Hi Everybody!

I have some very exciting news about our 6.5-7.0mm Akoya pearls; as of today, PurePearls.com will be focusing exclusively on our new line of very fine, very lustrous, simply stunning Japanese Akoya pearls! Our new Japanese Akoya line is virtually spotless, featuring crisp, razor-sharp luster and gorgeous coloration that is oh-so drool worthy (see the pictures below taken with my Dinky Digital™ today for color examples).

Our continual desire to provide a wide range of pearl jewelry choices for all of our customers has led us in this new direction; the lack of availability of high quality Chinese Akoya in this size range, as well as multiple environmental disasters for Chinese pearl farms for the past few years, combined to help make this decision an easy one. You may notice a slight price increase due to the upgrade which we do regret, however I think at the end of the day, you’ll be totally, completely satisfied with the quality and beauty of every strand of Japanese Akoya pearls purchased through PurePearls.com. Enjoy! 

Dear PurePearls:

I have been looking on your website for a set of white pearl earrings. I was looking at the Akoya and Freshwater pearls and was hoping you could give me some direction about which ones to go with as I have no knowledge in this area. Thanks in advance for your help.

D.Steele

Dear Ms. Steele,

Thank you for your interest in PurePearls.com! Trying to decide between the two most popular white pearl types- Akoya and Freshwater pearls- can be a very difficult choice indeed! Some pros and cons to help you decide…

Your classic white pearls would be the famous (and the original) saltwater Akoya from Japan and China- distinguishable for their perfectly round, smooth shapes, their white color and bright, glossy luster that made the gem an instant favorite with War Brides the world over. If you’re looking for shiny, bright and perfectly round pearl earrings, then the Akoya pearls are definitely the best way to go. Our AA+ and AAA Qualities are nearly equivalent in terms of luster, but with AAA Quality pearls, you are assured a flawless surface.

Next up are cultured Chinese Freshwater pearls; only recently have the Chinese been able to culture truly round shapes, but they have definitely made up for lost time! These pearls are an excellent value, composed completely of nacre, they will last generations! They are known for being more satiny in terms of luster, and slightly off a truly round sphere (except in our Elite Collection / Gem Quality pearls), but again offer an excellent alternative to their higher priced saltwater cousins. We offer AA+, AAA and our Elite Collection Qualities- and of the two sizes you’re thinking about, I would very highly recommend that you purchase the 10.0-11.0mm size as we have extremely limited qualities (maybe 5 pairs?) and have recently become very hard to get.

I hope this helps you come to a decision, and if you have any other questions or if I can be of further assistance, please feel free to contact me at anytime- I am always happy to help! I am looking forward to hearing from you soon, and have an excellent day!

Sincerely,

Ashley McNamara

To Whom This May Concern,
 
I just bought a pearl necklace and set of pearl earrings, but I was unable to ascertain the nacre on those pearls. Will all the specs of the pearls come with the purchase? Otherwise, can you tell me the nacre level?
 
Sincerely, Seth B.
 
Dear Seth,
 
Thank you for shopping with PurePearls.com! The Akoya pearl’s nacre thickness can really only be measured using X-rays at a gemological laboratory like GIA, which charges between $125.00-$150.00 for the service and complete gemological certification. While we can certainly send your pearls to GIA for testing, we do not regularly have all of our pearls X-rayed or certified scientifically due to not only the added expense but also the basic parameters vis-à-vis nacre thickness in Akoya saltwater pearls. The exception is our Hanadama grade Akoya pearls which are all examined by the Pearl Science Laboratory (PSL) in Tokyo, Japan and issued a gem certification that details attributes such as luminescence, nacre thickness, refraction and reflection rates, blemish rates and such. I can assure you that we purchase only the finest quality Akoya on the market and our AAA Quality are equivalent to Mikimoto’s A-1 Grade, which is quite excellent by today’s standards.
 
Typically, saltwater Akoya pearls are left to accrue nacre for a period of 8-12 months inside the oyster; this cultivation time is drastically shortened from the early days of pearliculture (1915-1940ish) when many farmers would leave their oysters in the water for a period of 2 to 2 ½ years or so, slowly depositing nacre around the bead nucleus. This is due to a variety of reasons, but the biggest reason is the most obvious- the faster turnover a farmer can have in getting his harvests to market, the more money he makes. However this shortened time frame (which has occurred gradually over a period of decades) also results in pearls with nacre deposits literally measuring in the microns. Even the very finest Akoya pearls (Hanadama Quality) have minimum nacre standards of between 0.4-0.8mm; standard Akoya are closer to about 0.3-0.4mm approximately which is true whether you are purchasing Chinese or Japanese Akoya pearls. That said, the larger the pearl is, the longer the farmer must keep it in cultivation and does accrue more nacre out of sheer necessity- so, a 9.5mm pearl will have thicker nacre than a 6.5mm pearl, etc.
 

