Vintage Mikimoto Pearl help please...

[Tanya]

I was given an 18" strand by my mother about 10 years ago and they are in their original box with certificate book dated 1/29/1969 stamped with the M logo & SL. She said they were valued at $1200 back then. I am looking to get them revalued and i don't know how to go about it. I am may sell them, but would prefer to decide after a valuation. Do they gain or lose value over the years? I have attached photos for ya'll to help me out as i am at a loss with who in Houston, Tx, can help me. The pearls are originally from Australia and the certificate booklet was printed in Sydney. They start at 2mm and goes up to 7mm in the front center and have a creaminess in color.

[Bacca]

Hello, Tanya, and welcome. It's always nice when a vintage item is from a brand that is still in business, because there's often information readily available. In the case of Mikimoto, you can find information about getting an appraisal on their help page. You can take your necklace to one of the stores listed in the store locator or send it to a store. The appraisal will likely be for insurance purposes, so it won't reflect current market value.

Since you have the box and booklet, you might be able to sell the pearls for close to what your mom paid for them. To get a ballpark figure, use the advanced search feature on eBay to search completed auctions for a similar necklace. Look at items that sold and you'll see what people have been willing to pay. Factors that affect the price are condition of the piece, size of the pearls, and precious metal content of the clasp.

That looks like a lovely strand and I hope it brings you lots of enjoyment.

[Caitlin]

I have nothing to add to Bacca's answer. I hope you will report back if you find anything out or sell the piece or whatever. It is nice to see a happy ending.

[Mary Montpezat]

Hi Tanya, I think the memory of a $1200 valuation back in 1969 simply has to be a false memory, and the valuation would have been closer to $200. In 1969 the average house in Australia cost about $14,000 - so if accurate that $1200 would make the pearls worth $40,000 in today's money! Having recently had three Mikimoto pearl neckaces valued (and I asked for realistic, not insurance valuations) I probably have a pretty reliable yardstick, and I would say the valuation for these - depending on their lustre & quality - would have to be maximum $1200 to $1400 in today's money! Which is not to be sneezed at! : )

[pearlescence]

That is not necessarily the case- Pearl prices have had nothing to do with standard inflation which is the model you are using Mary. In 1969 there were no freshwater pearls to speak of, Mikimoto pretty much had the market monopoly in premium white round pearls (excluding naturals) so they could charge whatever they liked, and I am sure they charged a market price (by which I mean the price the market could bear...)

[Mary Montpezat]

pearlescence I'd love to agree with you, but $40,000 in today's money is simply too much of a stretch for an 18 inch string graduated pearls up to a maximum 7mm! And I'm not using the standard inflation model - I'm comparing consumer goods, which is valid. In 1969 in Australia a family station wagon car cost less than $2,000 brand new, which again equates to around $40,000 today. I'm afraid $1200 is simply impossible for such a modest item - and Mikimoto pearls were certainly highly regarded, but there are simply too many strings of Mikimoto pearls around, for them to have been that price in the 1960s! e.g. my mother had a double row of pearls dating from the mid 1960s (passed on to my sister), and she believes they were worth a few hundred pounds - which was a LOT of money. She tells me Mikimoto were not uncommon - they had been around since the late 19th century and were one of Japan's biggest industries. If pearls had been that expensive, Mikimoto wouldn't have been a standard fixture in middle-class Australian women's jewellery boxes!

[Caitlin]

900- 1300 is about what a fine akoya sells for on Ebay. There is hardly ever a Miki with box and papers. I think you could set the beginning price at a grand and at least get that.

[Mary Montpezat]

Tania you're just looking to revalue them, aren't you, rather than sell them? I agree with caitlin - for insurance purposes, a thousand dollars would be reasonable.

[Caitlin]

I went over to eBay and search for completed sales of mikis that size, with a box. One sold for 1k and another for $1,200.

[Tanya]

Mary, I almost fell off my chair thinking i had posted $1200 from 1969, when in fact it was when my mother had them last valued about 10 years ago at that price. Thanks for the approximate from your experience, i'm guessing the value may still be around what it was 10 years ago

[Tanya]

Thanks Bacca (and everyone else's comments), very happy to see pearl lovers helping out a newbie, I really appreciate it. I'll do an ebay search, but not selling them there, I'd rather do that privately and locally, I would be too nervous posting these out anywhere. They really are beautiful and I only ever wore them once and was paranoid the entire night about losing them and that was about 8 years ago. I'm still on the search to find someone local in the Houston area to get an expert to appraise them. The jury is still out on whether I would sell them or not just yet.

[Tanya]

Oh and I got the help page link. thank you

[Caitlin]

Houston is about as good a place to sell pearls as anywhere!

However, I would urge you to overcome your fear and just wear them! If you have any kind of fishhook clasp or pearl clasp, they will not come undone. Besides you cold add a tiny gold chain with two spring rings and clip that on either side of the clasp, down a pearl or so. Is the entire necklace knotted? Probably not, because they did not do that, but If not, you could have it redone with knots between each pearl. That is super secure. Pearls are tougher than you think.