In Reply to: Pearls posted by mardy on Tuesday, 15. June 2010 at 12:36 Bali Time:
before you part with $150+ of your hard earned, that you check out some real pearls at a reputable pearl seller. Then you will know more what to look for. Also, I wouldn't buy anything that had a flame held to it. I've seen beach sellers do this before and my response has always been - not interested now you have done that.
Here is some ways to tell by looking at the pearl:
Fakes tend to look 'flat' in comparison to the real thing. There are exceptions, of course, with beautiful simulated pearls made by Swarovski and other manufacturers. Real pearls tend not to be perfect and may have bands in their nacre, bumps, ridges, or pits. They vary in size and shape from one to another. Genuine pearls may have concentric ridged circles around them, which inexperienced people may take for marks from molding of a fake (which is seen in the exact middle of all the pearls on strands of some faux pearls). Real pearls come in many shapes, but they tend not to be perfectly round, so a perfect sphere should be suspect. Expensive genuine pearls may be round, but you will have other clues to help you make a determination. Some fakes are made to look irregular, and glass pearls often have flattened ends or slightly oval shapes. In addition to visual clues, genuine pearls tend to warm to the skin much faster than glass pearls. Resin or plastic pearls tend to feel somewhat warm upon first contact.
I've seen some interesting baroque pearls from Lombok, yellowish in colour and irregular shaped, that would make an interesting necklace. I can't say I've ever seen a good quality sea pearl for sale by a beach seller. Plenty of poor quality ones though.