7x7.5mm AA Quality pearl Japanese Akoya cultured pearl necklace 16" Product Description:
Product Description
7 x 7.5mm - Generally for younger women, 18 to 25 years This is the best size for a starter necklace for a younger woman. It's the necklace she wears for her first day of work as a career woman. It's very popular as a college graduation gift and a wedding-day gift from the groom, and is also great for new mothers and just about any worthy occasion in a young woman's life: Valentine's Day, Secretary's Day, Mother's Day, a baby shower, or a "just to say I love you" present
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful.
Tiffany and Mikimoto AA quality!!!
By LoveMyToys
I am thrilled with my purchases from American Pearl, but I want to explain why in a way that you can appreciate. This Christmas season I was out to purchase a top quality set of pearls for my wife. She always wanted a beautiful set of pearls. Even when we were looking for engagement rings years ago, she would end up staring at the Japanese Akoya pearls (not that she didn't drool over the diamonds too). This year, I wanted to make her dream come true. Neither of us are fussy about name brands, but we don't compromise on quality. When I am going to make a significant purchase, I like to be an informed consumer (to the extreme in fact). I spent about 2 months learning about pearls, shopping at the best stores (Tiffany & Co. and Mikimoto) and even reading some books on pearls (and visiting forums like pricescope).I have always shopped on Amazon, but shopping for pearls whether Amazon, Ebay or from any online vendor can be risky. There are so many vendors on this site that throw around terms like AA and AAA or AAA+ to describe their pearls. There is no industry accepted standard for grading pearls and merchants are free to set what ever grades they want for their pearls. One merchants A could be another merchant's AAA. Grades are generally useless for comparison shopping. The only way they are relevant is if the merchant is actually benchmarking its grades to Mikimoto (which is the benchmark by which all other pearls are compared). American Pearl's grading system is benchmarked to Mikimoto. The AA pearls that bought from American Pearl are the same quality in all respects to pearls you would buy at Tiffany's or a AA strand from Mikimoto. When you see other vendors selling AAA or AAA+ (a grade they made up themselves) pearls, for substantially less than American Pearl's AA, understand that you are not getting the same quality. You're getting a trumped up strand of what is likely an inferior grade of pearl. I'll put this in some context.Mikimoto mastered the art of culturing akoya pearls over 100 years ago and is still considered the benchmark by which all other pearls are compared. Mikimoto offers very high quality of pearls. The lowest quality pearls sold with the Mikimoto brand still fall within the top 5% of the akoya pearl harvest. To differentiate between the quality of its pearls (and the huge difference in price from its lowest to highest level), Mikimoto created it's own standard for grading Japanese Akoya pearls based on a scale of D, C, B, A1, A, A+, AA and AAA. D and C grade pearls are not jewelry grade and are generally crushed and used for makeup or for other commercial use. At best, they end up as beads in craft stores. Most pearls produced are C grade quality. The next level on the grading system is B quality, which is used in low end jewelry. B quality comprises pearls are typically found at department stores (even higher end ones like Lord & Taylor and Bloomingdale's) and mall jewelry stores. These pearls generally fall in the top 20-6% of the pearl harvest. To expand it's market share, mikimoto created two low end lines of pearls under the brand names Sea Magic (sold at Jared's and other similar stores) and Blue Lagoon (sold at Zales and similar stores). These pearls are blemished and have poor lustre--but are premium priced to capitalize on the brand affiliation with Mikimoto. Aside from the name, these are poor quality pearls that don't meet the standards for sale with the Mikimoto brand. Lustre is the reflection of light off the surface of the pearl. Akoya's pearls are valued on a number for factors, but first and foremost is lustre (the most prized value).Pearl's sold using the Mikimoto branding start with the more familiar A1, A, A+, AA and AAA grades. A1 is the lowest grade pearl that Mikimoto will sell bearing the Mikimoto name. A1 pearls are slightly blemished, and have but have good lustre and medium nacre (skin of the pearl). A is a very slightly blemished and better matched than A1, with good lustre and medium nacre. A+ has very slightly blemished pearls, with very good lustre, and medium to thick nacre. AA is minimally blemished, with excellent matching, excellent lustre and thick to very thick nacre. AAA pearls are flawless, with outstanding matching, outstanding lustre, very thick nacre. In short, AAA pearls is the finest grade of pearls available. AAA strands are also rare. Even Mikimoto stores only have a few strands in their inventory at any given time. Tiffany & Co. is also well known for selling outstanding quality pearls at equal eye watering prices. Tiffany does not have it's own grading system (at least one that it publicly acknowledges), but Tiffany strands are generally AA quality on the Mikimoto grading standard and Tiffany prices its strands directly in line with with Mikimoto AA strands (which would be $5,400 for an 18" 7x7.5mm strand).I was doing some research to find a true equivalent to Tiffany and Mikimoto AA and AAA quality at wholesale prices. American Pearl is a direct importer of pearls and, through a lot of research, I found out that American Pearl is one of the suppliers to Harry Winston and Tiffany!!! AP also has a showroom on Fifth Avenue in NYC, only a few blocks from Tiffany flagship store and Mikimoto's NYC store and has been in business as a B&M for over 50 years. If you're in NYC, you can comparison shop Miki, Tiffany and American Pearl all in an hour or two. American Pearl's grading system is equivalent to the Mikimoto system. When you buy a AA strand from AP you are getting a strand that is on par with a strand you would buy at Tiffany or a AA strand from Mikimoto. AP also offers strands that are equivalent to Mikimoto AAA (of the very highest order), but these strands cost considerably more.I purchased an entire set (18" 7x7.5mm, bracelet and studs) for my wife for christmas. The set was stunning. My wife wore the studs to tiffany's so we could do a direct comparison to Tiffany's strand. It was a dead match!! I couldn't be any happier. AP gave me exactly what I wanted---Tiffany and Mikimoto AA quality for a below wholesale price. I emphatically give American Pearl my STRONGEST recommendation.
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