Customer Question:  One of my friends recently purchased his fiancé a set of your pearls for their wedding. Both he and his wife now have excellent things to say about your collection. I am considering your Akoya 18″ necklace, 7.0-7.5 mm white pearls with rose overtones for my girlfriend for Christmas, and I have one quick question: Is there a noticeable visible difference in quality between the AA+ pearls and the AAA Akoya white pearls? M. J.

Answer:  The difference between AA+ and AAA is very subtle.  They are both the highest qualities in the industry with AAA being the very top and AA+ being a half-step below.  With AAA, the pearls are more than 95% inclusion-free surface (very clean) and have the highest luster.  The AA+ have more than 90% inclusion-free (very light blemishing) surface and very high luster.  If you held the two strands out, you wouldn’t be able to tell the difference.  The difference can only be seen when examining them up close.  With all the photos, you actually can’t tell much difference either because the light from the camera and the equipment tends to wash out the surface of the pearls.  I personally wear both qualities because they both are really nice! 

Best,

Amanda