspection. A rather interesting way for novice scientists is to look at a pearl through a microscope. The natural one will have a clearly visible scaly surface, while the fake one will be homogeneous.
  8. Chemistry. If there are several pearls available that you do not mind experimenting with, then you can place them first in acetone, and then in vinegar. In the first case, the natural stone does not dissolve, but in the second, on the contrary, it quickly disintegrates.
  9. Shine. A real pearl differs from a fake one in its uniform and deep luster, which is visible to the naked eye for professionals. If the pearls are dull, then this indicates their artificiality or low quality, so you should not purchase such a product.
  10. Hole. You need to carefully consider the place where the hole is drilled. Cracks will not form in a natural pearl, since it has a high density, but a fake will have a lot of chips along the edges.
  11. Field. Place a pearl in an electromagnetic field, the natural pearl will remain stationary and the cultured one will start to roll. This is due to the fact that inside the fake there is a special ball made of a material that reacts to an electromagnetic field.
  12. Specialist. The most reliable way at any time was to contact a specialist - a gemologist. With the help of a special translucent apparatus, he will quickly determine the originality and quality of the jewelry.

Now it is known how to distinguish natural pearls from artificial ones, so you can safely go to the store and purchase a worthy product that you will not be ashamed to brag to others about.

Pearls are fascinatingly beautiful - they attract the eye and captivate with the play of colors. Today you can buy imitation pearls that look amazing, or you can buy natural ones that look less impressive. So why do you need to be able to distinguish real pearls from fake ones? Such a skill can be useful, for example, because jewelry is a good investment, and fakes, even very beautiful ones, can hardly be considered as such.

Natural pearls high quality is valued much higher than plastic or glass imitations. In addition, real pearls, with proper care, can serve you (and your descendants) for an almost unlimited period. Fake pearls often begin to crack and crumble quite quickly.

Natural pearls vs artificial

Both natural and imitation pearls can be very beautiful, but it is important for the buyer to know what exactly he is purchasing. In most cases, imitation pearls can be distinguished simply by their name - the price tag says that they are made of glass, resin, plastic, or that they are imitation, or pearls made by human hands.

Natural pearls come in many types, the main ones being cultured and natural pearls. The first is grown on special farms, the second is mined in natural conditions, from the bottom of the sea or freshwater reservoirs. Today, natural pearls are rare on the open market and are very expensive. Only a specialist can distinguish cultured pearls from natural ones.

In addition, cultured pearls are sold, coated with various dyes and varnishes - this is done to improve the color and enhance the brilliance. Sellers do not always inform buyers about the processing of the pearls they sell. In addition, sometimes glass or plastic fakes are passed off as natural pearls. Below we will talk about the methods by which natural pearls can be distinguished from fake ones.

Destructive test

If you cut a pearl in half, you can easily determine its true origin. Natural pearls are made up of many layers of nakra covering a tiny grain of sand. Cultured pearls have a mother-of-pearl clam shell core implanted into the body of an oyster, covered with a thin layer of nacre (usually no more than half a millimeter or even thinner).

An imitation pearl consists of a core covered with several layers of lacquer or paint, which tend to flake off when the bead is cut. Of course, in order to conduct such a test, you must be able to distinguish between real mother-of-pearl and mother-of-pearl glass (plastic and resin are much easier to distinguish). In addition, it is unlikely that the seller of the jewelry store will allow you to "open" the pearl.

x-ray

If you really need to know whether real pearls fell into your hands or not, and also to distinguish natural pearls from cultured pearls, you will have to contact a specialist - preferably a certified gemologist who can take an x-ray of your pearls. An x-ray will show the interior of the pearl, including changes in its density (the density of an artificial nucleus and nacre is not the same), the presence or absence of a foreign body that could cause the formation of a natural pearl, and will also help evaluate other characteristics.

Teeth check

Before describing this pearl authentication method, a preliminary note must be made: this test is not 100% reliable. It consists in rubbing the pearl on the surface of the teeth. Presumably, a real pearl will be slightly grainy, and an artificial pearl will be perfectly even. When rubbing against the teeth, it feels very good. This test is based on real facts: real pearls are made up of layers of nacre, which is deposited in much the same way as sand on the beach - with small waves and bumps on the surface that you can feel with your teeth. On the other hand, synthetic analogues of nakra lie in a completely even layer.

