Methods of distinguishing pearls from real pearls;
It can be identified simply by looking, touching, smelling and biting.
Look, mainly through the eyes, pearls can emit all kinds of strange light by observing light. If the luster of a string of pearls is very uniform and the color is monotonous and dim, it may be imitation pearls; Natural beads are rich in color and soft in luster.
Touch, mainly through the hands to feel, natural beads are cooler and feel better. If our hands feel that this bead is a little warm and greasy, we should be careful to fake it.
Smell, that is, the goods to be purchased are slightly heated. If there is an odor or an odor, it may be fake, and the real pearl is tasteless.
Biting or rubbing is the feeling of rubbing each other through teeth or two pearls. Real pearl teeth have a astringent feeling or can rub out pearl powder, while fake pearl teeth have a slippery feeling.
If the price of the pearls you choose is high and it is impossible to identify their authenticity, you can go to the Pearl Testing Station of the Bureau of Quality and Technical Supervision for testing.
First, the formation of pearls:
According to the types of pearls, the formation of pearls can be divided into natural pearls, freshwater cultured pearls (seedless) and seawater cultured pearls (nucleated). Their formation steps are as follows:
Natural pearls:
Invasion-Formation-Artificial Capture of Small Foreign Bodies
Freshwater cultured pearls (seedless);
Mantle-nuclear transplantation-molding-artificial harvest
Marine cultured pearls (nucleated):
Mother shell grinding pellets-nuclear transplantation-molding-artificial harvesting
Note: In the formation stage, the outer mantle of mother shell is stimulated to secrete nacre, and the foreign bodies are wrapped layer by layer to form pearls.
It is worth noting that in the artificial harvesting stage, mother shellfish are often injured or killed in this process.
Is cultured pearls "natural"?
-Customers pay attention to the naturalness of pearls only for quality reasons.
From the above pearl formation process, it can be seen that natural pearls and cultured pearls are different in the initial nucleation stage, and other formation processes and growth environments are exactly the same.
In other words, cultured pearls only use technical means to speed up the process of pearl formation, which has little effect on the quality of pearls.
In addition, because natural pearls are too rare to be collected, their value is very expensive, and because of the unstable growth environment, their external quality is often not as good as that of cultured pearls.
-South China Sea Pearl-"King of Pearls"
South Pearl, which is produced in the waters of the South Pacific (that is, the northwest ocean of Australia, the Philippines and Indonesia), is cultivated and grown in a wild mussel called Berry. Because the white butterfly is a very precious and fragile creature, it must grow in a stable, excellent and unpolluted bay environment, and it is also the largest pearl mussel in the world, and the shape of the Nanyang pearl it cultivates is larger than that produced in other places. So the value of Nanyang is more expensive.
The value of Nanyang pearls is evaluated by their size, color, shape, luster and purity. Among them, big, round and eye-catching pink beads are the most precious, such as those as big as 18 to 20 mm, which are quite rare. From the shape, Nanyang pearls have many shapes, such as round, oval, ring, button, irregular and so on. The rounder the shape, the rarer it is.
Tahiti Pearl-"Pearl Queen"
Tahiti pearls are different from Japanese pearls and Nanyang pearls and are extremely precious. Because the pearl itself is cultivated by a precious black mussel (a rare mussel that only grows in Polynesia's natural pollution-free waters), its different degrees of gray have different magical colors, which makes the pearl more unique. In addition, the requirements of its breeding environment and pearl collection technology are very strict. Of every 100 black mussels with pearls, only 50 can successfully cultivate pearls, and only 5 of them are flawless, so each pearl is extremely precious.
To keep pearl jewelry radiant, please refer to the following items:
1. In order to keep the luster and color of pearls unaffected, it is necessary to avoid pearls from contacting with acidic substances and chemicals, such as perfume, soap and styling water.
2. Don't wear pearls when cooking, because steam and oil smoke can penetrate the micropores on the surface of pearls, invade pearls and turn them yellow.
3. After wearing pearls (especially in summer), be sure to clean them and put them back in the jewelry box. It is best to wipe with sheepskin, not with facial tissues, because some facial tissues are attached with abrasives, which will wear pearl skin.
4. Never wash the bead chain with water. Because water can enter the pores of pearls, it may ferment the interior of pearls, and the joints may turn green. If you sweat a lot when wearing it, you can use a soft wet towel to wipe it carefully, dry it and put it back in the jewelry box.
5. Because pearls contain a certain amount of water, they should be kept in a cool place to avoid direct sunlight, or in an excessively dry place to avoid dehydration.
6. Store pearl jewelry separately to prevent other jewelry from scratching the pearl skin.
7. Don't hang the bead chain for a long time, the silk thread will be deformed after a long time.
Take the pearl necklace to the jewelry store regularly (once every three years is recommended) to prevent the silk thread from being damaged.