Freshwater Pearls: Fake vs Real

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Wednesday, May 14, 2008

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Freshwater Pearls

Freshwater Pearls: Fake vs Real.

Q: How can you tell real pearls from the fake ones?

A: Put the "pearl" in your mouth and slosh it softly across your teeth. (Be careful not to swallow it!) Does it feel very smooth? If it does, it's fake. The real thing feels slightly gritty. You can trust this test because it’s used all the time by people whose livelihood depend upon it - professional jewel thieves.

Okay there are several ways to test to see if the pearls you have are natural or cultured, the most reliable way is to x-ray to pearls. If you really want to know find a company in your area that does non-destructive testing, have you pearls x-rayed. What you are looking for is round sphere and pockets within the pearl. If you are uncomfortable doing this yourself take them into a certified Gemologist and heave them do the testing.

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.
Test	Real	Fake
Tooth Test:Rub the pearls lightly across upper front teeth.	Real Pearls should feel gritty or sandy	Fake Pearls will feel smooth
Magnification: Examine the surface of the pearls with a magnifying glass.- see note -	Real Pearls should appears unusually fine-grained	Fake Pearls may appear grainy
Drill a hole in the Pearls: The examine the hole with a magnifying glass.- see note -	The edges of the hole in Real Pearls are smooth and sharp	The holes in Fake Pearls may may appear bumpy or ragged
Weight:Bounce the pearls in your hand.- see note -	Real Pearls feels heavy to hold	Fake Pearls should feels unusually light (unless they are solid glass beads)
Flaws: Examine thepearls for flaws and blemishes.	Most Real Pearls will have at least minimal flaws	If they appear absolutely flawless they are most likely Fake Pearls
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
NOTE: Swarovski Prides itself in its ability to fool Mother Nature. Each Swarovski Crystal Pearl is created around a crystal core, hence the name Crystal Pearl. The pearl coating developed by Swarovski is applied around the crystal core in pearly layers. The high specific gravity of a raw pearl made of crystal gives the Swarovski Crystal Pearl the same weight as a cultured pearl. A Swarovski Crystal Pearl feels good to the touch and as a piece of jewelry, it offers that sensual experience valued by pearl enthusiasts.

Grandma's Pearls

If you are on the internet looking for the answer these means that you probably inherited a strand of pearls and you are just curious, if they are fake you really don't want to spend any money on them. Here are a couple of things that you can look for:

Pearls are organic they age with time. They will show signs of wear, as they are exposed to the wearers skin acids will slowly erode the outer layer, making the pearls feel rough. The older the pearls the more wear they should show.
Look at how the Pearls have been strung, there are some unwritten rules in the jewelry trade, one of them is that Pearls are knotted. This means that there should be a knot between each Pearl; they should have been strung on silk.
Another unwritten rule is that they should have a pearl clasp, and this clasp should be made of silver or gold. Test the clasp with a magnet, not the spring end but the hook end. It should NOT be magnetic. (One side will have a teeny-tiny spring in it which is steel this side WILL be Magnetic.)


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Jerry Smith, Beads
Gemstone Beads -- Serving the Beading Community..Since 1999

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