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Takahashi strands — Preview of options being shown in Kobe. Any favorites?

NY_Resonant

Shiny_Rock
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OH MY GOD.

THANK YOU SOOOOO MUCH FOR SHARING ALL OF THESE WITH US!!!!!!!!!

I cannot WAIT to look at these properly after work today. OMG.

:love: :appl: :love:

It’s my pleasure to share. I learned so much on this forum from you and from all the other experts here!

Kan told me at the office that he is amazed at your eyes. So can’t wait to hear what you think and see from the pictures!
 

Catmom

Super_Ideal_Rock
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Wow, unbelievably beautiful pearls. What a great trip!
 

yssie

Super_Ideal_Rock
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I am so totally jealous that you got to meet Kan!!!! I'll get out there one of these days, I'm sure he'll remember you :love:

Seriously. I'm smiling looking at those yellow invoice papers :bigsmile:
 

NY_Resonant

Shiny_Rock
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I am so totally jealous that you got to meet Kan!!!! I'll get out there one of these days, I'm sure he'll remember you :love:

Seriously. I'm smiling looking at those yellow invoice papers :bigsmile:

You need to go Soon. Japan is so beautiful and the food is amazing.

Based on how Kan spoke about Yssie, you’ll get the red carpet treatment when you go there :twisted2:
 

yssie

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So. White akoya have my heart. :kiss2:

A big YES to strand orientation relative to lighting making a bizarrely big difference. I’ve noticed this exact same thing. And I always do exactly what you did - request long strands be switched, or earrings cards be flipped upside down.

The granpearl, I can see the greenishness. The entire strand looks darker-bodied but warmer toned to me than all of the others. I know the darker body helps with contrastiness, just because our human eyes have evolved to be sort of contrast stupid… The NW looks coolest-toned to me. I know I said it earlier but I absolutely love that you came home with what your eyes liked best in-person, not The Granpearl That You Were Supposed To Like Best - you know what you’re looking at and you let your eyes choose, that sort of educated decision can just never ever be wrong :love:

And a NW that’s THAT evenly-coloured and THAT lustrous, and also very clean and not-overly-green - you hit all sorts of jackpot with that one. Seriously. I’m zero surprised Kan couldn’t make another. Every NW I’ve ever seen, including my own bracelet, well, without the bleaching and pinking to even body and overtone out a little there’s just so much more variance. No joke, that might just be the rarest strand of the lot!!

Oh and that poor Ten-nyo down there. LOL. I just quickie photoshopped the granpearl and the Gennoy next to each other and - ouch. :lol:

Mr. Seki and Yy’s preference for cool and light-bodied has totally rubbed off on me. And you too, looks like :bigsmile: Cause in this photo my eyes go to the NW first and want to stay there. Yeah, the granpearl is def more lustrous. You can see that on both sides of the strand. Assuming your photos represent what you saw IRL (which I know is a can of worms all on its own). But my eyes prefer what my eyes prefer. Shrug.

1681193749540-jpeg.931203



In this pic the granpearl and the gem with flaws look to have basically the same body colour and tone, just that the gem with flaws has a significantly stronger pink overtone... Do you think that's a reasonable description, if you recall?
1681194219846-jpeg.931211
 

yssie

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1681194367970-jpeg.931215



The gem with flaws is interesting. They're definitely small flaws, but they're numerous, especially in comparison to the pristine pearls adjacent. Do these flaws register at all in-person? This is such a magnified photo, but I wonder if they lead the eyes to read the skin as "less glossy"? Like fine scratching does?
 

yssie

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I feel like... If I could take that granpearl and make it cooler - if it had more silver/blue - it would be picture perfect for me. I don't think pinking it more strongly would help, really, it's still got that warmth, and turns out I *really* want a cooler body. WSS taught me that. That {creamy body colour} = {reads as warm body}, but also that {pink and green overtone on a pearl with a neutral body colour, no silver/blue overtone} also = {reads as warm body}.
 

lovedogs

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So. White akoya have my heart. :kiss2:

A big YES to strand orientation relative to lighting making a bizarrely big difference. I’ve noticed this exact same thing. And I always do exactly what you did - request long strands be switched, or earrings cards be flipped upside down.

