Pls help me choose Takahashi akoya strand

[Efriede]

Dear PS family, I admire all of the pearls necklaces posted here and really want to add a beautiful akoya strand to my collection.

I have visited Mikimito to see the pearls in person and understand what I like. And was really in love with their AA and AAA quality strands in 7.00-7.50mm size.

I am looking to order the strand from Takahashi, that is so highly recommended here. And I would love that the strand could solidly compare with AA quality of those I saw in Mikimito. So far Yy was amazing in helping me by sending some of their selections.

It looks like I am coming down to 7.5-8.0mm size and two strands: both natural whites:

one is uncerted and described as high Luster and minor surface blemishes. It has crème pinkish color to my eyes.

The other is certified PSL Tenyo and has pink bluish color.

I will greatly appreciate your help in pointing me in right direction based on these photos and if I shall ask/look further

 

[icy_jade]

Do you usually wear pastel colors/pink clothes?

 

[Efriede]

Hi, icy jade - not really, and really great point! I usually wear white, grey, navy and only occasionally beige in summer

 

[MakingTheGrade]

I personally prefer a bluish tone but that’s just due to my skin tone.
Is there any chance you could try some strands on at miki to see if you prefer a pink or blue tone?

None of pearls are certified other than my supearl so I would make the decision mostly on color and luster.

 

[icy_jade]

Hi, icy jade - not really, and really great point! I usually wear white, grey, navy and only occasionally beige in summer

Ok then assuming you don’t wear much pastels or pink as they are not so flattering shades on you vs pure color preferences, I’ll suggest the less pink/more white strand as it may pop better against your skin.

 

[NY_Resonant]

Personally I would go with the cooler Tennyo strand between those two.

I love NW strands and I’m sure they will be beautiful from Takahashi. NW really pops on the skin for Caucasian/Asian skin tones. With that said, NW inherently takes a small hit on luster on the table due to it’s lighter color body.

You said you wanted “AA mikimoto quality“ so here are a few pics of a NW Tennyo certified strand from Takahashi next to AAA and AA mikimoto strands. This NW strand was called Gem quality by Mr. Seki at Takahashi (He did NOT call other Tennyo he showed me Gem, so that is a higher bar for him if you want to ask if your strand is Gem in his mind).

Left strand is my NW, then AAA, then AA, then AA:





AA, NW, AAA:

 

[lovedogs]

Of the pics showing 2 strands, I prefer the inner one. Not sure which one that is, or if it's a preference driven by lighting, but that was my initial thought

 

[Efriede]

Thank you so much for all the helpful responses! I was able to see only pink and Green strands while at mikimito, but not blue. And all grades from A, A+ to AA and AAA.

Pink was really beautiful on, but I wonder how the cooler pink blue will look like on.

So for me it’s two things:

Color: Warmer cremier pink or cooler bluish pink

Luster: I see that tenyo blue strand has more Luster than uncerted - but the difference is slight, at least from the pictures to my untrained eyes..

Regarding Tenyo - it’s the only strand available in this certification and I will ask if could be considered as gem quality.

Thank you so much, Resonant NY,
For sharing your experience and photos - I have been studying your post and journey over the past week before contacting Takahashi

Considering there is only one Tenyo strand available at the moment, would you advise to wait for other options.
Or the inventory might be a continuous challenge in my targeted size 7.5-8.0mm and I shall go for the blue strand now?

Appreciate all the input from our lovely PS community!

 

[NY_Resonant]

Thank you so much for all the helpful responses! I was able to see only pink and Green strands while at mikimito, but not blue. And all grades from A, A+ to AA and AAA.

Pink was really beautiful on, but I wonder how the cooler pink blue will look like on.

So for me it’s two things:

Color: Warmer cremier pink or cooler bluish pink

Luster: I see that tenyo blue strand has more Luster than uncerted - but the difference is slight, at least from the pictures to my untrained eyes..

Regarding Tenyo - it’s the only strand available in this certification and I will ask if could be considered as gem quality.

