Newbie here) help with akoya necklace please

[sweetbeans]

Hello lovely people!
I am trying to find an akoya necklace for my mom as a gift. A total newbie when it comes to pearls and learned a lot from here. Could you all chime in on these two necklaces? Am I right to say that the one on the left has better luster? It has better contrast and shows my reflection better (more mirror like). The one on the right is creamier and milkier (if that makes sense) and is less pink because I requested silver overtone. Both 8.5-9.0mm but Costco one seems smaller.

The one on the left is (surprisingly) from Costco (they don’t specify any grades) and on the right is PP albeit an AAA quality.

I am now curious to see what Takahashi hanadama will look like. I inquired about their price but I am a bit nervous about ordering sight unseen and I might need to go down in size to fit my budget. Would it be worth the risk and worth the smaller size?

Or should I try my luck with Pearl Paradise hanadama necklace?

 

[pearlsngems]

The one on the left from Costco seems to have slightly sharper luster but is visibly smaller and is rosier (but the rose tone is not so noticeable on skin).
The one on the right / from PP has the silver color you preferred and the larger size, but slightly lower luster when viewed side by side.
So neither necklaces seems to have all the qualities you wanted. But they are both nice!

So now you have these criteria you need to weigh the relative value of, and only you can say what matters more to you:

• size -- what size do you think your mother would prefer?
• luster-- remember, she won't be seeing them side by side, and both are lustrous.
• timing (assuming this is for Mother's Day)-- if getting different pearls, can you get them in time?
• price (Takahashi might cost less than PP Hanadama from what some have posted.)
• risk that you won't love it yet not being able to return (Takahashi) vs. returns accepted (PP). From what people have posted here most folks are really happy with their Takahashi purchases.

I just want to add that your Mom is very lucky to be getting a lovely akoya necklace from you!

 

[NY_Resonant]

Funny how the Costco strand looks smaller except in the last picture, there it looks equal sized to me.

Costco one definitely has nicer contrast by a non-trivial margin. Between those two, personally, I’d go with Costco.

I own Takahashi necklaces and I am very happy with their quality but it does involve trust ordering from a foreign country with no return policy. I don’t have PP Hanadama and so cannot opine but I was told by a couple experienced PSer’s that PP does *not* have the same quality available in Akoya as Takahashi… for whatever that is worth to you.

If you do decide to speak with Takahashi, make sure you ask them to show you uncerted gem luster with minor flaws (I own one), Ten-Nyo certified necklaces and a hanadama certified necklace in same picture. I don’t know prices NOW but a month ago, the 8.5-9mm gem luster with flaws was around $3300-3500 and the Ten-Nyo was around $4500 if I remember correctly. No idea on Hanadama prices.

 

[pearlsngems]

Although both necklaces are 8.5-9.0mm, it looks to me like more of the pearls are closer to 8.5mm than to 9.0mm in the Costco necklace than in the PP necklace, as you go away from the center pearl.

 

[sweetbeans]

The one on the left from Costco seems to have slightly sharper luster but is visibly smaller and is rosier (but the rose tone is not so noticeable on skin).
The one on the right / from PP has the silver color you preferred and the larger size, but slightly lower luster when viewed side by side.
So neither necklaces seems to have all the qualities you wanted. But they are both nice!

So now you have these criteria you need to weigh the relative value of, and only you can say what matters more to you:

• size -- what size do you think your mother would prefer?
• luster-- remember, she won't be seeing them side by side, and both are lustrous.
• timing (assuming this is for Mother's Day)-- if getting different pearls, can you get them in time?
• price (Takahashi might cost less than PP Hanadama from what some have posted.)
• risk that you won't love it yet not being able to return (Takahashi) vs. returns accepted (PP). From what people have posted here most folks are really happy with their Takahashi purchases.

I just want to add that your Mom is very lucky to be getting a lovely akoya necklace from you!

Thanks for your thorough input! I do really want to try Takahashi but maybe I would have felt more comfortable to pull the trigger if this was a smaller purchase like a pair of studs.

 

[sweetbeans]

Funny how the Costco strand looks smaller except in the last picture, there it looks equal sized to me.

Costco one definitely has nicer contrast by a non-trivial margin. Between those two, personally, I’d go with Costco.

I own Takahashi necklaces and I am very happy with their quality but it does involve trust ordering from a foreign country with no return policy. I don’t have PP Hanadama and so cannot opine but I was told by a couple experienced PSer’s that PP does *not* have the same quality available in Akoya as Takahashi… for whatever that is worth to you.

If you do decide to speak with Takahashi, make sure you ask them to show you uncerted gem luster with minor flaws (I own one), Ten-Nyo certified necklaces and a hanadama certified necklace in same picture. I don’t know prices NOW but a month ago, the 8.5-9mm gem luster with flaws was around $3300-3500 and the Ten-Nyo was around $4500 if I remember correctly. No idea on Hanadama prices.

Are you happy with your necklace? What exactly does “gem luster” quality mean vs hanadama and ten-nyo?

