How to Distinguish Real Pearls

Rub the pearl against the teeth in the front of the jaw. Hold two or three pearls firmly with your index finger and thumb, then gently press them against the sharp edge of the front teeth, remembering to swing back and forth in either direction. Real pearls always have a “slightly rough or rough” face, which is due to very small scaled imperfections in the outermost nacre. Imitation pearls made from glass or plastic will often have a “nearly perfect flat” surface. ^[6]

• You should brush your teeth before doing this experiment to make sure the teeth are completely clean, as food residue on the teeth can give false results.

Grind the gems together. Use your fingers to hold the gems and gently rub them together, then try to feel the very little friction between them. Real pearls will usually create little friction when rubbed because the outermost layers of mother-of-pearl are not completely smooth. ^[7] In contrast, imitation pearls will have a very fine top coat so they will slide over each other when rubbed.

• Look closely at the hands after doing the experiment. When rubbing two pearls, the outer shell will be slightly abraded, so if you notice some fine white powder, it is most likely nacre, a sign of real pearls. ^[8]

Check if the gems are completely round. As a product of nature, each gem is slightly different, just like snowflakes and fingerprints. Most pearls are not perfectly spherical, but they are slightly oblong or have minor defects. If you find your pearls are perfectly round, it is most likely artificial.

• Real pearls have the ability to be perfectly round. But such cases are “very” rare and often sell for very high prices. ^[9]
• Not sure if the pearl is perfectly round or not? Be careful rolling the gem on a flat surface, remembering that if the shape is not perfectly round the gem cannot roll in a straight line. ^[10]

Feel the coolness to the touch. For this method you need to leave the pearl outside for a while, do not try with the stones you are wearing. Hold the gems in your hand and focus on how you feel when your skin comes into contact with them. You will feel very cool if they are real pearls, before becoming warmer after a few seconds. ^[11] This feeling is similar to when you walk barefoot on a marble floor.

• In contrast, pearls made of plastic always stay at room temperature and warm up very quickly. ^[12]
• Attention: Good quality glass imitation pearls also feel “cool”, so compare with the results of other test methods if this is your first test.

Feel the weight of the gem in your hand. Carefully bounce one or two gems in your hand to see how heavy they are. Most real pearls usually feel quite heavy for their size, whereas fakes (especially if made of plastic) feel insignificantly light.

• This method is not perfect for a very understandable reason, it is not easy for you to judge the mass of a few small gems. If you want a more accurate result you should compare the mass of your gems with other gems that you “know” are real or fake. No matter how certain you are about the mass of a gem, you should confirm the result with other testing methods.

Use a microscope to look for scaly surface structures. You can use a jeweler’s magnifying glass with 30x magnification, but it is best to use microscopes with a magnification of 64x or more. The surface of real pearls has a maze-like scale, overall it looks like a terrain map. ^[13] It is this scaly structure that gives the “slightly rough” face of real pearls.

• In contrast, imitation pearls often have a surface composed of relatively uniform protrusions (a bit like the moon’s surface with many pits). ^[14]

Compare your pearls with certified real pearls. You can make the above test methods easier if you have “real” gems to compare. Try contacting a jeweler and ask them to compare your pearls with theirs, or you can borrow real pearls from a friend or relative to compare.

• Remember to use intuition when performing testing methods for real pearls. For example, you should not use brushing or scrubbing on other people’s precious items.

Get expert pearl appraisers. If you find it difficult to tell if your pearls are real or not, you should bring them to a jeweler or gemologist for assistance. They have the tools, training and professional eyes to distinguish pearls for you, plus they can set a price for you. But these options will often cost a lot of money, a simple appraisal also costs more than 2 million. ^[15]

X-ray examination. In this method, the specialist will use an X-ray machine to determine if the pearl is real or fake. Real pearls will appear on the X-ray as a translucent gray, while fake pearls will appear milky on the negative and opaque black on the positive.

Check with a light extraction meter. This method of discrimination is based on the principle of measuring the amount of light passing through the pearl. A refractometer will typically give a refractive index of 1,530 to 1.685 for real pearls. The 0.155 error between these two values is known as the “double extraction” of the pearl, and it is what causes the pearl’s color when exposed to light. Based on the above properties, experts can determine if it is a real jade or not.

Be careful when using a single method to distinguish real pearls. You need to keep this in mind: all of the methods mentioned above give false results from time to time, so you should do a variety of tests to be sure.

• There is information that real pearls that have been polished by a special method will feel very smooth when tested by tooth brushing or rubbing test, which is an example of if only one way to test it. only can lead to confusion.

Avoid using the “burn” method. Many people believe that it is possible to burn pearls directly on the flame to distinguish real or fake. According to this oral tradition, fake pearls will burn or melt, and real pearls will be unharmed, but the truth may not be as simple as you think. While fake jade will inevitably be damaged by fire, some real gems are no exception. Real pearls that have been treated with an artificial coating are easily damaged by burning, deforming the bore, or losing their luster after only a few seconds of being burned.

• Also you should remember that real pearls are good conductors of heat, so they can become very hot when burned directly on fire, so measures should be taken to avoid burns when applying this test.

Beware of fake pearls with strange names. You may be deceived if the seller tries to lure you into buying a jade by giving it a weird name, instead of advertising the actual quality of the gem. For example, Mallorca (or Majorca) pearls are named after an island in the Mediterranean, Mallorca, but are actually fake pearls and are offered to be sold to gullible customers.