Are my pearls real?

How can I tell if my pearls are real?

With so many different types of imitation pearls on the market, it is hard to know if a pearl is real or a fake. There are several ways to differentiate between the real thing and lookalikes. 

A great starting point is to assess the weight of the “pearls”. Authentic pearls are generally more dense than their imitation counterparts. Plastic or foam beads will be much lighter. However, imitation crystal, glass, or shell pearls will often feel as weighty as genuine pearls. This test does not guarantee the authenticity of the pearls, but it can eliminate lighter-weight fakes. 

Another quick test is to feel the temperature of the pearls in question. Glass beads, crystal beads, shell beads, and authentic pearls will feel cool to the touch if they have been in a room-temperature space for some time. Plastic and foam beads will not feel cool. Again, this test will not confirm whether you have real pearls or not but is a good elimination test. 

If the pearls are drilled, examine the drill hole. Imitation pearls get their luster and sheen from coatings. On these types of beads, there may be a lip around the hole where the coating has gathered. A real pearl will not have this rim. While a real pearl might have some slight cracking around a drill hole, it will not have peeling or chipping. This is an indication that there is some sort of coating to resemble a pearl’s nacre. Coatings are used on several different types of fake pearl beads, which can be convincing when applied to shells, glass, or crystals. Authentic pearls will never have a coating applied to their surface.

The surface texture provides a lot of information to help indicate whether a pearl is real or not. Irregularities and surface blemishes are good indicators that you may have genuine pearls. Even a perfectly round pearl has a microscopically porous texture. The tooth test is a long-standing trade technique used to test a pearl’s surface. When lightly rubbed over a tooth, a pearl should feel slightly gritty or rough. An imitation bead with a coating will have a slick and smooth texture. Perhaps a more hygienic method is to gently rub one pearl against another. If they feel gritty, it’s likely you have a real pearl, if it’s smooth the bead is an imitation.  

Candling and blinking are two other trade techniques used by professionals to determine the authenticity of pearls. Both methods use intense light sources in dark settings to detect the bead nucleus (bead centers) of a pearl. The shell beads that are used to create bead-nucleated cultured pearls have a striped pattern. If an intense light is directed at the pearls the bead can sometimes be seen through its nacre. Blinking refers to a process where a strand of pearls is rolled back and forth under the light source. While rolling, the examiner may see flashes of dark and light shadows on the pearls(blinking). This will indicate that the pearls have a bead nucleus and are, in fact, real pearls. Candling is a very similar technique. Instead of examining an entire strand of pearls, candling examines a single pearl against the light source. The examiner rotates the pearl between their fingers against the light source looking for the same flashes of dark and light. If they see the striped shadows under the pearl’s nacre, they know have a real pearl. Keep in mind that a pearl that does not present the striped shadow can still be authentic. There are several reasons why the candling and blinking techniques do not work on all pearls. Dark-colored pearls with dark nacre are too opaque to show the bead nucleus. These methods are best applied to light-colored pearls. Pearls that are nucleated with mantle tissue will not blink either because they have no bead core to examine.

A common misconception is that price is an indication of authenticity, but it is not. The “too good to be true” feeling while purchasing jewelry can apply to pearls as well. Costume jewelry can be expensive, even while retailers use crystal, glass, and shell imitation beads. Conversely, genuine pearls can be overlooked and sold for less than their true value in an auction setting. Cost is not a proven method for testing the authenticity of one’s pearls, there are too many variables. 

Using all these techniques together is a great way to begin authenticating your pearls. The best way to be absolutely sure is to have your pearls examined by an experienced professional.