The granpearl, I can see the greenishness. The entire strand looks darker-bodied but warmer toned to me than all of the others. I know the darker body helps with contrastiness, just because our human eyes have evolved to be sort of contrast stupid… The NW looks coolest-toned to me. I know I said it earlier but I absolutely love that you came home with what your eyes liked best in-person, not The Granpearl That You Were Supposed To Like Best - you know what you’re looking at and you let your eyes choose, that sort of educated decision can just never ever be wrong :love:

And a NW that’s THAT evenly-coloured and THAT lustrous, and also very clean and not-overly-green - you hit all sorts of jackpot with that one. Seriously. I’m zero surprised Kan couldn’t make another. Every NW I’ve ever seen, including my own bracelet, well, without the bleaching and pinking to even body and overtone out a little there’s just so much more variance. No joke, that might just be the rarest strand of the lot!!

Oh and that poor Ten-nyo down there. LOL. I just quickie photoshopped the granpearl and the Gennoy next to each other and - ouch. :lol:

Mr. Seki and Yy’s preference for cool and light-bodied has totally rubbed off on me. And you too, looks like :bigsmile: Cause in this photo my eyes go to the NW first and want to stay there. Yeah, the granpearl is def more lustrous. You can see that on both sides of the strand. Assuming your photos represent what you saw IRL (which I know is a can of worms all on its own). But my eyes prefer what my eyes prefer. Shrug.

1681193749540-jpeg.931203



In this pic the granpearl and the gem with flaws look to have basically the same body colour and tone, just that the gem with flaws has a significantly stronger pink overtone... Do you think that's a reasonable description, if you recall?
1681194219846-jpeg.931211

In these pics quoted, is the granpearl strand at the top (the innermost)? If yes, I hate my eyes for loving the 15k strand the most haha
 

yssie

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This is just an amazing thread. I love all these photos so much and it's so interesting to read about your experiences with these pearls. Thank you, again, for taking so many photos and sharing them with us @NY_Resonant :love: I bookmarked this thread!!
 

yssie

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So this is interesting. Here in the US vendors tend to grade pearls and then price by grade. All pearls within the grade cost the same. But it looks like - in Japan - all the vendors you went to priced each strand individually? Rather than the grade-mapped price buckets we're used to here?

In this photo - I can see that the bottom two strands are of higher quality than the top. But why is the bottom strand more pricey than the middle? I'm very curious because my eyes definitely prefer the middle!
1681188729630-jpeg.931160



This photo confirms the middle strand is the most high-contrast...
1681188762041-jpeg.931161



But maybe it's also the most blemished?

Or maybe the Japanese pearl trade doesn't value high contrast as much as we Americans do? Like, maybe local preferences have evolved to prioritize high gloss reflectance over high contrast?
 

Beagles

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I am ruined now for seeing any "ordinary" pearls available in US jewelry stores. These are so incredibly gorgeous!!! Thank you for all your photos!
 

yssie

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OMG. WAIT.

Could that be true!?

So - gloss reflectance - how accurately and precisely the outlines of shapes are rendered in the reflection in the pearl. Literally how glossy the surface is. A function of both skin smoothness and lack of blemishing.

But separate from contrast reflectance - how dark are the blacks and how light are the whites.

High gloss reflectance with lower contrast reflectance - totally a thing. High contrast reflectance with lower gloss reflectance - also totally a thing. High gloss reflectance and high contrast reflectance - prepare to sell your firstborn.

I know for fact that the US (probably extensible to western?) audience generally values high contrast over high gloss, if we've got to choose. @NY_Resonant did you get the impression that maybe the Japanese market just prioritizes differently, with eye for high gloss reflectance first and foremost?

I feel like that would explain a lot actually...


Edit - did you feel that the Japanese pearl vendors are judging all types of pearls (white akoya, grey akoya, tahitians) in the same ways, with the same metrics?
 

empliau

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I am ruined now for seeing any "ordinary" pearls available in US jewelry stores. These are so incredibly gorgeous!!! Thank you for all your photos!

I know, right? I have a bracelet of tiny Akoyas - larger than seed pearls, but significantly smaller than Making the Grade's baby gem - and after seeing everyone else's, and my two pairs of Takahashi earrings, they just have no zing. No orient. They're white, and cute. But no oomph.

Darn you, Takahashi. I want to buy Everything - but I need to keep a roof over my head, vet care for the pets ...
 

NY_Resonant

Shiny_Rock
Joined
Jan 23, 2023
Messages
365
So. White akoya have my heart. :kiss2:

A big YES to strand orientation relative to lighting making a bizarrely big difference. I’ve noticed this exact same thing. And I always do exactly what you did - request long strands be switched, or earrings cards be flipped upside down.

