Please Help me Choose

[wanamaker]

Hi All,

I was inspired by this forum to make my first Akoya pearl purchase. Could you guys take a look at the three 9mm pairs offered? My eyes are not trained enough to see any difference between them. Thanks in advance for your help.

 

[NY_Resonant]

It’s hard to judge from one picture alone.

I would ask them the following: Add in their best recommended 8.5-9mm pair, measure all 4 of them for you (I think middle pair might be smaller than other two in your pic and has worst color match as an initial reaction but not sure), and ask for more pictures from different angles.

You should be aware that there is likely a quality drop when you go from 8.5-9mm to 9-9.5mm. Usually true and especially true these days with so many Akoya having died. Having that smaller pair for comparison will help you judge if the larger size is worth the luster-drop or not.

 

[yssie]

Hi All,

I was inspired by this forum to make my first Akoya pearl purchase. Could you guys take a look at the three 9mm pairs offered? My eyes are not trained enough to see any difference between them. Thanks in advance for your help.

Bottom pair. Most contrasty and good colour match.

Edit: agree with NY, if you’re okay dropping a size your odds of finding a pair with fantastic luster improve. We can’t know from this photo alone how these 9-9.5 would measure up. Worth asking to see some 8.5-9 options if you’d be comfy with that size

 

[NY_Resonant]

Bottom pair. Most contrasty and good colour match.

Yea, I just kept seeing the left Pearl in top pair as the best one out of the 6. Too bad the right top-pair Pearl looks like the worst out of the 6.

 

[yssie]

Yea, I just kept seeing the left Pearl in top pair as the best one out of the 6. Too bad the right top-pair Pearl looks like the worst out of the 6.

The angle the light is hitting the pairs can make the one that’s slightly more in shadow (the left pearl of each pair) look a toooouuch more contrasty. Additional confounding factor

Examples in this thread - I switched order for every pic for that reason -

So how much damage does stacking pearls with other bracelets really cause?

Thought this might be interesting to folks here. So the very first gem akoya I bought were from Andrew Moline - an 8-8.5 strand. Bought in April 2020. I don't wear necklaces, so I had this strand split into two bracelets - one bracelet with all the smallest pearls and one bracelet with all the...

www.pricescope.com

 

[yssie]

Yea, I just kept seeing the left Pearl in top pair as the best one out of the 6. Too bad the right top-pair Pearl looks like the worst out of the 6.

Agree contrast diff is most in the top pair! ^

 

[wanamaker]

It’s hard to judge from one picture alone.

I would ask them the following: Add in their best recommended 8.5-9mm pair, measure all 4 of them for you (I think middle pair might be smaller than other two in your pic and has worst color match as an initial reaction but not sure), and ask for more pictures from different angles.

You should be aware that there is likely a quality drop when you go from 8.5-9mm to 9-9.5mm. Usually true and especially true these days with so many Akoya having died. Having that smaller pair for comparison will help you judge if the larger size is worth the luster-drop or not.

Thanks so much for your help. I have asked for a 8.5-9mm and also photos from different angles.

 

[wanamaker]

Bottom pair. Most contrasty and good colour match.

Edit: agree with NY, if you’re okay dropping a size your odds of finding a pair with fantastic luster improve. We can’t know from this photo alone how these 9-9.5 would measure up. Worth asking to see some 8.5-9 options if you’d be comfy with that size

Hi yssie,

Thanks a lot for your help! I've asked for 8.5-9 and more photos!

 

[NY_Resonant]

Agree contrast diff is most in the top pair! ^

I’m learning to not only compare the levels of “dark” and the definition of “lines” in the reflections… but to try and gauge the level of definition of the hands/fingers holding the camera. In some of the reflections, you can make out the blurry beige fingers against the darker camera contrast.

I remember reading a thread where Andrew Moline said he likes to hold up fingers and see if he can count them in the reflection for his gem quality . So I always try to see if I can detect fingers in the pictures now.

 

[yssie]

I’m learning to not only compare the levels of “dark” and the definition of “lines” in the reflections… but to try and gauge the level of definition of the hands/fingers holding the camera. In some of the reflections, you can make out the blurry beige fingers against the darker camera contrast.

I remember reading a thread where Andrew Moline said he likes to hold up fingers and see if he can count them in the reflection for his gem quality . So I always try to see if I can detect fingers in the pictures now.

Totally! More definition is better!

 

[wanamaker]

I got new pictures of 8.5-9 and with the 9-9.5 from before! Could you take another look? @yssie @NY_Resonant Thanks so much!!

 

[NY_Resonant]

Out of the 8.5-9mm options, personally I would pick the middle pair. In my mind, it is a very good color match and has better luster compared to the other two 8.5-9mm pairs. The top 8.5-9mm pair seemed to have a blemish/dip on the right pearl in one picture as well? I assume that is where they would drill.

