If diamonds are a girl's best friend, pearls are a close acquaintance at the very least. The problem with pearls is that it can be difficult to tell real and fake ones apart. Looking at the price tag alone is not enough to decipher the authenticity of pearls. Unfortunately, there are plenty of unscrupulous dealers looking for easy money who will attempt to pass off fakes as the genuine article.
There are a host of fake pearl types including simulated, faux, synthetic, resin and plastic. Real pearls come from fresh water or salt water. If spotting fake pearls was not hard enough, there are also pearls which are half man-made and half natural with coatings applied to them. Below is a list of tests which can help you determine if you are paying for real pearls or imitations.
Cut Them Open
This is an easy way to spot fake pearls; The downside is that it involves destroying them! Not recommended. The inside of real pearls have many layers of nacre. Fake pearls have multiple layers of coating on them and you may even spot a drill hole.
X-Ray
This involves paying a gemologist to x-ray the pearls. This test shows the inside of the pearl. You may see evidence of the existence of the parasite that caused the formation of the natural pearl or signs of a drill hole. This test is pretty accurate but it is extremely expensive so if you discover that your pearl is fake, it will be a double financial disaster!
Sun
This is one of the easiest tests on offer. Simply take your jewelry out under the burning sun or even extremely bright indoor lighting. Genuine pearls will never be perfectly matched under the sun unless they are remarkably expensive. The sun test should be able to help you see variations in their color and iridescence. Pearls that appear to be perfectly matched are probably fake. If you purchase perfectly matched pearls, ensure that a gemologist certificate companies them. You may have to pay for this test but the $ 100-150 it costs is small fry compared to the thousands of dollars you are about to pay for the pearls.
Magnification
Pearls have at least one thing in common with diamonds: Magnification tells you a tremendous amount about both. Real pearls will have ridges whereas fakes will look perfectly smooth. Magnification also allows you to examine drill holes or writing on the setting of the pearls.
Density
For their size, real pearls are heavier than plastic, resin or hollow pearls. However, please note that high quality glass fakes will have approximately the same density as real pearls. Although you can not definitively say if heavy pearls are fake, light ones are certainly not real.
Use Your Teeth
This is not really a good way to determine fake pearls but it may prove useful. Rub the pearls along the sharpest point of your upper front teeth. Real pearls may feel sandy and gritty whereas fake pearls will feel smooth.
If you are hiring to spend big on genuine pearls, an x-ray with a licensed gemologist is your best option. The other tests can also prove useful but some, like the tooth test, are mainly for fun and you should never buy pearls based on such a scientifically unproven method.