The granpearl, I can see the greenishness. The entire strand looks darker-bodied but warmer toned to me than all of the others. I know the darker body helps with contrastiness, just because our human eyes have evolved to be sort of contrast stupid… The NW looks coolest-toned to me. I know I said it earlier but I absolutely love that you came home with what your eyes liked best in-person, not The Granpearl That You Were Supposed To Like Best - you know what you’re looking at and you let your eyes choose, that sort of educated decision can just never ever be wrong :love:

And a NW that’s THAT evenly-coloured and THAT lustrous, and also very clean and not-overly-green - you hit all sorts of jackpot with that one. Seriously. I’m zero surprised Kan couldn’t make another. Every NW I’ve ever seen, including my own bracelet, well, without the bleaching and pinking to even body and overtone out a little there’s just so much more variance. No joke, that might just be the rarest strand of the lot!!

Oh and that poor Ten-nyo down there. LOL. I just quickie photoshopped the granpearl and the Gennoy next to each other and - ouch. :lol:

Mr. Seki and Yy’s preference for cool and light-bodied has totally rubbed off on me. And you too, looks like :bigsmile: Cause in this photo my eyes go to the NW first and want to stay there. Yeah, the granpearl is def more lustrous. You can see that on both sides of the strand. Assuming your photos represent what you saw IRL (which I know is a can of worms all on its own). But my eyes prefer what my eyes prefer. Shrug.

1681193749540-jpeg.931203



In this pic the granpearl and the gem with flaws look to have basically the same body colour and tone, just that the gem with flaws has a significantly stronger pink overtone... Do you think that's a reasonable description, if you recall?
1681194219846-jpeg.931211

The gem luster strand had a slightly lighter body color than the granpearl and yes, a lot more pink overtone. I specifically checked for body color at the edge of the table. NW strand body color much much whiter.

I’ve been trained by this board to view luster as the be-all defining trait of what makes a strand the most beautiful… that’s why I actually had a hard time rationalizing why I liked the NW more than the slightly more lustrous granpearl. Like you, my eye went to it and did not want to leave for some reason.

That feeling only became stronger when my fiancee(with her chinese slightly yellow-tone skin) put both necklaces on her neck at the same time. The NW one just went POP on her neck and stood out so much more. It’s lighter body created a gorgeous contrast to her skin tone. That effect overcame the extra lustrous-oophm that the granpearl might have had.

That’s why I did two random blind tests with both necklaces on her neck and picked the NW as my favorite both times. I wanted to eliminate as much bias as I could. I also asked Kan to do a blind test pick of his favorite on her neck and after 30 seconds he ended up picking the NW one (hah!).
 

NY_Resonant

Shiny_Rock
Joined
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Messages
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1681194367970-jpeg.931215



The gem with flaws is interesting. They're definitely small flaws, but they're numerous, especially in comparison to the pristine pearls adjacent. Do these flaws register at all in-person? This is such a magnified photo, but I wonder if they lead the eyes to read the skin as "less glossy"? Like fine scratching does?

On the neck, you can’t notice the flaws at all.

If i’m about 10 inches away and I specifically look for them, I can see the small flaws as “scratches” or “imperfect wavy surfaces in the reflection” after looking at a pearl for 2-3 seconds. It basically requires comparing a pearl to the one next to it, kind of like comparing a D diamond next to a G for color.
 
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NY_Resonant

Shiny_Rock
Joined
Jan 23, 2023
Messages
365
So this is interesting. Here in the US vendors tend to grade pearls and then price by grade. All pearls within the grade cost the same. But it looks like - in Japan - all the vendors you went to priced each strand individually? Rather than the grade-mapped price buckets we're used to here?

In this photo - I can see that the bottom two strands are of higher quality than the top. But why is the bottom strand more pricey than the middle? I'm very curious because my eyes definitely prefer the middle!
1681188729630-jpeg.931160



This photo confirms the middle strand is the most high-contrast...
1681188762041-jpeg.931161



But maybe it's also the most blemished?

Or maybe the Japanese pearl trade doesn't value high contrast as much as we Americans do? Like, maybe local preferences have evolved to prioritize high gloss reflectance over high contrast?

The vendors definitely priced each strand individually. I also liked the middle strand significantly more and found it the most lustrous in person.

Here is a fact to confound the pricing of the bottom strand even more: If you look at bottom of label, its actually a 8-8.5mm!!!
 

