IMITATIONS AND How TO DETECT 199 



two spots can be seen when the pearl is held between the 

 eye and the light. One of these is the reflection of the 

 ink spot and is on the inner wall of the bead resting 

 against the wax. The reflected spot has a lighter color 

 than the original. There would not be such a reflection 

 in a genuine pearl. Hollow beads usually have one or 

 two holes in them. These are smooth in the glass beads, 

 while the holes in real pearls have a rough chalky ap- 

 pearance. Then, too, the glass beads which are filled with 

 wax nearly always appear to have rings in the glass 

 around the holes. 



The hollow glass beads are much lighter than genuine 

 pearls. 



The solid glass beads are much heavier than real pearls 

 and are not transluscent near the edge of the circumfer- 

 ence like real pearls. 



Black pearls are imitated by making balls from hema- 

 tite and polishing them. They are, however, much heavier 

 than real pearls. 



Some very poor white pearls are drilled and tempo- 

 rarily colored by boiling them in a black color which 

 penetrates through the strata of the pearls. These often 

 have a bronze appearance and one should be suspicious 

 of dark colored pearls that have been drilled. 



Some gray pearls are simulated bymakingballsof mother 

 of pearl and covering them with silver. Their weight 

 and specific gravity are the same, but there is a difference 

 in their luster. "Mock" pearls are those made from 

 mother of pearl and polished. They have no luster and 

 are otherwise easily detected. Another poor imitation is 



