What Does A Real Pearl Necklace Look Like

Pearls on a strand or necklace will usually have holes drilled in them for the string to pass through.

What does a real pearl necklace look like.

Pearl size get out your ruler and measure the diameter of the largest pearls on the necklace. But there are clues. Examining this hole carefully can help you tell whether your pearl is real or not. A pearl is a hard glistening object produced within the soft tissue specifically the mantle of a living shelled mollusk or another animal such as fossil conulariids just like the shell of a mollusk a pearl is composed of calcium carbonate mainly aragonite or a mixture of aragonite and calcite in minute crystalline form which has deposited in concentric layers.

Look for onion skin. Real pearls have like a fingerprint like surface ridges in them so they are not identical or perfectly spherical. To find it look carefully between two pearls at a drill hole. Some fakes have high quality settings and some genuine pearls have cheap settings.

Also look for chipped paint or coating around the hole. If you notice any paint is missing or if the material from inside the pearl formed a burr when the pearl was drilled your pearls are probably fake. Not every pearl will be the same size. Method 2 of 3.

Real pearls will have a drill hole that is quite smooth and doesn t show any chipping unless it has been mishandled. Even so the setting can provide clues to help you reach a conclusion. Real pearls are formed by nature and will always have some sort of imperfection if you look close enough. If you place a natural pearl against a dark background like a box lined in black cloth and put it under a strong light the natural pearl will look like a small white homogenous ball with no discernible inner rings.

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. Pearls strung along a strand will have holes drilled for the silk string to pass through. From a description alone it s not possible to say with certainty whether a necklace is real or imitation. A string of pearls is likely fake if every pearl appears like a tiny ball.

Look around the pearl drill hole. A set of real pearls should feel hefty in your hand. Real pearls will often show evidence of a nucleus. When you do the same to a cultured pearl you will see a thin brown line between the nacre layer and the nucleus of the pearl.

A real pearl will have well defined edges like a hollow cylinder. One thing you can do to determine if a pearl is real or fake is to detect the weight. Examine the drill hole with a magnifying glass. In the 1950 s 60 s and 70 s a typical size for cultured pearls was 4mm to 6mm.

Are they real pearls. Real pearls are made by nature so there should be some variation in size. In a finished necklace or bracelet real pearls are more likely than faux to have knots between each pearl. You may not be able to hold the pearls alone.

Even with a photograph. Real pearls are more likely to have settings of gold silver or platinum.