Pearls are different from artificial. How to distinguish real pearls from fake? Some characteristics of pearls
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 pearl from fake? 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 valued much higher than plastic or glass imitations. In addition, real pearls proper care can serve you (and your descendants) almost indefinitely. 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 are different types, the main of which are cultured and natural pearls. The first is grown on special farms, the second is mined in vivo, from the bottom of the sea or freshwater reservoirs. Today, natural pearls are rare on the open market and are very expensive. Distinguish cultured pearls 
from the natural can only be a specialist.
In addition, on sale cultured pearls, covered with various dyes and varnishes - this is done to improve the color and enhance the shine. Sellers do not always inform buyers about the processing of the pearls they sell. In addition, sometimes for natural pearls give out glass or plastic fakes. Below will be discussed about the methods by which natural pearls can be distinguished from counterfeit ones.
Destructive test
If you cut a pearl in half, you can easily determine its true origin. natural pearl 
consists 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, to perform this test, you must be able to tell the difference between real mother-of-pearl and mother-of-pearl glass (plastic and resin are much easier to tell apart). 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 insides of the pearl, including changes in its density (the density of an artificial nucleus and nacre is not the same), the presence or absence foreign body, which could cause the formation natural pearl, and 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 consist 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, which you can feel with your teeth. On the other hand, synthetic analogues nakra lie in a completely even layer.
This test allows to a large extent chances of distinguishing natural pearls from glass ones, 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. Also, if cultured pearls are dyed, they can be as smooth as imitations. Mabe pearls are often given a special protective covering, due to which their surface becomes very even, although pearls from this, of course, do not cease to be natural. Finally, the surface of some artificial pearls may not be entirely smooth. In general, dental check - good method to recognize natural pearls, but only if used in combination with other methods.
Sun check
This is probably one of better ways that help to distinguish real pearls from artificial ones. Examine pearl jewelry in sunlight or under a very bright lamp. In most cases (exceptions can be very expensive and rare Jewelry) natural pearls at good lighting won't 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 natural feature 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 professional assessment pearls cost 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).
The quality and durability of jewelry precious stones directly depends on the naturalness of the materials used. How to check pearls? How to distinguish natural (cultivated and wild) stone from a fake? Features of natural jewelry stone, its differences from artificial pearls are described in the article.
You can check pearls for naturalness using mechanical action.
Brilliant a natural stone forged using glass and plastic. For beads from artificial material apply paint step by step rare cases use mother-of-pearl, mined from mollusk shells. Stones created using mother-of-pearl raw materials are more expensive than colored artificial products.
To check whether a real pearl or not, just hold the jewelry in your hands. Fake diamond made of plastic is lighter than natural.
Products made using glass practically do not differ in weight from jewelry made from natural pearls. Glass imitation is not resistant to mechanical influences. If you drop one of the beads of the necklace, it will break or cracks and chips will form on the surface.
Real pearls will jump several times when they hit the floor. Small scratches may form on its surface, but after running your hand over them, they completely disappear.
Imitation from natural stone differs in structure. The surface of a product made of pearls is porous and uneven. This is explained by the fact that in natural conditions the stone grows by 0.3-0.5 mm per year, gradually increasing the layers of mother-of-pearl.
Natural river pearls has a slightly oblong shape, the marine can be round or oval. But the surface of each of the stones without additional processing remains porous. If the beads from your jewelry are absolutely smooth, they have correct form, then you have a fake.
Another way to determine the naturalness of pearls is contact with tooth enamel.
Natural stone on the teeth will creak, leaving behind particles of mother-of-pearl
How to check the quality of pearls in jewelry store? Here you will be guided by the cost of jewelry. Pearl products (strings and necklaces), which have a low price, were most likely made of artificial material. The minimum cost of a pearl thread is 1.5-2 thousand rubles.
Shine is another criterion for evaluating natural stone. Natural pearls (cultivated and wild) when exposed to direct sunlight shine with a delicate bluish and pink color.
Properly selected natural stone will serve you for a long time, and with proper care it will always shine and please the eye.
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 pearls often imitate it. Imitation pearl happens different types, and is considered a fake only if it is issued as genuine with a corresponding increase in price.
Gold vintage brooch with white mother-of-pearl and pearlsWe 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 appearance, color, shape, surface finish and weight of the pearl product.
pearl necklace The shape of a natural gem is most often slightly irregular. Pearls are slightly elongated, elliptical, ovoid or pear-shaped. Perfect round beads 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 further away from white (excluding yellow), and the brighter 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 shades. This phenomenon is due to the interference of light, the beads seem to glow. This quality is not fake pearl and any imitations, except Mallorca.
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.
The mineral “ennobled” by x-ray is determined by color - it acquires 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. it good way recognize natural pearls, but may not work in the case of 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. AT jewelry store will not be allowed to do so.
Second mechanical way- 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 chemical properties 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 internal structure mineral - the number of layers, density, the presence of a core, and the like.
