Customer Question:  What are Hanadama pearls?  I’ve heard about them from a friend of mine who said they are the best Mikimoto pearls.  – Laura of San Fransisco, CA

Answer:  Hanadama is not a PurePearls.com brand name- it is the official name of this grade of Akoya pearl produced only in Japan and certified individually by the Pearl Science Lab (PSL) of Tokyo, Japan.  The term “Hanadama” directly translates to mean Flower Pearl or Spherical Flower which alludes to the strong Silver or Ivory- Rose overtones that these pearls are cultured for.

Hanadama Akoya pearls are examined by the following methods: Magnification, Inner Inspection by Optical Fiber, Spectro Photometric Reflectance, and Soft X-ray.  The thickness of the pearl’s nacre layers are measured. The actual requirement is .4 for a total of .8. (this is determined by the optical fiber and soft X-ray apparatus).  Also, the Teri-value (luster) must be strong, the kizu (imperfection) must be listed as very slightly. It is important to note that ‘very slightly’ is the highest allowable ‘kizu’ grade by the lab.  If the factors are all graded high, the strand receives the grade ‘Hanadama’ from the lab. This is a term reserved for the highest quality Akoya pearl strands. The term is reserved only for Akoya pearls. Hanadama is the grade of pearl that Mikimoto carries for their highest quality line, their AAA.  An equivalent strand of our Hanadama purchased at a Mikimoto store will cost at least twice as much as ours due to high overhead of a bricks and mortar store, branding, marketing and other factors associated with purchasing jewelry from a retail store.