This test allows you to distinguish natural pearls from glass pearls with a high degree of probability, but it is less suitable for recognizing cultured pearls - it has fewer layers of nacra, and its surface can be smoother than that of natural pearls. In addition, if cultured pearls painted, it can be as smooth as its imitations. Mabe pearls are often coated with a special protective coating, due to which their surface becomes very even, although the pearls, of course, do not cease to be natural from this. Finally, the surface of some imitation pearls may not be entirely smooth. In general, dental testing is a good method for identifying natural pearls, but only if used in conjunction with other methods.

Sun check

This is probably one of the best ways to tell real pearls from imitation pearls. Examine pearl jewelry in sunlight or under a very bright lamp. In most cases (exceptions can be very expensive and rare jewelry), natural pearls in good light will not look exactly the same. You will be able to see the differences in shades, iridescence and brilliance of pearls in one piece of jewelry - this is not a defect, but only a natural feature of pearls.

If the colors and shades of the pearls are the same, you are almost certainly offered to buy a fake. If the seller insists that the pearls are natural, the cost of the jewelry will be such that a gemologist's certificate (chosen by you, not the seller) will be the minimum part of the investment. Usually a professional appraisal of pearls costs about 150 US dollars, and if the jewelry turns out to be real, you can be sure that it fully justifies its price, which will be at least several thousand dollars (sometimes several tens of thousands).

Pearls are one of the oldest gemstones. It is unique in that it has an organogenic origin. Under natural, natural conditions, it is extracted from the shell of a pearl oyster - a mollusk of a certain type (for each type of pearl - its own mollusk).

Due to the rarity and high cost of pearls, they are often imitated. Imitation pearls come in many varieties, and are considered fake only if they are passed off as genuine with a corresponding increase in price.

Gold vintage brooch with white mother-of-pearl and pearls

We will figure out how to distinguish real pearls from artificial ones at home.

Terminology

To identify real pearls, you need to know which pearls are considered natural. It is divided into the following types:


Fake pearls are considered to be only imitations made of stone, glass or plastic, less often the Mallorca product, which is passed off as a natural expensive mineral.

Please note: cultured pearls are not fake!

Let's figure out how to check the authenticity of jewelry when buying.

Basic verification methods

You can check for authenticity at home using one of the following methods or a combination of them.

Verification methods are divided into:

  • visual;
  • mechanical;
  • chemical and physical;
  • formal.

Let's figure out how to identify natural pearls with their help.

Visual verification methods

They include an assessment of the appearance, color, shape, surface finish and weight of the pearl item.


 pearl necklace

The shape of a natural gem is most often slightly irregular. Pearls are slightly elongated, elliptical, ovoid or pear-shaped. Perfectly round beads are rare, mostly used in earrings or rings. Most of them are cultivated. Wild spherical pearls are so expensive that they are sold at auctions like large diamonds. Therefore, if you are offered beads made of spherical pearls for less than a few thousand rubles, this is a fake. Even cultured round pearls are not so cheap.

The color and shade of the bead can be white, pink, yellowish, silvery, green, blue, purple, black. The farther from white (excluding yellow), and the brighter the color, the more expensive.

You can distinguish a real "gift of the sea" from a fake by the play of light: mother-of-pearl gives a specific game - play of pink, yellow and blue hues. This phenomenon is due to the interference of light, the beads seem to glow. Fake pearls and any imitations, except Mallorca, do not possess this quality.

The surface texture of this mineral is uneven, slightly rough, it has "spots" with greater or lesser brilliance. Natural pearls are characterized by color heterogeneity. By this sign, you can also distinguish a fake: its color is always the same.