NY_Resonant

Shiny_Rock
Joined
Jan 23, 2023
Messages
365
OMG. WAIT.

Could that be true!?

So - gloss reflectance - how accurately and precisely the outlines of shapes are rendered in the reflection in the pearl. Literally how glossy the surface is. A function of both skin smoothness and lack of blemishing.

But separate from contrast reflectance - how dark are the blacks and how light are the whites.

High gloss reflectance with lower contrast reflectance - totally a thing. High contrast reflectance with lower gloss reflectance - also totally a thing. High gloss reflectance and high contrast reflectance - prepare to sell your firstborn.

I know for fact that the US (probably extensible to western?) audience generally values high contrast over high gloss, if we've got to choose. @NY_Resonant did you get the impression that maybe the Japanese market just prioritizes differently, with eye for high gloss reflectance first and foremost?

I feel like that would explain a lot actually...


Edit - did you feel that the Japanese pearl vendors are judging all types of pearls (white akoya, grey akoya, tahitians) in the same ways, with the same metrics?

I 100% feel that the Japanese market values high gloss reflectance more than the western markets. I think that is reflected in mikimoto‘s focus on fewer flaws and a perfect skin.

I know you’ve said before that a darker body gives higher contrast, all things being equal. I agree with you that blacks look darker on the dark body. I also agree that causes the lighter-areas of the reflection to appear even lighter as a visual illusion next to the darker blacks.

The one possible exception to that, something I’m seeing on the very white body NW necklace is that the whiter pearls seem to reflect white light as brighter than darker body pearls? At least it 100% does to my eyes next to the darker-body gem luster strand I bought. Maybe the NW is just naturally more lustrous and that effect isn’t related to the body color at all?
 

NY_Resonant

Shiny_Rock
Joined
Jan 23, 2023
Messages
365
I know, right? I have a bracelet of tiny Akoyas - larger than seed pearls, but significantly smaller than Making the Grade's baby gem - and after seeing everyone else's, and my two pairs of Takahashi earrings, they just have no zing. No orient. They're white, and cute. But no oomph.

Darn you, Takahashi. I want to buy Everything - but I need to keep a roof over my head, vet care for the pets ...

That was the problem I had. I went to Tiffany. Yuck. I went to NYC jewelry stores in the Diamond district. Yuck. I went to Mikimoto — double yum and triple OUCH.

Then I went to Japan. ;D.
 

NY_Resonant

Shiny_Rock
Joined
Jan 23, 2023
Messages
365
So. White akoya have my heart. :kiss2:

A big YES to strand orientation relative to lighting making a bizarrely big difference. I’ve noticed this exact same thing. And I always do exactly what you did - request long strands be switched, or earrings cards be flipped upside down.

The granpearl, I can see the greenishness. The entire strand looks darker-bodied but warmer toned to me than all of the others. I know the darker body helps with contrastiness, just because our human eyes have evolved to be sort of contrast stupid… The NW looks coolest-toned to me. I know I said it earlier but I absolutely love that you came home with what your eyes liked best in-person, not The Granpearl That You Were Supposed To Like Best - you know what you’re looking at and you let your eyes choose, that sort of educated decision can just never ever be wrong :love:

And a NW that’s THAT evenly-coloured and THAT lustrous, and also very clean and not-overly-green - you hit all sorts of jackpot with that one. Seriously. I’m zero surprised Kan couldn’t make another. Every NW I’ve ever seen, including my own bracelet, well, without the bleaching and pinking to even body and overtone out a little there’s just so much more variance. No joke, that might just be the rarest strand of the lot!!

Oh and that poor Ten-nyo down there. LOL. I just quickie photoshopped the granpearl and the Gennoy next to each other and - ouch. :lol:

Mr. Seki and Yy’s preference for cool and light-bodied has totally rubbed off on me. And you too, looks like :bigsmile: Cause in this photo my eyes go to the NW first and want to stay there. Yeah, the granpearl is def more lustrous. You can see that on both sides of the strand. Assuming your photos represent what you saw IRL (which I know is a can of worms all on its own). But my eyes prefer what my eyes prefer. Shrug.

