surface
treatment they are more shiny and under the loup one will discover the
small blow-holes peculiar to surfaces which have been molten.
The
rims of the holes have a smooth, rounded, congealed appearance, whereas
holes in pearls have a rough, square, chalky edge. On looking
diagonally into the hole of a glass bead, the glass will appear as a
dark ring against the wax filling, and where there are two holes, one
will almost invariably have a ring in the glass, a short distance from
and around it. The surface over the ring is smooth, though it looks as
if it were ridged; the ring is in the glass, not on it.
These
hollow-blown glass pearls are lighter than the real pearls also. There
is one never failing test however which discovers even the best of
these most dangerous imitations. Drop a small spot of ink from the
point of a pen upon one, and hold it between the eye and the light,
when two spots will appear, the one nearest to the eye being a
reflection from the inner wall of the glass resting against the wax, of
the actual ink spot on the surface. The duplicate spot will be lighter
in color than the original.
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