Majorica pearls are fake, aren't they?

[Amanda]

My darling Granny was certainly of that opinion, anyway. She remarked when we went on a family holiday to Majorca that they made well-known, fairly good-quality fake pearls, there.

However, this seller isn't aware of that, it appears, or is trying to conceal it behind some weasel-wording:

"Pearls are organically grown and very close to natural"

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Majorica-Wh...tu=UCC&otn=20&ps=63&clkid=6680310869758625261

 

[jshepherd]

Definitely fake!

Majorica pearl: Imitation pearl created by coating a glass nucleus with essence d’orient (see). The pearly essence is made from guanine crystals extracted from scales on the undersides of certain fish.

This is from the Pearl-Guide.com glossary of terms.

https://www.pearl-guide.com/glossary-of-terms-m.shtml

For those who haven't seen the glossary yet, I spent about 3-4 months putting it together a few years back and I believe it is the most comprehensive on the Internet. But it may be time to add new terms such as Edison Pearls, Souffle and the like.

 

[Amanda]

Ah, thanks, I'll beatle over and have a look.

My Granny asked us to get her some pearl studs from Majorca while we were there, to wear for gardening. She felt undressed without pearl studs, but didn't like risking her nice ones. She thought they were a good compromise (that was in the early 90s, I suppose she'd go for freshwater, now).

 

[jshepherd]

They are expensive for faux pearls and the auction's base price is actually quite good. Walking around Palma you see them in jewelry shops everywhere. They can be stunningly beautiful.

 

[pattye]

I emailed the seller, let's see what he replies. He also has them listed in the wrong category (fine jewelry).

 

[Amanda]

Yes, I remember seeing tons of them, but I don't think they were ever described as real. Mind you, I was about 12 at the time, it's 20 years ago, now!

 

[pattye]

Seller also has a grey strand, but they are called man-made in the listing.

 

[Amanda]

My dearly beloved infant would say, "it's silly or naughty, Mummy". And he'd have a point.

 

[est190]

Interesting way of listing them: "Pearls are organically grown and very close to natural" This is definitely misleading. From what I understand and as described by Jeremy, Majorica pearls are made by dipping a glass bead in a paste made from fish scales. The paste itself is organic in "organic" and they pearls look "very close to natural". The "very close to natural" is a pretty good indicator that the pearls are not natural. The listing may be technically correct (save the glass bead core that is used in the pearls), but it may be misleading and doubt it would pass muster with the FTC (not that they monitor these types of listings). Just another reason to be careful with ebay. That said, they are very pretty and if you know what majorica pearls are (and aren't), it looks like a good deal.

 

[pattye]

Majorica even copies ringed pearls: http://www.lordandtaylor.com/eng/womensapparel-promshop-jewelryaccessories-jewelry-Multi_Colored_Organic_Man_Made_Pearl_Necklace-lordandtaylor/29497 They make it clear this necklace is man made.

 

[Caitlin]

Wow! I'da said those were freshwaters pearls. Look at the variety!

 

[pearlescence]

They are definately fake. There is a big factory on Majorca. You can actually visit it and see the pearls being made. Since Majorca is a popular tourist destination from the UK I come across these souvenirs all the time.
Best quote 'These are definately genuine pearls, I've been to the factory and seen them being made'

 

[est190]

Majorica even copies ringed pearls: http://www.lordandtaylor.com/eng/womensapparel-promshop-jewelryaccessories-jewelry-Multi_Colored_Organic_Man_Made_Pearl_Necklace-lordandtaylor/29497 They make it clear this necklace is man made.

Nice find Pattye. Did you catch the description from lord and Taylor's site:

"Don the timeless beauty of this organic man-made necklace from Majorica. Featuring an 18 Kt. gold and rose gold vermeil plated sterling silver clasp and multi-colored 14MM organic man-mad pearls, enjoy this graceful organic man-made pearl necklace. Item comes packaged in a classic Lord & Taylor gift box."

I guess the "organic man-made" nonsense is actually from majorica!

 

[pearlescence]

Oh Lordie, it just gets worse <bangs head on workbench>

 

[Pearl Dreams]

Calling them organic because they contain organic matter (fish scales) is certainly a stretch.

The earlier Majorica strands were better imitations than the strands I've seen in the past few years; the current ones have a garish pseudo-orient. My mother has a strand from the early 1970s that she loves (partly for sentimental reasons as my grandmother gave it to her) and I wore a strand of Majoricas at my wedding. For our first Christmas after we were married, my husband gave me a 7mm, 30 inch white strand of Majoricas that I still enjoy wearing occasionally.

