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

[yssie]

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 biggest pearls.
(And I had a few extra and had a sprinkle necklace made - which, you guessed it, I don't wear But that's neither here nor there...)

The bracelet with the bigger pearls I save for special occasions. It gets worn occasionally... Usually by itself, at most with another strand of pearls.

The bracelet with the smaller pearls, that one I "abuse". I'm generally careful with my jewellery but within that context - I stack this one freely and unapologetically several times a week. I stack it with metal bangles, with chain bracelets, with gemstone bead bracelets. It gets smacked against the table, it scrapes against clothes and linens, I've worn it outdoors in below-freezing winters and meltingly-hot high-UV summers. I don't ever shower in pearls. I also don't sleep in jewellery but... Sure, I've conked out with it on once or twice.

I store all my pearls separately - in the same box, but all individually wrapped so no pearls touch other pearls and no metal clasps touch any pearls.

"Stacked" is my nice way of saying "abused". "Unstacked" is the one that gets babied. This strand has both a PSL report and a GIA report, nacre is 0.65mm per the PSL and 0.44mm per the GIA. The difference... Stacked shows a little bit less contrasty than Unstacked. Just a touch. In some lighting environments. These photos are dead on what my eyes see in-person.

My takehome: Nice akoya are really not that delicate!! If they were going to fall apart with wear and tear I'd expect to see a much bigger differential by now!!

 

[diamondseeker2006]

Such beautiful pearls! It’s very encouraging to hear that the stackable bracelet has held up well!

 

[yssie]

Such beautiful pearls! It’s very encouraging to hear that the stackable bracelet has held up well!

It was a welcome discovery! I suppose I’ll update this thread again in two more years

 

[ItsMainelyYou]

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 biggest pearls.
(And I had a few extra and had a sprinkle necklace made - which, you guessed it, I don't wear But that's neither here nor there...)

The bracelet with the bigger pearls I save for special occasions. It gets worn occasionally... Usually by itself, at most with another strand of pearls.

The bracelet with the smaller pearls, that one I "abuse". I'm generally careful with my jewellery but within that context - I stack this one freely and unapologetically several times a week. I stack it with metal bangles, with chain bracelets, with gemstone bead bracelets. It gets smacked against the table, it scrapes against clothes and linens, I've worn it outdoors in below-freezing winters and meltingly-hot high-UV summers. I don't ever shower in pearls. I also don't sleep in jewellery but... Sure, I've conked out with it on once or twice.

I store all my pearls separately - in the same box, but all individually wrapped so no pearls touch other pearls and no metal clasps touch any pearls.

"Stacked" is my nice way of saying "abused". "Unstacked" is the one that gets babied. This strand has both a PSL report and a GIA report, nacre is 0.65mm per the PSL and 0.44mm per the GIA. The difference... Stacked shows a little bit less contrasty than Unstacked. Just a touch. In some lighting environments. These photos are dead on what my eyes see in-person.

My takehome: Nice akoya are really not that delicate!! If they were going to fall apart with wear and tear I'd expect to see a much bigger differential by now!!

Me, the naif, while blinking a bunch: "Wull gorsh, they look great to me!"

 

[FL_runner]

This is very reassuring - I love the look of a pearl bracelet and have a few lovely ones gifted to me by my parents but I rarely wear them. I will have to take them out more!

 

[yssie]

This is very reassuring - I love the look of a pearl bracelet and have a few lovely ones gifted to me by my parents but I rarely wear them. I will have to take them out more!

Stackable over here comes out every time I wear my VCA Perlee bracelets, basically. Which is a lot I started wearing the pearl bracelet as a sub whilst I wait for the last bracelet to come in, but I honestly really love the look! And Perlee does mean pearl, and it feels like a very “me” way to wear those pieces

But those bangles are heavy, and with those beaded edges digging into the nacre - I’m legit shocked that there isn’t more damage! It’s held up astonishingly well!!

Please do wear your pieces!!

 

[Garnetgirl]

Thanks for the info @yssie. It’s good to know that one doesn’t have to worry about wearing pearls with other jewellery.

 

[88_star]

I have to super squint to see any difference between them on the wear! Glad they are holding up well.

What's this about a sprinkle necklace? Is it a tin cup style?

 

[lilmosun]

So good to know...I've envied the bracelets of gorgeous pearls you (and others) have put together - but decided that I would never be comfortable doing this fearing I would damage them (especially working on a computer all day at work).

Dumb question - generally speaking, are nice akoyas generally less susceptible to damage than other types of pearls? I assume it depends on the nacre thickness?

 

[yssie]

I have to super squint to see any difference between them on the wear! Glad they are holding up well.

What's this about a sprinkle necklace? Is it a tin cup style?

It is! WF made it for me a couple years ago, and they did SUCH an amazing job I should really just get over myself and put it on every now and then. I just hate things around my neck…
https://www.pricescope.com/communit...hing-new-from-whiteflash.263243/#post-4896210

 

[yssie]

nice akoyas generally less susceptible to damage than other types of pearls? I assume it depends on the nacre thickness?

A couple of the journal papers I’ve read cite 0.4mm as a “safe” thickness for akoya longevity, and 0.4mm is also PSL’s minimum nacre thickness requirement for their Hanadama and Ten-nyo grades. There’s actually no ultimate explanation for that number - it’s kinda funny actually, the papers flat out say noone’s quite sure how everyone came to this number But in any case I’ve internalized “good akoya must have at least 0.4mm nacre”.

But that said - beyond that 0.4mm threshold, thicker nacre isn’t automatically better. Like - it isn’t a case of “0.6mm is better than 0.4mm, 0.8mm is better than 0.6mm” - the most lustrous layers nacre are actually thinner but have more tightly packed aragonite plates. And those thinner layers with tightly packed plates are stronger, too. So it’s very possible for a pearl with a thicker numeric total nacre thickness (from exterior of nucleus to exterior of pearl) to be less lustrous and more easily damaged than a pearl with a thinner total numeric nacre thickness!!

And all nacre isn’t created equal. The layers of nacre that the oyster deposits over the course of 18 months or however long… they aren’t all the same thickness, and they don’t all have the same luster. So while thicker nacre does generally mean you’ll have a more resilient pearl, if you shaved say a couple tenths of a mm off the exterior of the pearl all the way around you wouldn’t have #APearlThatLooksTheSameJustABitSmaller!

 

[Daisys and Diamonds]

we need pictures of how you stack these ...please



for context

 

[MakingTheGrade]

Yeah I have a baby akoya bracelet that’s tied on that I can’t take off without cutting it off lol. Worn it for over a year now through travel, sunscreen, gym workouts, work.. still looks great, though a hair less lustrous and contrasty than those in my
Anklet that I wear rarely.

Shown with a Tahitian bracelet with a SoC midde