 

[NY_Resonant]

Are you happy with your necklace? What exactly does “gem luster” quality mean vs hanadama and ten-nyo?

Keep in mind, I made a personal visit to Takahashi in Kobe, Japan for my purchases. So I get the hesitation/fear of buying online with no refund policy.

I believe the “gem luster with minor flaw” is a very high quality product for the price — ie: a great bang for the buck. I saw a few and they were all better contrast-luster than the Hanadama certified strands I saw.

The specific gem luster strand I bought was equal-to-slightly-better contrast-luster to the 3-4 Ten-Nyo strands I looked at…but that may not always be the case so need to compare in same picture.

Note that both the Ten-Nyo and Hanadama strands *will* have cleaner surfaces compared to the gem luster with minor flaws category. Ie: better gloss and sharper shapes in reflections from the smoother surfaces. That was a worthwhile trade in my mind since my focus was to maximize contrast-luster.

This is the gem luster with minor flaws strand:








zoomed photo so you can see some of the flaws:




5 strand comparison:
innermost is a 15k Gran Pearl, then a 6k natural white tennyo (2nd most lustrous strand I saw on my visit out of 10+, I also bought this), then next two are gem luster with minor flaw, outermost is another Ten-Nyo (worst contrast-luster of the 5 by a small bit in real life but still very beautiful):

 

[Tartansparkles]

If you do decide to speak with Takahashi, make sure you ask them to show you uncerted gem luster with minor flaws (I own one), Ten-Nyo certified necklaces and a hanadama certified necklace in same picture.

When figuring out pricing, is it the case that a bracelet which is say, 50% the length of a necklace, would be 50% of the cost or does the splitting of a strand come at a premium or maybe they don't even split the strands (so for a bracelet a whole strand must be purchased which the new owner then splits?)

 

[NY_Resonant]

When figuring out pricing, is it the case that a bracelet which is say, 50% the length of a necklace, would be 50% of the cost or does the splitting of a strand come at a premium or maybe they don't even split the strands (so for a bracelet a whole strand must be purchased which the new owner then splits?)

I asked and was told they do NOT split their 16 inch strands. So you can buy a strand and make 2 bracelets or you can have them do a custom job bracelet like Yssie did (I expect costs more than half a strand and they won’t give pricing upfront since they don’t know the cost of pearls that will go into bracelet over weeks/months )…

 

[sweetbeans]

Keep in mind, I made a personal visit to Takahashi in Kobe, Japan for my purchases. So I get the hesitation/fear of buying online with no refund policy.

I believe the “gem luster with minor flaw” is a very high quality product for the price — ie: a great bang for the buck. I saw a few and they were all better contrast-luster than the Hanadama certified strands I saw.

The specific gem luster strand I bought was equal-to-slightly-better contrast-luster to the 3-4 Ten-Nyo strands I looked at…but that may not always be the case so need to compare in same picture.

Note that both the Ten-Nyo and Hanadama strands *will* have cleaner surfaces compared to the gem luster with minor flaws category. Ie: better gloss and sharper shapes in reflections from the smoother surfaces. That was a worthwhile trade in my mind since my focus was to maximize contrast-luster.

This is the gem luster with minor flaws strand:








zoomed photo so you can see some of the flaws:




5 strand comparison:
innermost is a 15k Gran Pearl, then a 6k natural white tennyo (2nd most lustrous strand I saw on my visit out of 10+, I also bought this), then next two are gem luster with minor flaw, outermost is another Ten-Nyo (worst contrast-luster of the 5 by a small bit in real life but still very beautiful):

Wow thanks for the photos and the detailed explanation. These strands look delicious! I'm jealous that you were able to visit Kobe and see these in person to pick out from. I'd love a chance like that.

 

[yssie]

I will never tire of this photo. A thousand words, indeed...

 

[lovedogs]

The costco one is significantly better. My guess is that Takahashi could do better, but I don't know what you paid so it's hard to say for sure

 

[sweetbeans]

I will never tire of this photo. A thousand words, indeed...

@yssie I learned a lot from your posts! As a first time (pearl) buyer, I feel nervous to place an international unreturnable order with Takahashi. Would you say it is still worth it to pull the trigger?

 

[sweetbeans]

The costco one is significantly better. My guess is that Takahashi could do better, but I don't know what you paid so it's hard to say for sure

The costco one is about $400 cheaper at slightly below 2k

 

[yssie]

Thanks for your thorough input! I do really want to try Takahashi but maybe I would have felt more comfortable to pull the trigger if this was a smaller purchase like a pair of studs.

Of these two strands the Costco is higher quality.

But now that you’ve seen a couple of examples in-person, I would probably try a pair of studs from
Takahashi as well… You could get studs of whatever quality you’re aiming for in a necklace and see how you feel. Takahashi has a cheaper shipping option (non-FedEx) that’s still quite fast in my and others’ experiences, if you’re comfortable with taking liability for the package.

I personally buy all my akoya from Takahashi now. But they know me and they know what I’m looking for, and my first purchase with them was a small tester pair - I totally understand being a bit leery of international nonrefundable purchasing.