It's true that you can get a very nice freshwater strand now for less than Majoricas cost, but before the Chinese started turning out round CFWP, Majorica imitation pearls were a relatively good fashion alternative to Akoyas. As far as imitations go, they are very well made, with 30-40 layers of essence d'orient. I recall looking for an Akoya strand at our local mall stores back in the mid-90s. I wore my Majoricas for comparison. The stores all had poor quality, thin-nacre Akoyas with little luster selling at over $1000 (they were not selling round freshwaters in those days), and my Majorica fakes actually looked better than those real Akoyas when laid side by side. Only Michael jewelers had an Akoya strand that looked better than my fakes. After that discouraging trip, I decided to hold off on buying genuine pearls.

But now that the high quality freshies are around, it no longer makes sense to buy Majoricas. However, if one likes vintage costume jewelry, the strands on eBay can be fun to own if they were cared for well, but remember that imitation pearls can be damaged by the use of perfume and hair sprays too, and many of these older strands don't have their original luster (spoken from experience.)

 

[pattye]

Pearl Dreams,

Interesting about your personal experiences comparing them with Akoyas. Given that the company has been around since 1890, we can better understand why they were often the only "pearls" a woman had.

 

[Pearl Dreams]

Pattye, they even give them pink and greenish "orient" that looks quite a bit like the pink and blue colors visible on Blair's amazing natural color hanadama strand photo in this thread: https://www.pearl-guide.com/forum/showthread.php?t=3934. Cheaper imitations do not display that effect. The pseudo-orient is what is more garish on the newer ones, more nearly realistic on the older ones.

But there are no true overtones, and each pearl looks exactly like its neighbor, which is not the case in a genuine cultured strand. Also, having a glass bead within, they are somewhat heavier than cultured pearls.

Edited to add photo of my 10mm Majoricas:

 

[est190]

Majorica's can be very convincing. My grandfather gave my grandmother a double strand of "akoyas" for their tenth anniversary in 1954. My grandmother went her whole life believing my grandfather had given her real pearls. She was really proud of them and cherished them for years. They had a 18k gold and diamond clasp to boot (no majorica stamp--and was probably added by the jeweler that sold them to my grandfather). The fakes were good enough to fool my grandmother's jeweler (who was an authorized mikimoto reseller and actually knew pearls). He had given her a $3,800 appraisal for insurance purposes back in the '80's. We didn't find out they are fakes until after my grandmother died and there was a family fight over the distribution of her personal property, which required all of her jewelry to be appraised. So, in 2002, the pearls were appraised by someone that both knew pearls and had equipment that a jeweler wouldn't typically have. The professional appraiser could not determine whether the were real based on a typical hands on inspection alone (even with a loupe). They were convincing he actually had to have them x-rayed and inserted a fiber optic camera into the drill hole to make his determination. The report came back as imitation pearl of the highest quality, likely produced by majorica.

As a word of caution, this may be true in most cases, but these hands on tests would not work with my grandmother's majorica "pearls". The best vintage majoricas were all hand made (dipped), and they have similar irregularities in size and blemishes that you would find in the very high quality real pearls. They also weighed about the same as you would expect from real pearls, are cold to the touch and feel gritty when run across your teeth. The one consolation in that whole story is that really high quality imitation pearls are actually pretty valuable. Grandma's fake pearls were appraised for over $350 in 2002 (the clasp was worth a lot more than the "pearls"). I am sure when my grandpa bought that strand for grandma, he thought he was buying the real thing (maybe the jeweler who sold it them thought the same thing as well--I'd like to think so anyway). I can certainly see a couple of nepharious pearl dealers, buying top quality majorica pearls, sticking nice clasps on them and wholesaling them to jewelers and consumers that would no way to tell that they are fakes (at that time) without performing some destructive test (burining them or cutting them in half etc.), which few people are likely to try.

 

[Caitlin]

I'd love to see some photos of vintage Majoricas... Anyone?

 

[est190]

I'd love to see some photos of vintage Majoricas... Anyone?

Caitlin, I just looked around online. It's hard to find legitimate "vintage" strands (versus, strands that are just used). Older Majorica's tend to have a creamier body color (they have gone white in recent years). As with real pearls, there are also different qualities for majorica pearls (although I don't know if there is an actual grading system). Some strands are finer than others. These look to be a "vintage" strands from what I can tell: