My mom recently passed away, and when going through her boxes, I found several strands of pearls that belonged to my great,great grandmother. They are very beautiful, but how can I tell if they are good pearls or costume pearls, and how can I clean them? Any help would be appreciated, my friend told me about your website. Hope you can help.. Amanda J.
   
Dear Ms. Jordan
, 
Thank you for your interest in PurePearls.com- it’s always nice to know that our previous customers are talking about us!! J It sounds like you’ve found yourself quite the treasure if your pearls are the real deal, and I can give you a few tips on how to tell the difference between cultured and synthetic pearls.
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The very first thing that we are taught at GIA is to use your powers of observation. Simply studying the pearls up close will tell you quite a lot! Is there a subtle color variation, or are all the pearls exactly the same with no variance in overtone or luster? Is light reflected back at you at exactly the same rate pearl for pearl? If so, the chances are good that the pearls are synthetic. Remember, pearls are an organic gem- farmers can control a lot of things in the culturing environment, but the oyster is still a living being that will impart it’s own unique print on the pearl- nature is all the more beautiful for her subtle imperfections. We call it character.
J J  

Also keep an eye out for inclusions or blemishes- dents, flat spots, ridges, wrinkling of the nacre, pinpricks, light and dark areas of discoloration where conchiolin has accumulated irregularly. These are all indications that the pearls are cultured and not synthetic. Again, it is the subtle imperfections that will clue you in on the pearls’ origin.
 

Another tried and true method for determining whether a pearl is real is called the ‘Tooth Test’. Gently rub your front teeth on the surface of the pearl. If it feels slightly gritty, then the pearl is a real cultured pearl. This is because nacre, the organic substance that essentially is the pearl, is composed of tiny crystal platelets called aragonite. Each platelet is so tiny it is measured in microns! They are continuously stacked on top of each other in a somewhat concentric pattern- like an onion- by the oyster, forming layers of crystals that should feel rough on your teeth. Synthetic pearls do not have crystal platelets- they are very smooth, and will feel almost like plastic against your teeth. Remember to be gentle- a pearl’s surface rates 3 out of 10 on the Moh’s Scale, rather like Talc, and scratches easily. �
 
Lastly, keep in mind that the very first round, cultured pearls were not made available on the market until 1912 or so; if the pearls are older than that, they are natural pearls and should be treated with the utmost care! Round cultured pearls should all be very round- if some of the pearls are ovalish or drop-shaped, then I would recommend that you send them to a gemological laboratory for X-ray testing to determine if they are natural, or if they have a bead-nucleus inside.�
 
For cleaning, at this point all I can recommend you do is to take a clean, slightly damp cloth and gently rub the pearls down. If they are cultured Akoya pearls, then you will not be able to erase the Ivory tone that comes naturally with age. You may be able to get rid of some accumulated dirt, but the pearls will never be a true white again. Also, consider having them restrung by a jeweler that specializes in pearls- if the pearls have been stored in a trunk or jewelry bag for as many years as you think, then the silk thread will have undoubtedly undergone some deterioration! Most jewelers will charge about $20-25 per inch of pearls.�
 
The very last piece of advice that I have for you if the pearls turn out to be real cultured pearls is: wear them!! Wear them often! Pearls have a porous surface, and tend to dry out, losing some of their luster if kept for a long time in storage. After cleaning and restringing, it will be safe to wear the necklaces without fear of them breaking- wearing your beautiful pearls will help them to absorb some of your natural oils and will bring back some of their shine and glow!
 
I hope that these tips have been helpful, and if you have any other questions, please feel free to ask- I am always happy to be of assistance! Best of luck in your detective work, and have a great day!
 
Sincerely,
 Ashley McNamara

Vice President Sales, PurePearls.com  

Hi Everybody! 

Our Summer Sale is raging hot, hot, hot!! Many thanks to all of our wonderful customers for making this Summer amazing! For this edition of our weekly blog, I’d like to show off our Featured Strand for August! A South Sea Pearl Necklace fit for a Queen, and exclusively at PurePearls.com! These stunningly large, perfect pearls are the epitome of luxury! Our perfectly round, perfectly rare White South Sea pearls are graded AAA to GEM-Quality, and have exceptional luster and depth that dazzles the eyes! Tinged with lovely shades of Rose and Silver and intense Orient, our White South Sea pearls have smooth, unblemished surfaces and thick nacre measuring between 4-6mm in depth! This gorgeous necklace is composed of 35 perfectly matched pearls that are painstakingly collected by our Australian pearl farming friends; over a span of years the pearls are set aside to wait until their sisters are found. A necklace of this quality and caliber is a very rare treat- so feel free to feast your eyes!

