A Real Pearl

Real pearls would have been strung on silk thread and knotted between each pearl to stop them rubbing together and protect against breakage.

A real pearl.

What are real pearls. South sea pearls are often referred to as the rolls royce of pearls. The drill hole test. A cultured pearl is a real pearl grown in a shellfish or mollusk.

It s worth noting that almost all pearls on the market today are cultured. A real pearl will usually have a slightly rough or gritty texture from tiny scale like imperfections in its outer layers of nacre. Over 99 of the real pearls sold today are cultured pearls. Stringing on cotton or twine with or without knots isn t a good omen.

There are many varieties of cultured pearls including freshwater saltwater tahitian and south sea pearls. South sea pearls grow in a large pearl oyster native to australia the philippines myanmar and indonesia. Another way of telling whether a pearl is real is by checking its luster. Real pearls have like a fingerprint like surface ridges in them so they are not identical or perfectly spherical.

If you look very closely at them even under a magnifying glass you will notice these surface ridges and the specific quality to each pearl whereas fake pearls they all of them look identical and have smooth surfaces. Fake pearls are often very light especially plastic or ceramic ones while glass pearls often feel heavier than real pearls. A real pearl is produced by pearl bearing oysters either in fresh or salt water. You should be feeling the weight of the pearl when you hold it in your hands.

These ridges may not be visible to the naked eye. Fake pearls made from glass or plastic will usually be almost perfectly smooth. This is because it has small ridges on its surface. These pearls are created the old fashioned way but with a little assistance from man.

Note the very large perfectly formed pearls but cheap clasp. A pearlis a hard glistening object produced within the soft tissue specifically the mantle of a living shelledmolluskor another animal such as fossil conulariids. If you grab a real pearl necklace in one hand and a faux pearl necklace with the same amount of gems in the other more often than not the real pearls will feel heavier. They are the largest and most valuable pearls grown today with average sizes ranging from 10 to 15 millimeters.

Here s an example of an imitation necklace. Real pearls are heavier than fake pearls one of the very first differences between real and fake pearls is no other than their weight. You may want to brush your teeth before attempting this test to make sure they re clean.