you guys are amazing. So I see that my akoya cultured pearls are nothing more than mother of pearls inserted into an akoya with up to .5mm of nacre on them whereas the freshwaters are solid nacre because of the tissue inserted into the mantle of a freshwater mollusk dissolves. Hence, the difference in wear. I've worn the nacre off of the Mikimotos. However, due to the lustre I like of the saltwater Akoya traditionally a freshwater would not even be an alternative but the freshadamas offer that lustre.
After talking this over with the hubby we are going to send off my Mikimotos for a few replacements and possibly buy me a strand of the freshadamas. However, the behavior of the associate at Bailey, Banks, and Biddle remains to be addressed tomorrow.