If the bead is drilled, then look under a magnifying glass at the edges near the hole. If a darker core is visible there, it is a fake. Also, at the hole, you can sometimes notice scratches on the paint, or vice versa - its smudges. A 10x magnifying glass will help to distinguish even specks of dye.


 sea ​​pearl

Pearls, ennobled by radioactive radiation, acquire a dark gray or black color. In this way, imitations of valuable black sea pearls are made from cheap river pearls. It is only applicable for non-nuclear freshwater pearls. If you irradiate the sea, then the changes will affect only the core, which will darken and begin to shine through the mother-of-pearl.

A mineral “ennobled” by x-ray is determined by its color - it acquires a metallic shade, unnatural for nature.

Also pay attention to the weight. In this way, it is easier to check prefabricated products - necklaces, beads or bracelets. They must have a sufficiently large mass, since pearls are a heavy mineral. The more beads on the thread, the heavier the product. Plastic is much lighter than a natural mineral; in comparison with it, it seems weightless. Glass is also lighter in weight.

Please note: this method does not work with imitations of black germanite pearls or pink coral pearls.

They are approximately equal in weight to a real product from the "seafood" or exceed it. To recognize a genuine product, you need to compare it in other parameters with any of the already tested ones.

Mechanical methods

They are based on the mechanical characteristics of this mineral. This is a dense substance with low hardness - up to 4 Mohs units. Low hardness allows you to check the pearls on the tooth - if you bite it lightly, you will feel fine pearl powder on your tongue and teeth and hear a creak. This is a good way to recognize natural pearls, but may not work for Mallorca.

The disadvantage of this, as well as some other mechanical methods, is that the experiment can only be carried out at home, on an already purchased piece of jewelry. The jewelry store will not allow you to do this.

The second mechanical method is friction. The beads must be rubbed against each other. There will be some pearlescent powder. The method does not work with Mallorca, which is covered with true mother-of-pearl, even if not from nature.


 Mechanical verification of pearls for authenticity

The third method is a strength test. The bead is dropped onto a hard surface. Minor impact marks will remain on the natural one - scratches or bruises, which are easily smoothed out with a finger. There will be no damage on glass or plastic (except for glass cracking). Also, the lightweight plastic will bounce off the table like a ball, which is not the case with a pearl.

Chemical-physical

These ways to distinguish a gem from a fake are based on some of the chemical properties of natural pearls.

For example, it has low thermal conductivity, that is, it heats up very slowly. Beads or necklaces made of this stone remain cold for a long time even on human skin, while glass or plastic jewelry quickly heats up from body heat.


 pearl beads

If you have doubts about the authenticity of the purchased jewelry, you can agree with a familiar radiologist and place it in an X-ray machine. This method should be carried out only on one bead from the entire thread, since as a result of irradiation it can change color to black. But the picture allows you to distinguish the internal structure of the mineral - the number of layers, density, the presence of a core, and the like.

A harmless way of checking is to shine the bead with an ultraviolet lamp (for example, to check banknotes). A natural mineral will give a bluish glow, all imitations are green or none.

Also, if you put a pearl in a fire, nothing will happen to it in a couple of minutes. But the plastic will melt and catch fire, and the glass will crack.

A 100% method of destructive control is to place the pearl in vinegar. For this, as well as for x-rays, it is worth choosing only one bead from the thread, since vinegar will dissolve it in a few minutes (depending on size). If this is Mallorca, there will be a glass core. Nothing will happen with an all-glass or plastic imitation.

Formal

These are rather ways not of verification, but of insurance against deception. The first one is the price. A natural mineral is expensive. For comparison, beads made from the least valuable white freshwater pearls of irregular shape will cost no less than 2-3 thousand rubles (depending on the length of the thread). One pearl of high-quality imitation of the Mallorca brand with a caliber of 10-15 mm costs the same amount. A cultured pearl of a round shape with a diameter of 15 mm costs about one and a half thousand, but not rubles, but dollars, pear-shaped or elliptical - about a thousand overseas money.

You need to buy jewelry with this mineral only in the salons of well-known jewelry companies that value their reputation. For the product, you need to ask for a quality certificate or certificate.

When buying any piece of pearl jewelry, there are always doubts, but are they offering me real pearls?

How to understand that he is real?

Now we will talk about a few simple folk ways to check this.

