A false pearl is any pearl made of something other than true mother-of-pearl. The tooth test is unreliable, and more advanced equipment is needed to determine a pearl’s authenticity. Looking at a cluster of pearls under a bright light can also reveal differences in color and luster.
A false pearl is generally understood to mean any type of pearl that is made of something other than true mother-of-pearl, whether it be plastic, glass, or resin. It is not generally understood to be a cultured pearl, although it is not, strictly speaking, a natural pearl. Real or cultured pearls can also be treated, either with special dyes or coatings, and can come from a variety of shellfish in addition to oysters. There are a few different ways to tell a fake pearl from a real pearl, and even tell a cultured pearl from a real pearl, some of which are more effective than others.
The most common way given to distinguish a fake pearl from a real pearl is generally known as the tooth test. The premise of the tooth test is that you rub the pearl along your teeth, and if the pearl feels smooth, it’s a fake, while if it feels gritty, it’s a real pearl. This is a great sound check, in theory, because anyone can do it at any time. The problem is that it is unreliable, as various situations can cause a false positive response, where you may think that a fake pearl is a real pearl.
The idea behind the dental test is simple, and at first glance it seems like a good idea. A real pearl is made up of many different layers of nacre, formed around a central irritant, so they are irregularly shaped and have bumps that can be detected against the prong. A faux pearl, on the other hand, is usually machine-made of plastic or glass, so it will be perfectly smooth. However, there are many exceptions to this.
For one, many cultured pearls, while not actually fake pearls, will have too little mother-of-pearl to make them feel smooth. Or it may have been stained or treated, which will fill in any irregularities and also make it feel smooth. On the other hand, a fake pearl can be intentionally made with irregularities to make it feel more like a real pearl. So while dental testing might work to distinguish the blatanter fake pearl from an untreated natural pearl, it would be less likely to tell the difference between a finely made synthetic pearl and a coated cultured pearl.
To really be sure if a pearl is fake or real, you usually need to destroy a pearl or have access to more advanced equipment. With multiple pearls, one can be slaughtered and cut to look at the inner layers. A real natural pearl will have countless layers of thin nacre, a cultured pearl will have a thick core of nacre and a thin layer of nacre, and a fake pearl will have a core covered with a scaly substance. Without destroying the pearl, an x-ray can be used to get an even better look inside and determine all sorts of things about the pearl, including its authenticity.
One of the easiest ways to tell a fake pearl from a real pearl doesn’t even involve rubbing it against your teeth, but simply looking at a cluster of pearls. If you place a collection of pearls, such as those in a necklace, under a bright light, the color and luster of the pearls becomes much more obvious. Natural pearls will have slight variations in coloration, and the luster may be more intense in some, while fake pearls will be nearly identical in coloration.
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