Thank you so much, Resonant NY,
For sharing your experience and photos - I have been studying your post and journey over the past week before contacting Takahashi

Considering there is only one Tenyo strand available at the moment, would you advise to wait for other options.
Or the inventory might be a continuous challenge in my targeted size 7.5-8.0mm and I shall go for the blue strand now?

Appreciate all the input from our lovely PS community!

NW inventory is usually low, they are rarer than pinked pearls to source. You may need to wait months for a Gem NW to appear if this one isn’t at that grade. I know they have a 8.5-9mm gem NW in inventory right now but it’s larger than you want (and price is not low).

I would bet that all the pearls you saw at Mikimoto were pinked and not NW. So if you loved them in the store, I think you should at least consider comparing their best gem non-NW strands at Takahashi with your favorite NW (In same pic).

This is if you want to pursue “best you can get“ at Takahashi. These are all incremental improvements and at some point the improvement-per-dollar spent can get pretty small. It depends what is mind clean for you.

If you want “Best beauty for value”, the Gem Luster with minor flaw is hard to beat. You will notice the surface flaws, some sharkskin, etc when it is in your hand looking at necklace closely but nobody will see it when on your neck.

 

[Efriede]

NW inventory is usually low, they are rarer than pinked pearls to source. You may need to wait months for a Gem NW to appear if this one isn’t at that grade. I know they have a 8.5-9mm gem NW in inventory right now but it’s larger than you want (and price is not low).

I would bet that all the pearls you saw at Mikimoto were pinked and not NW. So if you loved them in the store, I think you should at least consider comparing their best gem non-NW strands at Takahashi with your favorite NW (In same pic).

This is if you want to pursue “best you can get“ at Takahashi. These are all incremental improvements and at some point the improvement-per-dollar spent can get pretty small. It depends what is mind clean for you.

If you want “Best beauty for value”, the Gem Luster with minor flaw is hard to beat. You will notice the surface flaws, some sharkskin, etc when it is in your hand looking at necklace closely but nobody will see it when on your neck.

Oh Yy was wonderful and helped me with pictures of top Luster pinked strands against NW ones / both certified and uncerted.

I feel that Pinkes one would be too pink for me and think I will hunt natural white one. Just need to decide if to go with certed bluish tenyo or uncerted pinkish.
Oh.. love them both, decisions … decisions

The outer strand is Pinked with top Luster
The upper two are uncerted NW with pink hue

I am considering the middle one

 

[Efriede]

And here are top Luster pinked (two lowest) are with pinkish Hanadama NW (top) and bluish tenyo NW (top 2)

 

[lovedogs]

Of the 4, I don't like the pinked ones as much.

 

[NY_Resonant]

Of the 4, I don't like the pinked ones as much.

Those pinked come across as quite dark in that pic, don’t they? They have better luster but I can see why Efriede thought they were too pink.

 

[NY_Resonant]

Oh Yy was wonderful and helped me with pictures of top Luster pinked strands against NW ones / both certified and uncerted.

I feel that Pinkes one would be too pink for me and think I will hunt natural white one. Just need to decide if to go with certed bluish tenyo or uncerted pinkish.
Oh.. love them both, decisions … decisions

The outer strand is Pinked with top Luster
The upper two are uncerted NW with pink hue

I am considering the middle one

One thing you need to be aware of with NW is that they can sometimes show a strong green. Personally I’m not a fan of green Akoya.

I said before that I liked the cooler NW (Tennyo) personally but this green would definitely bother me to the point I’d probably remove that Pearl from my strand (Hopefully only green one).

 

[Efriede]

One thing you need to be aware of with NW is that they can sometimes show a strong green. Personally I’m not a fan of green Akoya.

I said before that I liked the cooler NW (Tennyo) personally but this green would definitely bother me to the point I’d probably remove that Pearl from my strand (Hopefully only green one).

So you think that in tenyo at least some of the pearls have greenish hue? I was not sure what it was - but now you pointed it - I cannot unsee it.

And me too, was not liking Greenish pearls at Mikimoto, even in AA grade

 

[Efriede]

Do you see any green in the middle one?

