Hi Yvonne thanks for writing in. Natural Pearls are composed entirely of nacre which is a combination of aragonite or calcite with an organic binder called conchiolin, that form without human intervention of any kind.
Considering that natural pearls are made of calcite/aragonite, it's no wonder that natural pearls are rare today, they are very easily damaged, even perfume will damage the nacre layer.
So glass pearls will, in some cases out live natural pearls, if the natural pearls are not well looked after.
Information on Majorica Pearls reveals that the best of the best imitation pearls are by the Spanish company by the same name, Majorica, founded in 1890 by a German immigrant Eduardo Hugo Heusch.
