Blog
Pearls are eternal and their timelessness is like an abstract cloak of allure and positivity that wraps around anyone who wears them. Women, especially know they can never go wrong with pearl jewellery—of course, we mean authentic and real pearl jewellery.
As a trusted and well-established jewellery designer and provider of pure and true pearls in Australia, Volle Jewellery strives to maintain its quality services and delights its clients with genuine and beautifully crafted pearl jewellery that can last for generations. We never settle for less because we want our customers to get the best. That’s why we don’t want you to make the awful mistake of unknowingly purchasing fake pearls or any imitation of gemstones in the market.
Years of maintaining high standards in jewellery making has made us experts in telling the difference between what’s fake and what’s real. There are different ways to do so and some require more technical ways only jewellery experts can perform. What we will be sharing to you are some simple and useful tips you can apply and do on your own to help you determine a real and authentic pearl from a fake one.
Let light shine on it
Inspect the pearl under natural sunlight or any bright light. Real pearls are iridescent and prismatic. You can see variations of hues as they shimmer just like a prism. Their uneven surface orientation are also more noticeable when they’re closely inspected under bright light. Yes, unless they are extremely expensive, real pearls are not really smooth and their surfaces and sizes don’t perfectly match. If a dealer sells you pearls that are smooth, with perfect, matching overtones and sizes at a very affordable price, then they’re most likely fake.
Use the tooth test or friction test
Though seemingly weird, this is an all-time, do-it-yourself test for real pearls. Try to rub a pearl in front of your tooth, like in a biting motion. If they feel grainy or resistant, they may be real. Remember to be careful from accidentally swallowing it.
For the friction test, you can rub two pearls gently together and must feel the same grittiness. Naturally, pearls are coated with layers of nacre—a material composed mainly of a form of calcium carbonate and are arranged in hexagonal pattern, one over another. This explains why a real pearl has gritty texture.
Buy fake pearls for testing purposes but NEVER wear them
Yes, you can buy fake pearls but ONLY for the purpose of comparing them to real ones so you’ll get to really see their distinction. NEVER wear them. You can compare their size, surface, color, weight, etc. Fake ones are made of glass, ceramic, or plastic and can be made to look real for a much cheaper price. But don’t let price or presentation fool you. Real pearls may come really expensive for the typical shopper, but NOTHING compares to the feel and beautifying effect of genuine ones.
Examine the holes
Pearl jewellery, especially pearl necklaces and bracelets, usually have small drilled holes in their centre so they can be stringed together. Examining these holes is also a good way to test their authenticity. Real ones tend to have finer holes without flaked or chipped off coating around them. Fake ones can have flakes around their holes like shiny paint peeling off.
Use a good magnifier
If you have a high-powered magnifier, that’s a super big help. But you can do with a simpler but well-functioning one to be able to see closer and clearer a pearl’s surface. Real pearls have a scaly surface due to the overlapping of nacre. Imitation pearls has a grainy, smooth surface.
Consult a reliable gemmologist
Cutting a pearl open, in other words, destroying it will really uncover the truth, whether its real or not. But you most probably won’t consider that as an option. It can do you good to really consult a gemmologist to do an X-ray on it, inspect it thoroughly, and really evaluate its authenticity through more technical procedures.
Doing one of the things above doesn’t guarantee correct judgement on pearl authenticity. It is best to do all at once or, if you are at the right place and time, consult a trusted gemmologist directly to make sure.
With our love for genuine pearls, we at Volle Jewellery make sure that the pearl jewellery and all the jewellery products we offer to our precious clients are 100% real. If you don’t want to go through the hassle of testing pearls, purchase your pearls directly from Volle Jewellery where “fake” is impossible. You can never go wrong, or fake, with Volle Jewellery.