A Pearl Tour, Mikimoto and Tiffany and Co.

So I have been out and about over the last few days. I am doing a sort of pearl-tourist thing. I’m sure most of you have done it. You don a disguise of ignorance and visit a few stores selling pearls just to see what tales will be spun in each establishment. Well on this little jaunt I went to Mikimoto and Tiffany & Co. with a friend that has more than just a wee bit of pearl knowledge as well.

Going to Mikimoto means looking at akoya pearls, right? Not really the case! The display cases were somewhat barren. I mean, the pearls were nice. But there were only about 10 strands. Of all the strands, there was only one strand of AAA grade.

“Where are all the top-grade pearls?” I asked. Their response was that they almost don’t even exist anymore. They’re impossible to get. Japan is drying up. The larger sizes (8 mm and above) are gone. Of course, not wanting to pull off my ignorance-cape I could not bring up the actual numbers in Japan. Like the 12/11/07 – 12/18/07 Ehime auction where nearly all materials concentrated in the 7 to 9 mm range, with the bulk being 8 to 9 mm. 8 mm pearls gone? I hardly think so. Try to find a farmer that is NOT growing that size a staple!

Of course we could not leave the store without checking out the monster strand of South Sea pearls on sale for a mere $1.6 million dollars! It is a beautiful strand of 17 to 19 mm whites with a striking silver-green overtone.

This was not the first time I had seen this one. The story was a bit different this time, however. The guy behind the counter told me it had taken them 21 years to put it together. Checking my notes from a year before and finding a link to the necklace online, I see that age had jumped an incredible 4 years. Using my powers of deduction and dividing by a keystone bullshit-factor of three, I’m guess it took them a few years to put it together, or maybe 2-3 Paspaley harvests. It was a nice strand.

Alas, we left Mikimoto empty-handed and headed over to Tiffany’s.

We wanted to see the akoya and the sales-lady was so kind to explain their grading to us. They don’t have one! They only carry the best - just one grade.

She proceeds to bring out a strand of 7.5-8 mm akoya that was lack-luster at best. Definitely second grade luster, but clean. Spinning the strand is was easy to spot pearls that did not quite match. A “koshimono” here and a .3 to .4 mm coated one there. The Mikimoto strands we had just seen were miles apart.

Seeing our initial impressions she pulled out another. This was the same grade, she said, but was 18 inches instead of 16. The difference was night and day. This strand had the luster, the matching and was spotless. Pulling the cloak aside just an inch, we discussed the differences in luster and overall quality, pointing out the sharp and dull reflections, occasional blinking in the first strand, and pearl grading.

Overall a fun day! I am still in pearl-tourist mode, though. So we may have to hit a couple more today. Too bad photos are not allowed!