Nacre thickness is an important factor when trying to decide which pearl types to purchase, and a quick and easy way to visually evaluate whether a pearl has enough crystalline material around the bead nucleus to last through the years is to gently roll sections of the strand between your thumb and forefingers and look for what we call “blinking”, which is best described as a light or dark flicker of the bead nucleus visible beneath the surface of the pearl. With the 6.0-6.5mm and 6.5-7.0mm pearls, you may see some blinking in our pearls, but our AAA Quality is very fine, and for the most part our pearls err on the side of 0.4mm; the larger pearls such as 8.0mm and up almost never show this kind of phenomenon.

The picture below is of a black saltwater Tahitian pearl, but the cross section clearly shows the interior bead nucleus and the measurable nacre surrounding the bead… As you can see, the nacre on the Tahitian pearl is rather thick, measuring about 3.0mm; an Akoya pearl’s skin would be much thinner than this. French Polynesia (where Tahitian pearls are cultivated) have export laws that screen out any pearl with less than 3.0mm nacre thickness in order to maintain very high quality standards for the exotic Black pearls.

 
I do hope that you enjoy the pearls that you purchased from us, and found my answer helpful to you. Please feel free to contact me anytime if you have other questions or you would like additional information regarding the famous Akoya- I am always happy to be of assistance! Thank you again for shopping with PurePearls.com, and have a wonderful day!
 
Sincerely,
 
Ashley M.

Sales VP, PurePearls.com

 Hi, I am looking for a long South Sea pearl mixed color necklace, using grey, gold and black pearls, around 30″ long. Have you ever made something similar? Kathlene
 
Dear Kathlene,
 
Thank you for your interest in PurePearls.com! We create each one of our South Sea and Tahitian pearl necklaces using loose, un-drilled pearls that are hand-matched according to your preferences for color, graduation and placement. Our customers love this method of creating their very own necklace because it gives them so much more control over the final layout and overall look of the pearls. Each pearl is priced out depending upon its’ type, color, luster, size and quality, so until a final layout is actually created, I can only furnish you a price estimate that is subject to change.
 
The typical Pelosi layout (pictured in the attachment) consists of Golden and White South Seas Pearls and the Grey/Black Tahitian pearls interspaced at set intervals i.e. 2 Tahitian pearls, 1 White South Sea, 2 Tahitians, 1 Golden, 2 Tahitians… and so on until the necklace is completed. Of course, there are individual variances according to personal taste- some women enjoy the look in reverse, or with Golden tones dominating the spectrum; there is so much room to get creative and really make the necklace a one of a kind!
 
Because the Tahitian and White/Golden South Sea pearls are the largest pearls available on the jewelry market today (their oysters P. margaritifera and P. maxima both are quite large and can attain sizes of up to one foot in length upon maturity!), their sizes will range in size from 8.0mm up to 20.0mm. The typical South Seas or Tahitian necklace will consist of a graduated range of pearls usually from 9.0-12.0mm or 11.0-13.0mm and so on, but of course, non-graduated strands (10.0-11.0mm) are also easily made. We also only deal in AA-AAA Quality pearls, and can create necklaces that are completely spotless/blemish-free or strands that have a few pearls in the mix that contain inclusions (artfully and thoughtfully hidden near the back to ensure maximum beauty J) to keep the costs down.
 
As a general rule of thumb, the Tahitian pearls are less expensive than the Golden South Seas, which are less expensive than the White South Seas, and larger sizes above 13.0mm range in the $1K and up per pearl. The price range for a typical Pelosi strand i.e. 18-Inches, 3.0mm graduation, AA+/AAA Quality using the Tahitian pearl majority layout will be about $10,000.00 to $12,500.00, so a 30-Inch necklace will be almost double that- again depending upon all the various factors described above. That said, I can honestly assure you that a necklace of this length and style will be a breathtaking sight to behold, and truly a treasure that will shine for generations. I can hardly wait to get started the more I think about it!  A necklace of this style and quality can take us anywhere from two to three Business Days to sort, match and drill, or longer depending on how detailed you want to get.
 
I’d love to know what you think about the necklace of your dreams- it sounded from your description below that you’re interested mostly in a Tahitian and Golden South Sea layout which we can easily do, but I need your ideas and vision to help guide the process! I would like to know exactly what colors, sizes, luster and quality pearls (along with your ideal budget ballpark to establish the quality mix and parameters) you’d love to see, and we can begin selecting pearls and placing them in a layout for your initial approval. Every step of the way, I provide detailed photographs of the pearls to be used and their placement, so you have a lot of say in the creative process of finalizing the design and overall look!
 
