If you were to ask what is the most special gemstone among all, I would not hesitate to tell you that it is the pearl. Why? Because pearls are a gemstone that is not like any other gemstone in terms of where it is produced and how it is produced. Most gemstones in nature are formed under the surface of the earth. Pearls, on the other hand, are nurtured by mussels. And there are freshwater pearls and saltwater pearls. And a gemstone like the pearl has been around for much longer than you can imagine. About 200 million years ago, pearls have appeared on earth. Later, some people discovered the charm of this gemstone, and it was gradually used in the production of jewelry. It is said that pearls also have many beautiful meanings, such as health, wealth and so on. In the past, pearl jewelry was often given to older women. Nowadays, there are more and more young women who prefer to buy pearl jewelry. This is because pearls are a gemstone that can not only highlight a woman’s intellectual beauty, but also show her elegant temperament.
However, as people are more and more inclined to buy jewelry made of pearls, a part of the people with the intention to take the fake pearls to make the second best, to deceive consumers. In order to be able to make you less fooled, today we are here to teach you a few tips. To help you on their hands of the pearl, or the pearl is about to buy a simple preliminary identification. We will introduce a number of identification methods, you can choose a suitable method according to the needs of their own.
1.Visual Appraisal
First of all, when we get the pearl, we can first observe the appearance of the pearl with our naked eyes. We can observe it from the following dimensions, which are size, shape, and the luster it emits. As we all know, pearl is a product of nature. It is natural then that it will not look like a product produced in a factory, which is almost uniform in appearance. Let’s just say that even if the pearls strung on the same pearl necklace look roughly the same, they are all different when you get right down to it. Moreover, naturally occurring pearls are not actually “perfect”. They have some imperfections. And these imperfections are visible to the naked eye. However, it is not true that every naturally occurring pearl in the world has imperfections that we can see with our eyes. Black pearls, for example, and then South Sea pearls, for example, have imperfections that are not very visible with the naked eye. Another thing is the shape of the pearl. It seems that we are under the impression that pearls are very round looking. However, naturally produced pearls are not necessarily very round in appearance. On the contrary, man-made pearls are very much in line with our idea of a normal pearl, as they look very well proportioned. However, there are exceptions to this rule. If a pearl is naturally rounded, it can cost a lot more than a hundred thousand dollars.
2. Feeling method
It can only be said that good pearls and poor quality pearls, they feel very different to the touch. Pure natural production of pearls even in the summer, it is very cool to the touch. In addition, since the growing environment of saltwater pearls and freshwater pearls is different, their touching feel will also be slightly different. Saltwater pearls are said to be cooler to the touch. Artificial pearls, on the other hand, feel very different to the touch, they are not at all refreshing to the touch, and you may even feel that they are a bit sticky to the touch. In addition to touching the pearl, if conditions permit, you can also rub the two pearls you need to identify against each other. If you can feel a slight frosting sensation, and also can rub out the pearl powder. Then congratulations, the probability that the pearl on your hand is real.
3. Magnification
A major feature of the magnified observation method is that it requires the use of a stereo microscope as a tool for us to observe the pearls. Although the above mentioned method is very simple, but nowadays the fake pearls made by unscrupulous merchants are more and more realistic. Sometimes you can’t tell the difference between real pearls and fake ones just by looking and touching them. At this time, some experts will use a stereo microscope to observe the pearls. Of course, the stereo microscope used to watch the pearl does not need to be very professional, its magnification only needs to reach between 5 times to 10 times can be. Through the stereo microscope, we can clearly see the growth pattern of the pearl. The growth pattern is something that cannot be imitated by artificial pearls. In addition, we can also see the pattern of calcium crystallization on the surface of the pearl. In fact, the growth pattern of pearls can be categorized into swirls and parallel lines. As for man-made pearls, they will only show a consistent shape under the stereo microscope. Specifically, they are bumpy just like an eggshell is under a stereo microscope.
4. Listen to the sound
You may wonder how a pearl can scream. The “listening to the sound” here is certainly not to put the pearl directly to your ear and listen to its sound. What you need to do here is to string or bag the pearl. The next thing to do is to shake the pearls. At this point, you need to listen carefully to the sound that these pearls make when they collide with each other. If the sound that the pearls make when they collide is very harsh, then they are definitely fake pearls. If the sound you hear is very soft, then it is a real pearl. Of course, this method can only do a rough identification, not completely as a basis for judgment. After all, some unscrupulous merchants may mix real and fake pearls for sale. At this time, listening to the sound again will not work at all.