Natural pearls or plastic pearls?

A question that arises and that I asked myself personally at the beginning of my passion is:

You'll be surprised to know that this is much easier said than done.

A pearl, simply put, is the result of a defense mechanism used by mollusks, specifically, in our case, oysters.

When a grain of sand, or a foreign body more generally, enters the oyster's cavity, the oyster, to prevent the body from injuring it, begins to coat it with a compound that we commonly call mother-of-pearl.

Day after day, layer after layer, the body that entered the oyster is covered until it creates our beautiful pearls.

We learned that, in simple terms, all you have to do is open the pearl and place the foreign body inside, usually a grain of mother-of-pearl.

This process is called nucleation .

In reality, nucleation is not as simple as it seems; this phase is a surgical process. Usually, a large percentage of oysters accept the implant, but a small minority will expel it or even become ill.

With rubbing.

If you rub two pearls of the same material against each other, you will immediately notice a substantial difference between the natural ones and their plastic imitation.

The mother-of-pearl ones, at the point of rubbing, will cause friction and wear away, you will feel a sensation like when two stones rub together.

On the contrary, the plastic ones will slide over each other without the slightest friction.

Please note: if you want to take this test, you don't need to use all your strength; just start lightly and gradually increase the intensity.

Furthermore, one thing to always keep in mind is the weight: the natural pearl will be more compact, you will feel it heavier for the same dimensions.

If you then tap two pearls against each other (always with the right amount of delicacy!) you will hear an almost glassy sound, which does not happen with plastic which, on the contrary, will give you a dull sound.

Now you have the knowledge to distinguish these beautiful jewels from their plastic imitations, put it to good use!

See you next time, hugs.

Monia