If you are planning to spend money on a high-end pearl or sets of pearl jewelleries then it is necessary that you must be sure about their genuineness.
Following are nine tests that find whether your single pearl necklace contains real or fake pearl.
1. Fake pearls are usually lightweight
Normally real pearls are much heavier than fake gems. The nacre will be very dense. However, this may not be foolproof test because if pearls are made by using crushed shells or glass and composite then this test may not work well.
2. Cracked or chipped
Inspect closely areas around the holes. Drill holes will be smooth in real gems with no chipping at all.
3. No 2 real pearls are exactly alike
Usually high-quality pearl jewellery will have well-matched gemstones however by looking closely you can find some differences. So, in case every gem looks exactly then same, then they are unreal.
4. Check the size
Usually natural pearl size is very big. If any large pearl is available at cheaper rate then it must be unreal.
5. Knots matter
Real pearls are individually knotted on silk strand or microfiber for their longevity. This will prevent the gemstones to get rubbed against each other.
6. Unusual colouring
Remember real pearls are usually dyed by pearl jewellers for covering imperfections. However, high-end and quality jewellers will stick with colours that we see every day in nature.
7. Are they cool when touched?
In case, the jewellery quickly warms up as per your body temperature when you wear them then they are probably real. Fake pearls will be at room temperature all the time.
8. There must be few imperfections
All real pearls will never be perfectly uniform. There will be little imperfections and differences between each pearl.
Real cultured pearls get created by nature and no living creature is exactly same. All real pearls, may be round, but will have little lumps, bumps and minor imperfections.
9. Fake pearls shine but real pearls glow
Try to check under natural light. Their nacre layers are translucent. When light gets reflected it looks like an inner glow. Lustre cannot be recreated by anything except an oyster. Real pearl should glow and not shine.