Differentiate saltwater from freshwater pearls

[SteveM]

I remember reading a story in one of my pearl books about a pearl vendor who was brand new. He watched an experienced pearl guy go through strands of pearls and pick out which pearls were cultured and which were naturals. Sometimes the two types of pearls were mixed within a single necklace. He asked the experienced pearl guy how to tell the difference between cultured pearls and naturals, and the old guy said, "Someday you'll know."

In the years following publication of The Pearl Book in 1996, saltwater keshi production advanced to such a degree that the labs had to step in with high tech scanning. There was no longer a way to distinguish cultured from natural by eye, The keshi producers made hay "while the sun shined" based precisely on their ability to fool the pearl guy!

 

[BWeaves]

I love that story! It's Maurice Shire's account in Antoinette Matlin's The Pearl Book: The Definitive Buying Guide.
So many other great stories in that book. The one by Nicholas Paspaley about what happened to his father is especially amazing.

Thank you! I couldn't remember which of my many pearl books I'd seen that story in.

 

[A Breaker]

BWeaves...love that story & your information! That is really helpful! I doubt I will be that skilled, yet I can see that from when I joined here and knew very little...I still could only tell real from imitation and not without lots of looking & "tooth testing".... to now I can tell imitation from real very quickly and often from photos. It is a huge jump for me! I doubt I will ever tell all those high end pearls, just not something I think I will ever see enough of.... I have too many other things taking my time, attention and money and I am not in an area that has people who wear those. But I am happy that I am better at telling more common pearls! (When I lived in the South, I got to see gorgeous pearls, but I did not know anything about pearls then!)