I appreciate all the comments and information. My intent is to order online very shortly from one of those who responded. I did check at a jewelry store to see some live necklaces and they only had A and A+ Mikimoto pearls. These were very expensive, smaller than I wanted, and were not either flawless or terribly bright. They also said that they can't get AAA quality pearls anymore for some reason related to water temperature. However, AAA quality seems to be readily available on the net. It is hard to sort all this out. Again, thanks to everyone for the feedback.