One of the questions that my clients ask me often is:”Are these pearls real?” Many of us have pearl jewelry that we have inherited from our mother or a grandmother. Or, your husband has given to you a pearl necklace as a gift. Or, you were travelling to some exotic place and you have bought a strand of pearls there. Because you liked it and it seemed to be not expensive. Eventually, you would like to know whether we own real pearl jewelry or imitation pearls. Why do we want to know this? Why is this important? Because, as a rule, we want to possess things that have authenticity and value.
What is bad about imitation? Mahatma Gandhi has mentioned that imitation is the sincerest flattery. Indeed, he was right. People start imitating something only if they see value in it. When this something is rare. When everyone wants to possess it.
We may say the same about pearl jewelry. Throughout the history, natural pearls have been rare and extremely expensive. Thus, people have been trying to create their imitation. Actually, there are the records stating that people were using imitation pearls thousands of years ago. For instance, imitation pearls were known even in ancient Rome, then, later in the Middle Ages. This means that, in those days, people were wearing real pearl jewelry as well as imitation pearls. However, not everyone knew how to tell if pearl jewelry is real. Whether they had real pearl jewelry or imitation pearls.
In the 15th century, Leonardo da Vinci offered own recipe for making the imitation pearls. Today, imitation pearls are commonplace. This may be an alternative to real pearls. Even big fashion houses, like Chanel, are using imitation pearls for creating their pearl jewelry. Usually statement oversized pieces feature imitation pearls.
However, many of us prefer to have real authentic things. In our case, it is real pearl jewelry. We want to possess something that is genuine, unique, and valuable. And, at present, we have a wonderful solution. We have cultured pearls in abundance. The important fact is that cultured pearls are real pearls, not imitation pearls.
Cultured pearls grow in the mollusks or oysters, like the natural pearls. However, there is a big difference between the two. Natural pearls grow without an intervention of man. While in the cultured pearls, the process of pearl growth is triggered by man.
Again, nowadays, we are lucky to have a great variety of real pearls in the market. Pearls may have various shapes, colors, and textures. It is possible to find lovely real pearl jewelry at very reasonable prices.
However, if you intend to buy nice pearl jewelry, you should know what you are paying for. You should know if this is a real pearl jewelry or imitation pearls. Unfortunately, still, many people don’t know how to tell if pearls are real. But this is essential because the price between these two will differ drastically. In our next posts, we will speak about imitation pearls as well as about tips how to tell real pearl jewelry from imitation.
