How can I tell if my pearl jewelry is natural pearl or cultured pearl?

Since cultured and natural pearls are very similar in appearance and texture, the only way to find out if the pearls you have set in your jewelry are natural or cultured is to X-ray the gemstones. Cultured pearls have a different structure than natural pearls, since cultured pearls are produced with the aid of a pre-formed irritant, they will appear quite different when put under an X-ray. A cultured pearl reveals a base, solid core while natural pearls show concentric growth rings.

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Have your pearl jewelry appraised. An expert gemologist will be able to tell you whether your pearls are natural or whether they are cultivated. Having your pearl jewelry appraised is a good idea, not only to guarantee their authenticity, but also to get a fair estimate of their value and to later have them insured against possible loss, theft or damages.

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You can't really tell the difference between cultured versus natural pearls by just looking at them. On the outside they are the exact same chemically and biologically Both cultured and natural pearls are formed when an irritant enters a mollusk shell, and the mollusk in response secretes a nacreous material that coats the irritant and turns it into a pearl. The significant difference is that in a cultured pearl, the irritant nucleus is artificially introduced. In a cultured pearl, the nucleus tends to be much larger than in a natural pearl, so that the same sized pearl is formed in a much shorter time span. X-ray tests are one way of telling the difference between natural and cultured pearls. They examine the layers inside the pearl to distinguish them: a natural pearl will show concentric circles all the way down to its tiny core, while a cultured pearl will only have a few layers before reaching the larger core. Since X-ray tests are quite expensive, there are a few alternate methods of testing your pearl which you can try at home. If there's a drill hole where the pearl is beaded, examine it with a 10x magnifier; if you see a dark dividing line between the pearl and the core, you're looking at a cultured pearl. If it looks consistently colored all the way through, chances are its a natural pearl. Although this isn't foolproof, examine the pearl's shape. If it seems imperfectly spherical, it's probably a natural pearl. Also, if your pearls are vintage, they're most likely natural, because the cultured pearl industry only got its start one century ago.

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