A harmless way to check is the clearance of the bead ultraviolet lamp(for example, to check banknotes). natural mineral will give a bluish glow, all imitations - 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
it rather ways not checks, but 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 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. cultured pearl 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.
With this precious mineral connected romantic stories, legends and beliefs. The most famous pearl is Peregrine, which was owned by Cleopatra, Princess Zinaida Yusupova and Hollywood diva Elizabeth Taylor. No one doubts its authenticity, but with other copies it is more difficult.
How to distinguish real pearls, not to make a mistake when buying? There are several ways.
The romantic halo of pearls makes it a wishlist for many. However, under natural conditions, it grows slowly, is hard to extract, and costs prohibitively. People have learned to grow beautiful balls on their own. Therefore, it is worth distinguishing between natural and cultivated material. Most affordable price segment- from polymers. We wrote in more detail about the types, properties and who suits pearls.
In nature, there are two types of pearls: sea and river. The former are five to six times more expensive than the latter. This is not surprising - to find one high-quality pearl, you need to pull half a ton of clams out of the water. Freshwater river material is extracted more easily, its distinguishing features are not always perfect shape and low gloss.
Marine pearls of impeccable shape and brilliance are found more often at auctions than in stores.
It is not considered a fake, although it is created by people. The technology is next. On a sea or river farm, a core base is placed inside the mollusk. Ripening takes place in natural conditions. After two or three years, a pearl is obtained that is visually indistinguishable from a natural one, but certain form and colors. That is, the mother-of-pearl layer is real. The difference is inside: in cultured specimens, it grows around the artificial core.
The thickness of the mother-of-pearl coating depends on the period of creation of the pearl.
Quality specimens are supplied from farms along the Indian Ocean coast. The world leader is Japan, followed by China, Hong Kong, and the Emirates.
This amazing gift of nature in the old days was called “pearl”, “magarite” and “skate”, they have been admired for several hundred years, and there are still disputes about its origin, supported by huge amount various legends. According to one of them, pearls are the frozen tears of a nymph in love, who angered the gods and imprisoned in a high tower for her love for a mere mortal.
Unbelievable, but it is a fact?
From others interesting facts, however, no longer fictional: one of the oldest pearls in the world occupied place of honor in the box of Elizabeth Taylor, and the largest, weighing 6 kg, was found near the island of Palawan (South China Sea) and subsequently graced the pages of the Guinness Book of Records. The "Great Southern Cross" was the name given to a composition of 9 pearls found off the coast of Australia that coalesced to form a shape resembling a cross.
Half true, half fiction, researchers recognize a different story: when Ivan the Terrible noticed the tarnishing of the unique northern pearl on the symbol of power - his staff, he immediately gave the order to “bring back to life” the seafood that had lost its former luster. Pearls were taken for washing to the Keret River. According to legend, 100 and 1 immersion in water had to be done by a young maiden in order to restore the original beauty. After the pearls were again delivered to the royal court.
Whether it was or not is up to historians to decide, but the fact remains: the fashion for pearls that adorns jewelry, over time, not only does it not “fade”, but also constantly makes new turns. From this substance, which is formed in the shells of mollusks, today a large number of. And the imitations of snow-white mother-of-pearl beads cannot be counted at all! If you purchased a piece of jewelry with this incredible gift from Poseidon, or are about to do so, read our tips on how to distinguish real from fake pearls and don't forget to show off your "jewel box" in the comments.
Natural or not?
Method number 1: Of course, there is nothing better than asking a professional gemologist for advice, who, using a special apparatus, will be able to determine whether you brought him a quality pearl. If you want to manage on your own, you can first check the price tag for the product: it can’t be too cheap even “on sale”.
Method number 2: you can try the following test: draw a single pearl with the edge of the nail: if traces remain or the paint has peeled off, the pearl is a fake.
Method number 3: trying pearls “by the tooth” is not such a radical decision, but quite an effective experiment. Lightly rub the pebble on your teeth: the real one should creak with such friction.
Method number 4: did the pearls fall to the floor, bouncing merrily? Do not rush to collect, but take a closer look: how many times did they soar into the air? The "jumps" of real pearls are quite frisky and repeated, since it has a different density.
Method number 5: take a magnifying glass and look at the shape of the bead in a magnifying glass. Either a fake or copies worth over $10,000 have an ideal smooth surface without a single unevenness and roughness. Do you remember paying this amount for a bead? Here is your answer.
Method number 6: wear pearl beads or bracelet? Carefully move one of the pearls aside and look at the edges of the hole through which it is strung on a thread or a special fishing line. If you see that the paint is peeling off along its edge or notice the top layer is chipped, then you have a fake.
Method number 7: Real and frankly fake pearls also differ in weight: genuine "beads" are heavier, because natural material it is "weightier" than plastic.
Remember that only an experienced specialist can give you the most accurate assessment of the quality of pearls. Do not forget that cultivated, or grown in artificial conditions, pearls (which is now considered the leader in sales and is used everywhere) are not considered a fake.
Do you have pearl jewelry and what kind?
