More confusing than diamonds

[Chanel134]

Ok I have a mikimoto necklace at home. I was getting an opera length necklace Akoya but it’s so confusing as each website claims different things. One says that hanadama is a farce as their aaa is better than hanadama.
They don’t show you Gia certificates. Another has hanadama for less than the other,s aaa. All very confusing.
How do other websitescompare to mikimoto?
more Important— is which one to buy from with best Quality.
thanks.

 

[yssie]

Definitely more opaque than diamonds. Hopefully the pearls industry will (soon) come ‘round to the idea that standardization is in fact a good thing.

My experience has been that you get what you pay for.

Akoya comparisons: Hanadama, Ten-nyo, and uncerted Gem quality

Starting a new thread so it’s searchable in future. In all photos: Strand #1 is my Hanadama, 8.5-9mm, keeping vendor unstated as PSL report renders this detail irrelevant Strand #2 is my Ten-nyo, 8.5-9mm, keeping vendor unstated as PSL report renders this detail irrelevant Strand #3 is my...

www.pricescope.com

 

[katbran]

It's very confusing. You need to look at a lot of pearls ... the more you look at and compare the better your eye can pick the winners.
You cannot trust anyones grading system really. You get big companies the toss the term "gem quality' around when in fact they are just really really good pearls... but not really 'gem' . Rounds that aren't really round, great lustre but not excellent etc. I spent 6 weeks trying to find Gem Quality 8mm Akoya for a client. That is ONE pair . It's highly unlikely that anyone has hundreds of GEM quality pairs in all sizes.... but they probably have very good ones.

Yssie is absolutely correct - you get what you pay for.. there are NO bargain super high end pearls but there are expensive pearls with sellers who charge a lower mark up.