Hi fellow pearl nerds, I was recently in Las Vegas again and of course had to pay a visit to Mikimoto.
We had a blast trying on all of the things! Including the $200k, 10-mm Akoya strand (unlike the similarly-sized reserve strand Yssie shared in a previous post, this was "only" an A grade, but the size of those pearls was impressive for sure!).
While there I looked at opera length strands and ended up comparing 6.5 and 7-mm AAs to my Reserve (AAA) strand, which I brought for comparison. I had a very hard time telling the difference! Granted, I realize it's not a 1:1 comparison bc of the sizing (and also assume there is a bigger selection of "nice" pearls to be found among those smaller sizes).
Thought I would share some photos. My eye for pearls is most definitely still in training, but the sharpness of the reflection for the AA/Reserve seemed to be the same. My SA said the "halo effect" under light is more pronounced in the Reserve strand and I could kind of see what she was saying but not sure that comes through in the photos. I've also always thought my Reserve strand was very pink, but next to the smaller AAs, I picked up some greenish hues. There are a couple small blemishes on my AAA strand but none that I could easily discern on the AA (again, I assume that's simply due to size difference and availability of "nicer" pearls).
We also got to sample the infamous Mikimoto chocolate and, since the Wynn does not allow them to serve outside alcohol in store, we left with a bottle of Mikimoto champagne (who knew?!). We enjoyed it before a lovely birthday dinner. It was such a fun time. Hope I can make it to the NYC store one of these days!
Photos below and captions underneath each photo!

The $200k, 8-mm Akoya strand, A rated. My sales person and I agreed that if you're just looking for big size, the South Sea pearls are a much better buy, LOL. Of course, if you want to say you own some of the world's largest Akoyas and have unlimited budget, well here you go!
The 7 mm AA next to my 8 mm Reserve.

A 7-mm A+ next to the 7-mm AA, the 8-mm Reserve, and a 6.5 AA (the blacked out part is the other half of the 7-mm AA strand and I didn't want to confuse anyone). The A+ photographs fairly well here but in person I found there to be a very dramatic difference in the sharpness of the reflection. At the bottom (which you can hardly see) is a little diamond bow you can use to accessorize the opera strand!

I had to do some layering.

An up close. It looks like a sizing optical illusion but the 8-mm is the top two rows and 7-mm the bottom two.

Not a big brooch person but absolutely fell in love with this coral and pearl piece!

Also fell in love with this Golden South Seas strand. Curious how Mikimoto compares to other vendors in their SSPs?

Chocolate was delicious!

So was the champagne!
While there I looked at opera length strands and ended up comparing 6.5 and 7-mm AAs to my Reserve (AAA) strand, which I brought for comparison. I had a very hard time telling the difference! Granted, I realize it's not a 1:1 comparison bc of the sizing (and also assume there is a bigger selection of "nice" pearls to be found among those smaller sizes).
Thought I would share some photos. My eye for pearls is most definitely still in training, but the sharpness of the reflection for the AA/Reserve seemed to be the same. My SA said the "halo effect" under light is more pronounced in the Reserve strand and I could kind of see what she was saying but not sure that comes through in the photos. I've also always thought my Reserve strand was very pink, but next to the smaller AAs, I picked up some greenish hues. There are a couple small blemishes on my AAA strand but none that I could easily discern on the AA (again, I assume that's simply due to size difference and availability of "nicer" pearls).
We also got to sample the infamous Mikimoto chocolate and, since the Wynn does not allow them to serve outside alcohol in store, we left with a bottle of Mikimoto champagne (who knew?!). We enjoyed it before a lovely birthday dinner. It was such a fun time. Hope I can make it to the NYC store one of these days!
Photos below and captions underneath each photo!

The $200k, 8-mm Akoya strand, A rated. My sales person and I agreed that if you're just looking for big size, the South Sea pearls are a much better buy, LOL. Of course, if you want to say you own some of the world's largest Akoyas and have unlimited budget, well here you go!

The 7 mm AA next to my 8 mm Reserve.

A 7-mm A+ next to the 7-mm AA, the 8-mm Reserve, and a 6.5 AA (the blacked out part is the other half of the 7-mm AA strand and I didn't want to confuse anyone). The A+ photographs fairly well here but in person I found there to be a very dramatic difference in the sharpness of the reflection. At the bottom (which you can hardly see) is a little diamond bow you can use to accessorize the opera strand!

I had to do some layering.

An up close. It looks like a sizing optical illusion but the 8-mm is the top two rows and 7-mm the bottom two.

Not a big brooch person but absolutely fell in love with this coral and pearl piece!

Also fell in love with this Golden South Seas strand. Curious how Mikimoto compares to other vendors in their SSPs?

Chocolate was delicious!

So was the champagne!