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Another Mikimoto AA vs AAA comparison

Civnhasy

Rough_Rock
Joined
Mar 16, 2024
Messages
49
Hi fellow pearl nerds, I was recently in Las Vegas again and of course had to pay a visit to Mikimoto. 8-) 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!

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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!

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The 7 mm AA next to my 8 mm Reserve.

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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!

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I had to do some layering. :-)

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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.

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

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

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Chocolate was delicious!

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So was the champagne!
 
That looks like a fabulous time!

And can I just say, your Reserve strand beats both AAs in your pics! Yours has both more contrast and stronger iridescence - I see specific pearls in the 7mm AAA that hold their own against yours but the quality of the strand as a whole, yours wins. No question!

But the disparity between the 7mm AA and the A+ is much more noticeable than between the 7mm AA and yours, in that one pic. Do you feel your photos show what you saw IRL?

For SS - Paspaley for white, Jewelmer for gold. Japan isn’t the right climate for the SS oyster and Mikimoto is sourcing their SS; you might as well buy closer to those source(s).
 
Wow thanks for the pics! The difference between the A+ and AA is SHOCKINGLY obvious to me. I had to look more closely to see differences between AA and AAA (but certainly yours wins out when scrutinizing closely).
 
Always appreciate your eye, @yssie ! In looking more closely I think I see what you're saying about iridescence - that might be the "green" I was seeing (and the contrast might be the "halo effect" my SA mentioned?). I'm still so delighted with my reserve strand and wear it all the time! It was really fun to sit down and compare it to the other pieces.

For the A+ strand, yes, @lovedogs @yssie the difference was really obvious and to be honest I think it looks better in the photo than in person! My friend who came with me knows nothing about pearls and immediately spotted the difference. That particular strand is an opera length that includes a pretty bow clip (I am constantly served a Vogue ad where the model is wearing it so it was fun to see in person). So there might be prettier A+ strands in that range. Pretty in its own right but doesn't compare to the others!

I will check out those SS recs! I've been following your Paspaley thread, yssie. :-)
 
Beautiful! So fun!

To my eyes, your reserve strand has significantly more overtone strength. Ie: if you look at the light reflections, zoomed in, you can see much more vibrant colors. This, IMO, brings the strand alive. Truly lovely.

That 7mm AA strand is very nice also, at least when considering luster only — much pinker than your reserve though. I like it a lot more than the 6.5mm AA personally. A top-of-range AA strand maybe?

If a larger Pearl has the same luster as a smaller Pearl, it is by default of a higher quality… so it is hard to compare luster in different grades if not same size pearls.

That A+ is a very significant step down. There is a reason @yssie has always recommended people not going for A+ mikimoto and I 100% agree…
 
I can absolutely see what you mean about the colors! Not sure I could have articulated that without you all pointing it out because I've been so focused on the sharpness of the reflection -- greatly appreciate your eyes! And yes, very very pink which is funny bc I would have said that about my Reserve strand as well until I put them side by side! :razz:

I agree with you that the 7 mm AA is nicer than the 6.5 (I also just felt the 6.5 was too small for my taste, even though it did not seem that way when she first showed it to me on video--although she warned me! lol). The variation among same grade really does drive home how good it is to view and compare in person if/when that's feasible. Pearl shopping is fun!
 
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