 

[NY_Resonant]

Do you see any green in the middle one?

I do not see any green that would bother me in the middle strand pearls shown in this picture. They have a lovely teal overtone (Look at window/lit area of pearls) which is a mixture of pink and green overtones… But nothing that has green dominating the Pearl IMO.

 

[NY_Resonant]

So you think that in tenyo at least some of the pearls have greenish hue? I was not sure what it was - but now you pointed it - I cannot unsee it.

And me too, was not liking Greenish pearls at Mikimoto, even in AA grade

I only see one Pearl in NW tennyo strand that has enough green to bother me personally… But not whole strand is being shown In the pictures posTed.

@yssie has better eyes than I do, ESPECIALLY for colors and matching…Hopefully she can give her opinion on that front.

I’m sensitive to green though and this level may not bother many people. The amount of green showing decreases when zooming back out.

 

[NY_Resonant]

l ka

And here are top Luster pinked (two lowest) are with pinkish Hanadama NW (top) and bluish tenyo NW (top 2)

Honestly, I would ask if they can either take different pictures or have a lighter pinked top luster strand. This difference in the photo seems very extreme to me.

Here are what i’d expect to see as a difference between a NW and a takahashi pinked strand (My own, NW strand cost 60% more):

 

[yssie]

Oh Yy was wonderful and helped me with pictures of top Luster pinked strands against NW ones / both certified and uncerted.

I feel that Pinkes one would be too pink for me and think I will hunt natural white one. Just need to decide if to go with certed bluish tenyo or uncerted pinkish.
Oh.. love them both, decisions … decisions

The outer strand is Pinked with top Luster
The upper two are uncerted NW with pink hue

I am considering the middle one

The outer strand wins on luster. Second choice is the innermost strand - again, slight edge on luster.

The pink in white akoya is very subtle IRL. Much more than it might appear to be in photos. When you loko at any of these strands - you're just going to see white pearls, unless you're extremely colour-sensitive.

 

[Efriede]

Thank you Yssie, NY_Resonant, lovedogs, Making the Grade and icy_jade!

Your comments were very valuable - and I have decided to go with 7.5-8.0mm uncerted Natural White strand (the middle one in the picture), so excited! My first Akoya pearls!

 

[empliau]

Congratulations! My Takahashi earrings are a constant joy to me. I'm sure your strand will be stunningly beautiful!

 

[NY_Resonant]

Enjoy them and I hope you share some pictures of it on your neck when you get them!

 

[MakingTheGrade]

Thank you Yssie, NY_Resonant, lovedogs, Making the Grade and icy_jade!

Your comments were very valuable - and I have decided to go with 7.5-8.0mm uncerted Natural White strand (the middle one in the picture), so excited! My first Akoya pearls!

Yay! I’m so excited for you!! Are you going to string them yourself or ask them to do it?

 

[Efriede]

Yay! I’m so excited for you!! Are you going to string them yourself or ask them to do it?

I am absolute newbie to pearls, so asked Takahashi team to string the necklace for me, decided to go with 16 inches and have spare pearls just in case.

Yy just sent the pictures of finished strand: can’t wait to have it on next week!

 

[Efriede]

And here were my inspirations from MIKIMOTO visit: 7.00-7.50 size in AA quality and in 16 and 18 inches,
Absolutely LOVE the stacked look!

 

[MakingTheGrade]

I love the stacked look in that size too! Hence my double stranded baroque akoya project. I always feel so lux!

Can't wait to see photos of this strand when it arrives! So excited for you!

 

[Efriede]

The necklace finally arrived and is lovely. The 7.5-8.0mm size feels quite larger towards my mikimito trying benchmark of 7.00-7.50

The necklace is lustrous and white white white, which I love

 

[Efriede]

I feel it looks very dressy while on its own and still need to figure out what earrings to wear. Here it’s with my ACAs.

Would love to ponder some cool pearl earrings design..

 

[Efriede]

Love seeing recent pearl/Metall stacking Trend and tried with different options :

1. Cool metal/ cool clothing