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Methods: How to tell genuine pearls from fake ones.
1. Tooth test take a pearl and rub it across the front, flat part of your tooth. Real pearls feel gritty. Fake pearls feel smooth. This method does work but on some fakes it may not be completely reliable, you need to test more.
2. Similar to above “tooth test”, rub 2 pearls together. Ral pearls should feel gritty.
3. Sunlight is the best light to view pearls because of its full spectrum of light. Look at the pearls in the sunlight. Real pearls will show differences between themselves on a single piece of jewelry. So a pearl necklace will show a variety; however, small in color, shape basically all the pearl value factors.
4. Take a magnifying glass or jewelers loupe and look at the drilled holes. Real pearls will show the nacre, and possibly the nucleus.
5. If you can X-ray the pearls and if they are bead nucleated the core will show on real pearls. This works on Akoyas, Tahitians, and South Sea Pearls. This method does not work on natural or freshwater pearls because they have no nucleus.
6. Real pearls are created with various differences, normally. Fake pearls are generally made by machine and are therefore “perfect” or exactly the same from one bead to another.
Masami “pearls” are advertised as “pearls”. They are a man made bead madefrom the discarded shells. They take a shell and cut, shape and coat it with ground Mother of pearl and sell it as a “pearl”.
It’s not likely that you will encounter fake pearls from a reputable online pearl jewelry store.
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