Month: March 2021

Circa 1920, the production of cultured pearls started on a large scale and to this day is the method used to grow pearls. The oysters and mussels are “operated on” and a core is implanted. This job requires delicate care because the animal has to survive this procedure. Freshwater pearl mussels are very strong and can grow up to 30 pearls at a time. The saltwater pearl oysters are much more sensitive and only produce one pearl per cycle. The oysters and mussels are clamped between grates and hung in the water in the lakes of the pearl farm.

The harvest

The pearls are rinsed and then sorted by colour, size, shape and quality. With rarer pearl types, it can sometimes take a few years before there are enough similar pearls to be able to make a pearl necklace. The sorting process is very precise and is done by specialists.

A fair trial

During the breeding season, the shells are cleaned regularly, the algae, parasites and other deposits are carefully removed. The water temperature and the quality of the water are carefully monitored by the growers. Pearl farmers are therefore very conscious of the environment and do everything they can to keep the water in which they grow their pearls as pure as possible. This makes the cultivation of pearls more sustainable than the production of any other gemstone.

Sustainability

The pearl cultivation can be done with minimal waste: the mussels and oysters used for pearl cultivation are not thrown away since they can last for multiple cycles. The shells are then ground and used for road construction, for example, and the meat is used for animal feed and fertiliser. Pearls are the only organic jewellery made by nature itself. The cultivation of pearls has sustainable and social effects on the environment making it a particularly sustainable industry. Mussels and oysters need clean, unpolluted water to produce high-quality pearls. We work with small certified pearl farms which we visit ourselves every year so we can process the most beautiful pearls in our collections.

1: Look for minor imperfections:

Real pearls are rarely “perfect”. Real pearls usually have minor imperfections or irregularities in their shape. The outer layer of mother-of-pearl can reflect the light differently on different parts of the pearl. Imitation pearls are almost always too perfect, they appear perfectly round, they have an even shine throughout, and have no dents or other flaws. Even though there are perfectly round pearls, they are very rare and a necklace seldom consists entirely of this type of pearls. A necklace made of pearls that all appear to have the same smooth, round shape is almost certainly a fake.

2: Examine whether the pearls have a sharp, healthy shine:

“Lustre” or shine is a term used by jewellers to describe the type of light being reflected from a pearl. The shine is one of the things that makes a pearl so beautiful; good quality pearls have a bright and clear lustre that makes them sparkle when light shines on them.

Pearls come in all shapes and colours: freshwater pearls can be white or pastels such as lilac, cream, or pink. Pearls can also be dyed to other colours, you can read more about this process in our other blog posts about the different types of pearls.

4: Look for clues near the borehole:

Pearls that are part of a strand or necklace usually have drill holes for the cord to pass through. Studying these holes carefully can help you find out if the pearl is real or not. Pay attention to the following things:

A drill hole with clear edges. Real pearls usually have sharp-edged boreholes (like a hollow cylinder). Imitation pearls often have rough or rounded edges. However, older, more worn real pearls can also have boreholes with rounded edges. Drill holes in imitation pearls can also bend outward on the surface of the pearl, instead of being perfectly cylindrical.

Chipped paint or varnish around the hole. Imitation pearls rub against each other when you wear them often and the imitation varnish around the holes can therefore wear away. You may see splinters of glass or plastic under the paint. This is a clear sign that the pearl is not real.

5: Look in the Drill hole to see if you can see a line between the mother-of-pearl and the core:

Pay attention to the following: a real pearl almost always has a clear outer layer of mother-of-pearl, while imitation pearls have thin layers of imitation mother-of-pearl or none at all. If your pearl has a borehole, you can use a magnifying glass to see if it has a layer of mother-of-pearl. Real pearls usually (but not always) have a clearly visible stripe that separates the mother-of-pearl from the core (the inner part of the pearl).

Majorica pearls and other fake pearls

Running in a completely different direction, Majorica pearls, sold in red boxes, are artificially made pearls in a factory. These pearls are made of glass balls that are immersed in a solution made of, among other things, fish scales. The layer on the glass is usually thin and can wear off over time. On the island of Mallorca, many of these pearls are falsely sold as real pearls. These tend to be targeted towards tourists. In addition to factory pearls made from fish scales, there are also shell pearls, which are made by sawing blocks from thick shells and grinding and polishing them. You can recognise a cord with shell pearls because all pearls have the same shape and are perfectly round. There are also plastic pearls and glass pearls on the market, of course, these have nothing to do with natural or cultured pearls.