After the read Natural Pearls vs. Cultured Pearls article, you will know the similarities and differences between natural pearls and cultured pearls.
How do oysters make pearls?
The formation of cultured pearls is exactly the same as that of natural pearls. Cultured pearls are real simulations of the principles of natural pearl formation achieved, with only the beginning part of the process artificially interfered with.
Cultured pearls in the shell are inserted into the nucleus of the beads, imitating the natural pearl foreign body erosion steps, the final formation process is exactly the same as the natural pearl, but also relies on the shell mother nature nurturing and growth process.
The formation process of natural pearls:
A good mother-of-pearl oyster is because a parasite or a grain of sand into the mother-of-pearl surface layer slowly opens, and gradually forms a skin capsule, The mother-of-pearl epidermis can secrete nacreous, along the pearl capsule secretion continuously secretion, slowly formed a round pearl.
Cultured pearls artificially involved in the process is to start culturing the mother of pearl, after maturity to fish them all up for nucleation surgery, similar to the natural pearl parasites and other entry. The rest is no different from natural.
The difference between natural pearls and cultured pearls
1. Natural pearls vs. cultured pearls – the nature of the different
Natural pearls are in accidental conditions, the outside world has stimulated small impurities into the outer coat membrane of some shellfish. At this time, shellfish mollusks in order to protect themselves and secrete a kind of nacreous material, layers wrapped around the formation of foreign matter superfluous organisms, day into the pearl;
Cultured pearls are people according to the pearl shellfish, and cultured pearls are people according to the pearl shellfish.
Cultured pearls are people according to the pearl shell can secrete nacreous pearl physiological function, in the pearl shell in the body implanted in small pieces of cells, after a certain period of time cultured pearls.
2. Natural pearls vs. cultured pearls – the structure of different
A natural pearl is a grain of sand or a parasite, etc., which has an outer layer of inclusions extending to the central attachment. It is not difficult to tell the difference if you can open it up and observe it; if not, you can see from the drilled hole that there are inclusions inside.
Natural pearls, on the other hand, have a thin outer layer of inclusions that extends to the center of the pearl, such as sand grains or parasites in the sky. If you can open the observation, it is not difficult to distinguish; if not, can be seen from the drill hole, inside the parcel layer.
3. Natural pearls vs. cultured pearls – different shapes
Natural pearl nucleus in the foreign body is generally not round and rarely rolled, so the shape of the pearls produced is generally poor roundness. For a string of pearls, then, the roundness is not the same;
Cultured pearls, placed within the center of the pearl, the inner layer of the inclusions can be seen from the drilling.
The cultured pearls, placed in the kernel are more round, but also artificial rolling shellfish to correct the roundness, so the roundness of the pearl is better.
4. Natural pearls vs. cultured pearls – different colors
Natural pearls (sea pearls) have fine texture, soft luster, and high transparency (mostly translucent); cultured pearls due to the short years of pearl formation, loose texture, luster is not strong, the surface is often flawed.
5. Natural pearls vs. cultured pearls – different texture
Pearls, due to the invasion of foreign objects and the formation of a long growth time, the texture is thick, and skin light is better; cultured pearls for artificial seeding nuclei, a short growth time, the pearl layer is thin, and skin light is poorer;
Natural pearls inside and outside the eye of the hole can be seen inside and outside the same pattern; cultured pearls inside and outside the eye of the hole are not the same, from the eye of the hole in two layers, inside and outside the two layers of the combination of unnatural.
6. Natural pearls vs. cultured pearls – different prices
The so-called rare is expensive, and natural pearl production is very little, at least 99% of the pearls on the market are cultured pearls, so the price of natural pearls is much more expensive than cultured pearls.
How to distinguish between natural pearls and cultured pearls?
From the above we know the difference between natural pearls and cultured pearls, according to their structure is not the same, we can quickly and accurately distinguish between the two with the help of a strong light flashlight and a magnifying glass, and at the same time avoid the destruction of the pearls.
Under the irradiation of strong light, slowly rotate the beads, cultured beads turned to the right angle, you will see the mother-of-pearl sphere of the core reflection of the flash, generally 360-degree flashing twice, which is to identify the cultured beads of a piece of evidence.
With the help of strong torch irradiation, and the use of a magnifying glass to carefully observe the pearl hole, cultured beads in the inner core and outsourcing thin layer can be seen between the obvious demarcation line and a black mark;
In contrast, the very thin growth line of natural pearls is evenly spaced all the way to the center and is only yellowish or brownish in color near the center.
How to identify natural pearls?
If the pearls are in strands and are identical in color, size, shape, and luster, they are man-made pearls. Because real pearls can not be consistent in any case.
The luster of real pearls like a rainbow, is colorful, and very beautiful. Fake pearls because the surface is painted, so the luster is monotonous, with no colorful rainbow tones.
Facing the light perspective, real pearl transparency is good, false pearl transparency is poor. By hand, the real pearl has a smooth cool feeling, while the fake pearl is often warm and greasy.
Observed with a 10 times magnifying glass, the surface of the real pearl can see its growth texture, while fake pearls have no growth texture, only see the coating.
Besides this Natural Pearls vs. Cultured Pearls article, you may also be interested in the below articles.
16 Different Types of Mosaic Tiles
Tahitian Pearl vs. South Sea Pearl
Akoya vs. South Sea Pearl, 9 Differences Between Them
Pearl vs. Mother-of-Pearl, 7 Main Differences Revealed