Imitation pearl Imitation pearl Imitation pearls are man-made objects (often beads) that are designed to resemble real pearls. A variety of methods are used to create imitation pearls from starting materials that include glass, plastic, and actual mollusc shell. Some beads are coated with a pearlescent substance in order to imitate the natural iridescence of nacre or mother of pearl. Varieties of imitation pearls include: The pearlescent substance used to coat various cores may contain essence d'orient, isinglass, fish scales, oyster scales, mother-of-pearl powder, along with binders or dyes. Coral is sometimes used to imitate pearls from the pink conch, and hematite
Pearl are also commonly seen in necklaces. Circled pearls are characterized by concentric ridges, or rings, around the body of the pearl. In general, cultured pearls are less valuable than natural pearls, whereas imitation pearls have almost no value. One way that jewelers can determine whether a pearl is cultured or natural is to have a gemlab perform an X-ray examination of the pearl. If X-rays reveals a nucleus, the pearl is likely a bead-nucleated saltwater pearl. If no nucleus is present, but irregular and small dark inner spots indicating a cavity are visible, combined with concentric rings of organic substance,