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Old 12-12-2006, 03:37 AM
mikehrz mikehrz is offline
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Join Date: May 2005
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Also, as has been discussed fairly extensively on this forum, one merchant's grades are NOT directly comparable with any other merchant's. The grading scales (including Jeremy's use of A-AAA + freshadama) are completely subjective and unique to each merchant that uses them. There is absolutely no guarantee that one seller's AAA strand will be as good as an AAA strand purchased elsewhere.

The only real exception is hanadama, which can only be certified by the Pearl Science Laboratory of Japan. You can read more about that here. It is also a subjective grade, but it is far more reliable than the letter grades used by individual merchants since all hanadama certs are issued by the same organization.

For the moment, Jeremy is the only retailer of freshadamas, as far as I know. The freshadama grade is also quite reliable, since (like hanadama) there is only one organization currently using that grade. Granted, unlike the Pearl Science Lab, Jeremy is a direct seller of pearls and therefore does have an "agenda" of sorts. However, he is known to be an extremely reputable dealer, and having established the standard of freshadama, it's fair to say that he isn't likely to ruin his company's reputation by significantly lowering the freshadama standard.

Quote:
Originally Posted by icevic
So far I have bought only for my wife because I haven't figured out how to integrate them into a man's wardrobe yet. Perhaps cufflinks? We'll see.
I see we have something in common. You may want to try something like this necklace. Consider a matching bracelet too. You can see pics of mine here. I've also got a tie tack made from a dyed freshwater pearl (not a freshadama). No pic, but I like it a lot. I'm also coveting one of these bracelets and have knocked around a couple ideas for a pearl ring with Jeremy. So the possibilities are definitely out there.
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