Tahitian vs Black Japanese Akoya Pearls

[NakedFinger]

Hello everyone-

This is my first post in the pearl forum! I have no idea why I haven't seen this sooner

I am a huge pearl lover, and own many stands and earring in various shapes and sizes. However, my pearl knowledge is failing me right now, as I am exploring a gift for someone.

My friend is getting married, and her dress has a black sash on it and she is wearing black shoes , and it looks so elegant. She was talking about her wedding day jewelery and wasn't sure what to wear.

She currently has black Tahitian pearl earring's that her fiance gave her, so my thought was to buy her a matching pearl necklace to go with her earrings, and that could be her wedding jewelry to match her black accessories. However, I cant spend the thousands of dollars for Tahitian pearls.

I was wondering, if I bought high quality, black Japanese Akoya Pearls, would that match? The coloring looks very similar on the website, but I am worried that once together, there will be an obvious difference.

I appreciate any and all opinions and suggestions. Thank you!

 

[Fly Girl]

Hi - I'm no pearl expert, but I have paired up Tahitians with a strand of black dyed Chinese freshwater pearls, and I think they look fine together. The shapes are a big giveaway, but I like the dark colors together.

Another thing I've done is send the vendor a photo of my pearls when I wanted matching earrings. He selected the earrings based on my picture, and I think they matched beautifully. I took my photograph with the pearls nestled in a box with white tissue paper, and the colors are fairly easy to make out.

I'd suggest ordering sooner, rather than later, in case you need to return.

Photos below.

 

[iLander]

Welcome to Pearls! We're a small group, but we are dedicated

Matching colors is going to be tricky, since pearls tend to shift their colors in different lighting. I'm not sure many people will notice, though, it's pretty subtle. I would go for the highest quality suppliers though, they are picky when it comes to their dyed product, and a lot of internet suppliers might sell dyed blacks that look like cheap beads.

Sarah is a trusted vendor, and she has the dyed Akoya that look lovely to me http://shop.kojimapearl.com/products/dyed-japan-akoya-strand Her pictures are pretty accurate, and this is an excellent price IMHO. This is a strand, but she will knot them for you free, and you can pick out a clasp that you like. It will probably end up around 16- 16.5 inches, which is a great bridal length.

She also has excellent Chinese freshwaters http://shop.kojimapearl.com/products/dyed-chinese-fresh-water-pearls if you want a bigger size pearl.

Catherine Cardellini has a lot of fans on this board (me, too!) and she has a ton of goodies. Here's just one, but I encourage you to wander around her site or email her http://www.catherinecardellinipearls.com/?subject=moreInfo&id=80

If you decide to explore actual Tahitians, try Jose http://www.tahitianpearls.biz/tahitian_pearl_necklaces.htm He doesn't update his website often, so you might want to call, explain what you want, and he'll send pics.

Please keep us updated, we'd love to see that you end up with!