Identifying Natural Pearls from Cultured Pearls by: Anonymous
Hi Elna thank you for writing in. To answer your question, yes, pearls come in an astonishing array of colors and can be a warm off- white color. Pearls harvested around the waters of Australia, for instance, are known for their whiteness.
Chances are your strand of pearls are cultured pearls. If on the other hand they are natural pearls, NOT bead nucleated cultured pearls they will be very valuable. How to Identify Natural Pearls is covered here.
Cultured pearls are also valuable. Mikimoto pearls which are cultured pearls are considered by many to be premier cultured pearls.
One of the easiest ways to determine the quality of a strand of pearls, but by no means definitive, is if the pearls are individually knotted - there is a small knot that you will see between each pearl. Then examine the drill hole. There are lots of tell tale clues around the drill hole of a pearl. This is covered in how to identify cultured pearls.
If you think they are NATURAL pearls your nearest GIA office will be able to x-ray and appraise the pearls.