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Hi Everybody! We are currently working on getting our Monthly Special up and running; this August we are featuring an “End of the Summer Blowout” sale, and will be sending you all a special email with links to some of our favorite jewelry items, as well as introducing some new pieces that we think you’re sure to enjoy! Here is a little taste of what’s to come…  

Introducing our “Angel” Akoya pearl and Diamond pendant and earring set, perfect for every occasion! Both the pendant and earrings are crafted from solid 18K Gold (your choice of White or Yellow), accented with sparkling diamonds, and finished with our gorgeous AAA Quality 7.0-7.5mm Akoya pearls! Our Introductory Price will be 20% Off our normal retail pricing- a steal of a deal for fine diamonds and pearls!! We think our “Angel” pendant and earring sets are perfect for any and every occasion- from a day at the Office to Back to School, or a glamorous Night Out!

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Hi Everybody!
 
The custom necklace is finished, and I just couldn’t wait to share it with you all! As I mentioned in my previous post, this necklace is an heirloom Birthstone necklace for a client that is very special. There are 15 Precious and Semi-Precious Gemstones stationed carefully in 5 small bezel-set “Clusters” of 3 stones each to represent her 15 grandchildren. We also created small matching “Starlight Birthstone” earrings that represent the 6 daughters and sons of this special Grandma!
 
The stones used for the necklace are: 1 pc Brazilian Alexandrite (June), 2 pcs Emerald (May), 1 pc Ruby (July), 4 White Sapphires (replacement for Diamonds, April), 2 Citrines (November), 2 pcs Peridot (August), 1 pc Garnet (January). Each have been hand-set into solid 14K Yellow Gold bezels and then hand-knotted into a strand of Silver-Rose Elite Collection Freshwater Pearls, 7.0-8.0mm.
 
The earrings consist of 1 pc. Emerald (May), 1 Alexandrite (June), 1 Citrine (November), 1 Peridot (August), 1 Amythest (February), and 1 White Sapphire (replacement for Diamond, April). We had the earrings custom built for just this occasion to hold the 2.0mm gemstones, which sit atop matching 7.0-8.0mm Silver-Rose Elite Collection Freshwater Pearls. The result almost look like Mardi Gras earrings!
 
I would also like to take this moment to thank Rhoda, whom it has been an absolute pleasure to work with, from our beginning sketches to the final layout of this very unique, very wonderful treasure, made expressly for her Mother’s 80^th Birthday. Thank you for being so wonderful!! Psst, Rhoda… we love your pearls!!                                         

Hi Everybody! I have a fantastic Prominent Pearl Sighting for July, and it goes to Angelina Jolie! She was spotted wearing these gorgeous White South Sea Baroque Pearl Dangle Earrings for the Venice, Italy red carpet premiere of Ocean’s 13 with Brad Pitt, and as we just finished creating a similar pair I thought this would make a great post. The drop-shaped baroque pearls have an elegant simplicity that I have always admired: rare, lustrous and perfectly matched, these earrings are the essence of classic luxury. Angelina has been featured on the PurePearls.com blog before when we found an absolutely elegant image of her wearing Akoya Stud Earrings in a black and white advertisement for St. John’s; her love of fine pearl jewelry is very well-known. From the exotic Black Tahitian Strands that she favors for their dramatic flair, to the timeless and classic White South Seas and Akoya pearls that can be worn day and night, it is easy to see why these lustrous treasures are a regular feature of her wardrobe! Psst, Angelina… We love your pearls!!

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Hi Everybody! 

We are involved in creating another custom piece of jewelry for a customer of ours, and before we get too into the nitty gritty of it all I wanted to share with everyone the preliminary layouts… There are to be 15 gemstones to represent children and grandchildren in the necklace- the two center top stones are gorgeous Brazilian Emeralds, and below it is a rare Brazilian Alexandrite.

Brazilian Alexandrite is the birthstone for June (besides pearls!), and is a color-changing Chrysoberyl. In daylight, this stone has a saturated Tourmaline Green coloration, but under incandescent or candlelight, this gem shifts to a Raspberry Reddish/Purple! The next stones are White Sapphires (not diamonds), Peridot, Aquamarine, Tanzanite, Cirtrines, Ruby and Garnet. Each one of the stones will be bezel set in 14K Yellow gold and soldered together in clusters of three. Then, we will hand-string them into the 6.0-7.0mm Elite Freshwater pearls at set intervals which I think will lend the piece a slight Renaissance feel, and finish with a gold clasp. 

The finished necklace is going to be given by a family to their 80-year old mother in honor of a lifetime of love and memories. I am so proud to be a part of this special moment, and in creating a keepsake that will pass through generations of family members! I hope you all enjoy looking at this as much as I do, and remember to keep us in mind for future dream projects of yours!! Have a great week everybody!!