What is this trademark?

[Nelly1815]

I recently bought a pearl necklace from eBay and I need to know what I have here. They are graduated 3-5ish and the clasp has 10k M stamped on it. The is a hook that slides into the actual clasp is where the stamp is and the mark is tiny tiny. Anyway the pearls are beautiful to me. They seem to be well made. Aside from the trademark, they are only notted on the last 4 pearls at each end, leaving the pearls touching everywhere else. I did read here that Mikimoto does this on their pearl necklaces because the nots take away from the beauty. I agree with that!
Anyway, this is a vintage necklace and I didn't pay much. But I really think I may have a Mikimoto here. The necklace is 16", 10k M and I know these are real cultured pearls.

Did they use the M without the clam shell on this type of hook? Is it possible that I do have a Mikimoto? I can post a picture later this evening, but the mark on the hook is way to small to capture with my camera.

Thanks

[jerin]

Hi Nelly
and welcome to the Forum. I don´t know if it could be a Mikimoto but search for earlier posts because I remember that we had the same questions before. However, I doubt that Mikimoto used 10 K gold for the Akoyas but I could be wrong. It will be easier to tell once you post pictures. I prefer to have knots between each pearl because if they are nice it would be a pity if you lose most of them if the strand breaks somewhere in the middle!

[Nelly1815]

Here are pictures of my necklace but they are not very clear. Any information you have is appreciated. the mark on the hook of the necklace is 10k M.

Thanks

[pattye]

Hi Nelly,

Hope you have done a search here to find info on Miki pearl strands, as there is lots of info here on the forum.

There were quite a few companies that sold pearls under a name which started with M, had multi syllables and ended with -to, so as to capitalize on Mikimoto's popularity and quality. Miki did make some vintage pieces in sterling, but to my knowledge they are well marked. (I recall the brand on my 70'ish strand is "Mirimoto" or some such--------

With the size pearls you have, historically the strands were generally not knotted, except for the last few pearls, just as yours is.

Very pretty pearls, and a lovely treasure for you! But probably not Mikimoto.