But let's say that we will choose among any glass and plastic "slag" pearls either of natural origin or cultured, that is, artificially grown, which is also good. Since the cultivated one differs little from the real one in its composition and properties.

But real connoisseurs of pearls know that only natural pearls have a unique deep and rich brilliance, which cultured pearls are not able to repeat. Such a pearl glows as if from within, and not just shimmers and sparkles. In a genuine pearl, a bright contrast is clearly visible between the lightest layer and the darker shade, which creates an incredible effect of pearlescent deep overflow.

But we digress a little. Let's continue our topic.

1. Tooth

The method is very simple, only unlike the detection of counterfeit gold coins, we will not gnaw pearls, but simply by holding the pearl over the surface of the tooth. We need to feel the characteristic creak. If a pearl seems to cling to tooth enamel, then it can be real.

2. "Jump"

You all remember that once small colored balls appeared on sale, which jumped so that it was sometimes impossible to keep up with them. So, a similar property is inherent in real pearls. It is enough to throw a pearl over a hard, flat surface and watch the reaction of an unsuspecting jewel. From ardent indignation, a real pearl will bounce high and for a long time, a fake, on the contrary, will jump 2-3 times and calm down.

3. Looking for the core

If the pearl has a hole, then armed with a tenfold magnifying glass, you can see in the center of the studied seed core and the surface layer in the form of a dark strip, which, as it were, separates the core from the surface. These are cultured, artificially grown pearls.

4. Let there be light!

We can call on the light for help! To do this, we will arm ourselves with a double-sided dark (opaque) sheet of paper and a glowing fluorescent lamp. On a sheet of paper, we will make a small hole, which will be slightly smaller in diameter than a pearl. Then we bring the leaf with the pearl to the light. The pearl must be placed between the light source and the observer. If you look closely, you can see a luminous mother-of-pearl 2 mm "aura" on a piece of paper and a dark core. Before us is a cultured pearl.

5. Big-eyed microscope

Thanks to such a high-precision "comrade", you can thoroughly study the pearl. On a real pearl, the scaly surface of the mother-of-pearl layers of the “creator” of this beauty, the mollusk, will be visible. True, this method does not always turn out to be accurate, since they create a fake made of glass or plastic, which is covered with ground fish scales mixed in varnish or plastic essence. The surface of such a copy will also be relatively uneven.

6. Appearance

Just consider the cheat. If it has perfectly even sides, perfectly round, then in your hands you have an impudent and shameless camouflaged liar.

7. "Scrape the bottom of the barrel"

Yes, yes ... we will have to scrape. To do this, you can take two silent "partisans" and rub them against each other. If some fragments fell from the “pearls”, then we have a piece of glass or plastic covered with colored enamel.

Another way is to simply run your fingernail over the pearl, the real pearl will remain unharmed, but its shameless copies will either lose part of the mother-of-pearl camouflage or receive an incurable “wound” in the form of a furrow from your nail.

8. “Like an akhtiandr to the bottom!”

Let's conduct an experiment: let's lower the test subject into a sufficiently dense liquid (2.7 g/cm3). If she is a pearl "witch", then she will not drown, if a fake, then she will rest at the bottom of the sea. Real pearls are dense, but light enough not to sink to the bottom.

9. Shine like stars

In order to check the quality of a pearl, you can examine the mother-of-pearl reflections using a light gray sheet of paper. Put the pearl on the sheet and roll it a little. In high-quality pearls, the reflection is uniform, multifaceted and not interrupted, smoothly turning from light to darker shades.

More serious tests are carried out thanks to X-rays, which can reveal cultured pearls with a 100% guarantee.

Real pearls are always certified, and jewelry stores must have a document confirming this. . It is issued by a reputable laboratory in which this kind of analysis was carried out.

But do not forget that any piece of paper can be forged if desired.

We have listed far from all the ways, some will help to distinguish real pearls from cheap plastic fakes. Only experts can identify a fake with a 100% guarantee and determine the quality and price of real pearls.

Well, from what is described above, you can try your hand in order not to come across a fake "slag". Now you can say that you know how to tell real pearls from fakes.