I am looking forward to hearing from you soon! Please let me know if you have any questions, or if I can be of further assistance- I am always happy to help. J Have an excellent evening.  
Sincerely,
  
Ashley McNamara

Vice President of Sales

 �

What’s the difference in luster between the South Sea pearls and the Akoya?

Thanks!

Mary G.

Des Moines, IA
 
Dear Mary, The main differences between South Sea pearl luster and Akoya luster are the sharpness of reflections seen in their surfaces, and brightness. Akoya pearls are known for their bright, glossy luster and razor-sharp surface reflections- when you look to evaluate an Akoya pearls’ luster, reflected light on the surface should have sharp, crisp borders and you should be able to distinguish some of your facial features staring back at you (with really great Akoya pearls you’ll be able to make out your entire face!). South Sea pearls have a much softer, more satiny glow to them; light reflected on the surface of the pearl will be slightly blurry on the borders and it’ll be rather difficult to make out facial details. There are a few reasons for this: nacre thickness, luster treatments and the water temperature of the pearl farm during cultivation.
 
The luxurious South Sea pearls have what is considered very thick nacre around the bead nucleus- typically measuring between 2.0-6.0mm! The attribute known as luster- which can be characterized as both that subtle inner glow that entrances the eye, as well as how well the pearls’ surface reflects light and objects at the viewer- requires a light source striking the surface of the pearl and then traveling through to the center nucleus, refracting and reflecting light throughout the various layers of crystalline material (nacre) and then bouncing back towards the surface. Two to six millimeters of opaque crystal all of a sudden seems like a huge distance for light to travel through! The thick nacre deposited around the nucleus of the pearl is the result of a cultivation period that spans at a minimum 2 years, and the warm, clean waters of the South Seas which speeds up the oyster’s metabolic processes, encouraging rapid nacre deposition around the bead, and a looser aragonite platelet arrangement that results in a softer glow.
 
By contrast, Akoya pearls are cultivated in the much colder waters of Japan and China for a drastically shorter period of 9-16 months! This means that the nacre deposits around the nucleus are much thinner than that of their South Sea cousins, with an average of .3-.6mm showing around the bead.  Additionally, the colder waters actually slow the oyster’s metabolic rates, leading to slower nacre deposition, and tighter, contracted nacre layers which will transmit light beams much more rapidly and give the impression of sharper, glossier luster that the Akoya pearl is famous for the world over.
 
After harvest, the Akoya pearl is typically sent to a processing center in China, where various treatments are applied to help the pearls maintain their uniformity of look (another famous attribute of Akoya pearls is that they are all almost perfectly matched). One of these treatments can often be a luster treatment, in which a thin veneer of glossy lacquer-like substance is lightly applied to the surface of the pearl in order to enhance its’ shine. Luster treatments do not harm the durability of the pearl, and are considered standard industry-wide. It should be noted that South Sea pearls (both the Silver and Golden varieties), are not treated or processed in any way other than a bath after harvest to rid them of any left over smell, and gentle tumbling with wax-covered walnut chips, soft bark and cork pieces for about 20-30 minutes to naturally enhance their outer shine.

Dear PurePearls, Do you recommend purchasing cultured peasrls for investment purposes?
Many Thanks, C.B.
 

Hi C.B.! 

First, Thank you for your interest in PurePearls.com! To answer your question: I hardly ever recommend purchasing any type of jewelry as an investment (with the exception of very rare colored gemstones such as Brazilian Paraiba Tourmaline, Russian or Brazilian Alexandrites, Kashmiri and Burmese Sapphires of very certain colors, Burmese Rubies and certain Emeralds). Cultured pearls- like all jewelry- are meant to be worn, enjoyed, and possibly passed down generations. This is not to say that your cultured pearls will not be worth what was paid for them, but rather they will not appreciate in value as would a rare vintage or a work of art… Cultured pearls are a manufactured, farmed gem; control of international supply and demand are carefully monitored so that each year harvests do not flood the market and devalue existing stocks, nor that certain items become so rare that their value skyrockets.
 
The only exception to this -ever- is with Natural and Exotic pearls, in which case you would need to start searching auction houses and fine estate jewelers. Additionally, there are the early Mikimoto productions that could be valuable circa 1912-1930(ish), however, unless the pearls are accompanied by the original clasp with the famous ‘M’ Hallmark, box, appraisal papers and invoice, then the pearls would likely be valued at current cultured pearl market values as they would have no provenance. Lastly, it should be noted that neither Mikimoto’s nor Tiffany’s culture their own pearls- their pearls are purchased at the exact same auctions and production centers that everyone else imports their pearls from; indeed, Mikimoto Pearl Company stopped culturing their own pearls in the early 1960’s to focus solely on their retail operations worldwide.