1681193749540-jpeg.931203



In this pic the granpearl and the gem with flaws look to have basically the same body colour and tone, just that the gem with flaws has a significantly stronger pink overtone... Do you think that's a reasonable description, if you recall?
1681194219846-jpeg.931211

That poor tennyo indeed :snooty::snooty::snooty:

Funny fact is, I didn‘t realize my NW necklace was also tennyo until I had paid for it and Kan was packing the certificate :lol-2::lol-2::lol-2:
 

mamong

Rough_Rock
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Messages
69
I’ve been trained by this board to view luster as the be-all defining trait of what makes a strand the most beautiful… that’s why I actually had a hard time rationalizing why I liked the NW more than the slightly more lustrous granpearl. Like you, my eye went to it and did not want to leave for some reason.

When I asked pearl vendors, luster was always what they recommended as the most important trait as well. I think because among the characteristics that can be objectively measured, i.e., luster, nacre thickness and scratches, luster is what ‘speaks’ to our eyes first, instantaneously.

Body colour never presented as a criteria to choose because it is subject to personal preferences.

I am like you, every time I see akoya pearls, my eyes always attracted to NW pearls even if to my eyes they look less lustrous compared to more pink akoya of the same grade. To my eyes, NW akoya give more natural glow while others shine more glamorously ☺️.
 

yssie

Super_Ideal_Rock
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I 100% feel that the Japanese market values high gloss reflectance more than the western markets. I think that is reflected in mikimoto‘s focus on fewer flaws and a perfect skin.
I feel like this statement unlocks the sort of revelation that you would never ever ever learn about unless you both have an especial eye for pearls and are able to physically go to both geographies and compare with your own eyes. People pay a lot of money for this sort of market analysis - but here on PS it's free! :lol-2:
I know you’ve said before that a darker body gives higher contrast, all things being equal. I agree with you that blacks look darker on the dark body. I also agree that causes the lighter-areas of the reflection to appear even lighter as a visual illusion next to the darker blacks.

The one possible exception to that, something I’m seeing on the very white body NW necklace is that the whiter pearls seem to reflect white light as brighter than darker body pearls? At least it 100% does to my eyes next to the darker-body gem luster strand I bought. Maybe the NW is just naturally more lustrous and that effect isn’t related to the body color at all?
Oh this actually makes total sense to me! What your eyes see and what the literature says your eyes "should" see, I mean - they match!!

I wrote this a while back - there's no reason you'd have seen it before, but I'm thinking that you might find the papers linked at the bottom of that post interesting!
https://www.pricescope.com/community/threads/please-take-my-poll.275215/page-2#post-5181877

Especially this chart, and I'll just copy my text explanation of the axes -
I deliberately didn't grab the units for the axes because the terminology they use is a bit different. The X-axis shows actual, real world, physical luminescence. Every increment from 0 to 1.0 on the horizontal represents a linear increase in luminosity of reflectance off a surface, from black to white. The Y-axis shows how our eyes percieve lightness changing from black to white as we go from 0 (black) to 1.0 (white)
1665853398229-png.909062


So what you're seeing - that the whites reflected off the whiter body NW strand look *whiter* - that definitely makes sense!! As you increase actual luminescence (body colour gets lighter), our eyes' interpretation of how "white" what we're seeing is does increase. It's just that as the body colour gets lighter and lighter, our eyes interpretation of how "white" what we're seeing is increases more and more slowly. And also the reason for lower visualized contrast off a whiter-bodied pearl with the same quality of nacre...

This is so exciting. You're literally proving out the literature with real world photos and observations. I'm so happy right now :bigsmile:
 

yssie

Super_Ideal_Rock
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That poor tennyo indeed :snooty::snooty::snooty:

Funny fact is, I didn‘t realize my NW necklace was also tennyo until I had paid for it and Kan was packing the certificate :lol-2::lol-2::lol-2:

Ohhh man. I mean my pearls are Ten-nyo too!! We just made sure we've got the upper end of the Ten-nyo range :bigsmile:


Edit - Oh, and I'm totally serious, I will haunt you if you ever even think of selling that NW strand. Of all of them I feel like THAT one must be the truly one-of-a-kind rarity - so so so special. No selling that one!! :bigsmile:
 
Last edited:

yssie

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Here is a fact to confound the pricing of the bottom strand even more: If you look at bottom of label, its actually a 8-8.5mm!!!

What the actual heck!? Did they explain!?
 

