1638. Appreciation of the First Black Pearl
Qin Shiou put a total of 108 black pearls in the backpack box, all of which were plump, smooth and round. He handed the pearl box to Liv, and planned to leave with Vincent to taste his delicious coffee.
Vincent introduced: "Let me take you to the Jewelry Hall of Fame first. Now we have a lot of time. Our experts need to appraise and grade your black pearls. It will take a little time."
Qin Shiou asked: "If so, can I follow along? I don't know how to grade black pearls yet."
He didn't know the specific standards. Before, they were only graded according to size, roundness and brightness. Now that he has the opportunity to learn, he thinks it is good to learn a little bit, because he has to learn as long as he lives and eats.
After hearing his request, Vincent shrugged and said, "Of course, why not?"
In this way, the two of them went out of the court and entered a large room marked with the sign of 'no entry without permission'. Some people were already waiting inside, and a X-ray fluoroscopy machine similar to that of a hospital was placed in the center. The machine, but it is bigger, with many optical lenses on it.
In addition, similar to the laboratory, there are various reagents and glass tubes, triangular cups, and beakers on the table in the room. Qin Shiou only recognized one silver reagent as silver nitrate, and was not familiar with the others.
Liv carefully placed the black pearls on the table, and immediately a girl wearing gloves came up and carefully placed each black pearl on a transparent glass stand with many grooves.
It's not easy to do it, Qin Shiou watched and felt that it might not be possible to ask him to do this job. This glass bracket is particularly transparent. If it wasn't for the black pearls that were reflected in the glass after the black pearls were placed, he would definitely not be able to see any grooves.
Vincent introduced to Qin Shiou: "This is a panoramic light stand, which is used to distinguish whether the black pearls placed on it are natural black pearls, cultured pearls or imitation pearls. Now there are mainly three kinds of black pearls in the world."
Qin Shiou nodded to show that he understood that natural black pearls are wild black pearls, which are produced by wild black butterfly shells, most of which are produced in the waters of atoll coral reefs in Tahiti and French Polynesia.
The most common black pearls on the market today are brown to black seedless cultured pearls. China, Japan, and Australia are all developing this culture technology, and the value of this kind of black pearl is lower than that of natural black pearl. However, because of the increasing variety of cultured seedless pearls, the value is not bad.
The cheapest are imitation pearls made from black shells. It has two production methods, the first one is made of a layer of black-de-film on the surface of the ball core, and the second one is made of black shells that are made into beads and have a pearly luster after polishing. become.
Vincent said: "Look,
The first step of discernment begins. "
As soon as he finished speaking, the lights in the closed room suddenly went out. Then the glass bracket itself emitted a soft white light.
The light emitted by the glass frame surrounds the black pearl in all directions, no wonder it is called the "panoramic lighting frame". At this time, the black pearl itself exudes other colors besides black, which is a rich bright purple. The white light is on the outermost layer, and the inside is a black halo wrapped in bright purple. The glass frame is now completely invisible, as if There are more than one hundred perfectly round black pearls exuding black, purple and white light floating in the air, and the visual impact is super powerful.
Vincent pointed to these black pearls and said: "The main thing now is to identify whether these black pearls are imitations. Treated, so the pearlescent comes from the outermost layer of the pearl. You look at the abnormal reflection of the color on the top side of the pearl, because of the astigmatism, the top of the imitation pearls also has a purple color but is very loose, and they have a greenish or pink tint on the side Tune and such."
The glass shelf was slowly turning and tumbling, allowing the black pearl to be fully displayed in front of everyone. After turning for about five minutes, numbers suddenly appeared under the black pearls, which were marking the black pearls.
After the numbers appeared, the lights came back on, and the light of the glass shelf dimmed. Restored to the previous appearance.
A middle-aged man wearing precise glasses like repairing clocks nodded to Vincent, signed a piece of paper and said, "No problem, Mr. President, there are no imitation pearls in it."
Vincent also nodded. Signaling them to continue the appraisal, he said to Qin Shiou: "Actually, this process is just for insurance. High-quality natural black pearls and imitation pearls can be distinguished with the naked eye. No matter what technology is used, imitation pearls will not have natural pearls." The smoothness that has been sculpted over time. To the touch, natural pearls also have a slight viscosity, as if it wants to be combined with you."
Qin Shiou felt this. When he harvested black pearls for the first time, he felt that they were a bit sticky in his hands. He rubbed them with deerskin for several times and it was still the same. At that time, he thought it was because of sweaty palms.
The possibility of imitation pearls has been eliminated, and the next step is the most difficult point, which is to distinguish whether the pearls are wild or cultured.
The wild black pearls and cultured black pearls here are not talking about whether the pearls are artificially cultivated. Qin Shiou can also be regarded as black pearls produced by artificially cultivating black butterfly shells, but this is called wild black pearls, and cultured black pearls refer to It is to carry out some treatment after the pearl is produced to make its color and luster better and its texture better.
Such black pearls are also real pearls, which are different from imitation pearls, but because their color and light are artificially processed after all, not natural growth, so the color will change and the light will fade after a long time. The value is lower.
Nowadays, imitation pearls are rare like natural black pearls. The latter is less produced, while the former is easy to distinguish. There may be many idiots in the world, but there are relatively few idiots who may reach the consumption level of high-end jewelry.
"Cultivated pearls are the most common in our industry now, and they are actually fakes!" Vincent said, "This kind of pearls can also be introduced on the certificate as real pearls, and they are indeed cultivated with seawater and shellfish. They will come out, but they will cover up the fact that these beads have been processed and dyed, just like some small shops selling jadeite will not tell customers whether the jadeite is optimized b or c, and the customers will be fooled in the end.”
Qin Shiou nodded. Cultured black pearls are legal in the United States and Canada because of ornamental and demand reasons. However, in territories where natural black pearls are produced, such as Tahiti and French Polynesia, such black pearl production methods are illegal. (To be continued.)
...