Dear Judimcc6,
You are correct that "kasumiga" is a trademarked name, and there for it does not necessarily mean that the pearls called "kasumiga" actually have to come from Lake Kasumi Ga Ura in Japan, just that they are trademarked with a roughly similar name. (This may explain the surprising price) I hope that makes sense. I would be interested in seeing the collection you mentioned.
I should also mention that the trademarked name of kasumiga, was relatively affective market wide. We do have some long term customers who do buy and sell Japan Kasumi pearls and still mistakenly call them kasumiga, it is catchy (but that is about it).
Lake Kasumi is still producing pearls although there has been major drops in production in recent years. We are keeping our fingers crossed for the upcoming harvest in December. There are but 3 farmers producing pearls in the lake, and they produce a rare pearl not only because of the provenance but also because as production decreases, they become more valuable. (And as we all know unfortunately, very few types of pearls in today's market actually gain in value, nor are they expected to).
If you are interested I would be happy to send you an article, and some very technical information that we have collected about the pearls that we carefully refer to as : Japan Kasumi. ( so as not to be confused with the "kasumiga" trademark, or the recent additions of Chinese Kasumi).
Feel free if you have any questions in the mean time.
Cheers, Sarah
P.S. Thanks Caitlin... Hope all is shiney in your world!