NY_Resonant

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Ohhh man. I mean my pearls are Ten-nyo too!! We just made sure we've got the upper end of the Ten-nyo range :bigsmile:


Edit - Oh, and I'm totally serious, I will haunt you if you ever even think of selling that NW strand. Of all of them I feel like THAT one must be the truly one-of-a-kind rarity - so so so special. No selling that one!! :bigsmile:

I should tell my fiancée I’m claiming that necklace if we ever get divorced :saint::saint::saint: Think I better hold off on that one :P2
 

sunandsky

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I love this thread! I've only ever liked the "right" pearls in Asia. The explanation around contrast (which I don't like) is fascinating and potentially explains a lot for me too!
 

yssie

Super_Ideal_Rock
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I love this thread! I've only ever liked the "right" pearls in Asia. The explanation around contrast (which I don't like) is fascinating and potentially explains a lot for me too!

Could you share more about what you mean re. Liking the “right” pearls in Asia?

I’m so curious about all of this - how we all end up with our varying preferences…
 

NY_Resonant

Shiny_Rock
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Messages
365
1681194367970-jpeg.931215



The gem with flaws is interesting. They're definitely small flaws, but they're numerous, especially in comparison to the pristine pearls adjacent. Do these flaws register at all in-person? This is such a magnified photo, but I wonder if they lead the eyes to read the skin as "less glossy"? Like fine scratching does?

Sent you a few IG messages to illustrate this but wanted to share some with other’s here considering buying Gem Luster with minor flaws from Takahashi.

Here is the worst surface pearl in the necklace:
31ABC643-3CA2-4667-8520-C7E60C8574DA.jpeg
849F0E6A-EF96-4A2B-BCB8-9CD23C5220B4.jpeg
3EFF806F-9AAB-48C9-B14F-0421BF687AC9.jpeg

Here it is at various distances:
68CFF3F2-A39E-4895-A005-A4D853CEEEF8.jpeg
B5B71975-53F3-42B7-8FF2-ED08C0B60FE7.jpeg
78D5AE91-3D9B-465F-8DA6-5454A89A55CC.jpeg
D4705030-BB3B-4B8D-97E3-8AB3B2A4280A.jpeg

Most pearls of the 47 in the necklace have decent surfaces. Here are the worst 5, with the one above amongst them:

6DAC8DC2-4281-4226-BB09-27F78B1AA060.jpeg
FCFA4C7A-877F-49F9-B497-4D35FEED71C5.jpeg
C05C545B-48C5-4EC2-AAEE-F4C73AC4BB1B.jpeg
7D414263-D8DD-4EF5-B21B-2FE780A302CA.jpeg
51F4CC54-3FA4-48C9-8D27-EFD5D92D06B9.jpeg

That worst-pearl is the only one I can see the surface flaws from at a distance of 10 inches (I used a ruler) since it noticeably impacts the gloss and shapes of reflections. It’s one of the larger pearls at 8.7-8.8mm in the middle of the necklace. When I go have knots put in soon, it will definitely go next to the clasp behind the neck. Thankfully it’ll only cause a .2-.3mm jump in size to the next pearl so not a big deal in that position.
 
Last edited:

Calla-lilies

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161
Sent you a few IG messages to illustrate this but wanted to share some with other’s here considering buying Gem Luster with minor flaws from Takahashi.

Here is the worst surface pearl in the necklace:
31ABC643-3CA2-4667-8520-C7E60C8574DA.jpeg
849F0E6A-EF96-4A2B-BCB8-9CD23C5220B4.jpeg
3EFF806F-9AAB-48C9-B14F-0421BF687AC9.jpeg

Here it is at various distances:
68CFF3F2-A39E-4895-A005-A4D853CEEEF8.jpeg
B5B71975-53F3-42B7-8FF2-ED08C0B60FE7.jpeg
78D5AE91-3D9B-465F-8DA6-5454A89A55CC.jpeg
D4705030-BB3B-4B8D-97E3-8AB3B2A4280A.jpeg

Most pearls of the 47 in the necklace have decent surfaces. Here are the worst 5, with the one above amongst them:

6DAC8DC2-4281-4226-BB09-27F78B1AA060.jpeg
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That worst-pearl is the only one I can see the surface flaws from at a distance of 10 inches (I used a ruler) since it noticeably impacts the gloss and shapes of reflections. It’s one of the larger pearls at 8.7-8.8mm in the middle of the necklace. When I go have knots put in soon, it will definitely go next to the clasp behind the neck. Thankfully it’ll only cause a .2-.3mm jump in size to the next pearl so not a big deal in that position.

This is really great information! And pictures to support your point. The pearls are not ready to be worn? Where do you get it strung? I’m in the NY area.
 
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