Out of the 9-9.5mm options, personally I would eliminate the middle one as an option due to it having the worst color mismatch.

Considerations on the remaining 3 (To my eyes, @yssie may disagree and i'd go with her eyes over mine!!!):

8.5-9mm pair has the best luster (Expected given smaller size but the difference isn't huge) and best color match amongst all 3 and is lower price but is also smaller. This is why I would have asked for the exact pearl measurements because the size difference could be 8.51 to 9.49 or 8.99 to 9.01 --- We just don't know and when the price jumps up 3x i'd like to know what size jump i'm getting. This pair is also the whitest out of the 3, so if you want a more pink pearl that is a negative.

The top 9-9.5mm is the most pink of the 3 pairs. The right pearl is a little pinker but because they are both quite pink, I think it blends in pretty well. My guess from the pictures is that this pair is the largest of all the pairs. I am actually leaning *slightly* towards this pair versus the bottom 9-9.5mm pair.

The bottom 9-9.5mm pair is a middle pink between the 3 pairs. The right pearl is also pinker than the left pearl but because the pair is less pink overall, it stands out more to me than in the pair above.

 

[NY_Resonant]

This is what I was looking at for my comment on the bottom 9-9.5mm pair showing a bit more pink on the right pearl:

 

[wanamaker]

Out of the 8.5-9mm options, personally I would pick the middle pair. In my mind, it is a very good color match and has better luster compared to the other two 8.5-9mm pairs. The top 8.5-9mm pair seemed to have a blemish/dip on the right pearl in one picture as well? I assume that is where they would drill.

Out of the 9-9.5mm options, personally I would eliminate the middle one as an option due to it having the worst color mismatch.

Considerations on the remaining 3 (To my eyes, @yssie may disagree and i'd go with her eyes over mine!!!):

8.5-9mm pair has the best luster (Expected given smaller size but the difference isn't huge) and best color match amongst all 3 and is lower price but is also smaller. This is why I would have asked for the exact pearl measurements because the size difference could be 8.51 to 9.49 or 8.99 to 9.01 --- We just don't know and when the price jumps up 3x i'd like to know what size jump i'm getting. This pair is also the whitest out of the 3, so if you want a more pink pearl that is a negative.

The top 9-9.5mm is the most pink of the 3 pairs. The right pearl is a little pinker but because they are both quite pink, I think it blends in pretty well. My guess from the pictures is that this pair is the largest of all the pairs. I am actually leaning *slightly* towards this pair versus the bottom 9-9.5mm pair.

The bottom 9-9.5mm pair is a middle pink between the 3 pairs. The right pearl is also pinker than the left pearl but because the pair is less pink overall, it stands out more to me than in the pair above.

Thank you for taking so much time and care in helping me decide!!! I feel very blind and wouldn't have seen any of the things you mentioned otherwise. Really, really appreciate your help.

 

[NY_Resonant]

Thank you for taking so much time and care in helping me decide!!! I feel very blind and wouldn't have seen any of the things you mentioned otherwise. Really, really appreciate your help.

This photo (I cropped the bottom 9-9.5 next to the top 9-9.5 in paintshop) should show why I think top pair is bigger:

Keep in mind that a 9.5mm is roughly 20% larger than a 9mm (Volume since pearls are spheres)… So there can be quite a bit of variation in size in the same bracket.

 

[wanamaker]

This photo (I cropped the bottom 9-9.5 next to the top 9-9.5 in paintshop) should show why I think top pair is bigger:

Keep in mind that a 9.5mm is roughly 20% larger than a 9mm (Volume since pearls are spheres)… So there can be quite a bit of variation in size in the same bracket.

Thank you!!! It is a lot more obvious now!

 

[NY_Resonant]

Thank you!!! It is a lot more obvious now!

Which one did you end up going with?

 

[wanamaker]

Which one did you end up going with?

I decided to go with the 8.5-9mm pair as the price difference is really substantial like you and yssie suggested.

 

[NY_Resonant]

I decided to go with the 8.5-9mm pair as the price difference is really substantial like you and yssie suggested.

Makes sense to me. I made the same decision a few weeks ago on a blue akoya madama stud pair when I saw that the 9-9.5mm cost 3x the price of the 8.5-9mm. That's a big price hike to pay for an average of 20% volume increase.

I would not be surprised if we saw the 8.5-9mm prices go up in the next few months to get closer to the 9-9.5mm pricing so the differential was not quite as big.

The pearl farm harvest auctions this year supposedly came in quite expensive as well which means when that raw material is processed, the inventory sold will be at a higher price.