My Mikimoto experience

[mrselephant]

A little background about me, I know nothing about pearls. I only started reading about pearls after visiting the Shanghai Hongqiao pearl market and bought an Akoya necklace and earring set. It was a tourist thing that we did and it was sort of an impulse buy. After the purchase, I got a little obsessed in searching for info to see if I was ripped off and that led to me this forum.

Anyway, my husband and I went to Mikimoto (in Hong Kong) today and was amazed by the luster on some of their pearls. They were definitely shinier than my pearls from Shanghai. However, in general, I really doubt if they are THE best pearls you can get. Since I am new to pearls, I asked the saleslady to show me the difference between the A, AA, and AAA strands. She told me that in Hong Kong, they do not have such a rating! They have 3 rating categories, which are "Best of the Best", a medium quality class and a lower quality class. She said that in Hong Kong, they do not give certificates with their pearls. I then asked for an example of the 3 qualities in 7.5-8 necklaces and I was really disappointed in what she showed me. The luster for all 3 strands were much much better than my Shanghai strand, but ALL of them had more blemishes than mine! Mine had some blemishes too, but considering the prices for these pearls, I'd expect much less, not more! The "best of the best" strand is priced at over HKD 90k, the medium quality was HKD 52k, and the lowest quality was HKD 40k; all 16 inch necklaces. With these prices, I don't understand why people buy Mikimoto! This is just my newbie opinion. Maybe they have a better selection in the States?

Now I'm interested in going to the Hong Kong jewelry shows to see what they have as finished products. They can't be more expensive than the Mikimotos right? And they probably can get better quality? I was nervous about what I bought in Shanghai, but right now I'm pretty relieved I got a pretty decent strand for a small fraction of the price. What grade would rival Mikimoto's luster if I am considering Pearl Paradise, or any of the other online websites?

 

[jshepherd]

There is also a Hongqiao pearl market in Beijing. That's the place I purchased my first strand of pearls nearly 20 years ago.

Mikimoto does carry fine quality pearls but that doesn't mean all their pearls are going to be super fine. Although Mikimoto was a pioneer in cultivating pearls last century, today they buy pearls like other companies do, from the same growers and processors.

Mikimoto is a well-known brand and most of the time when buying from a luxury brand you are paying for the name. Mikimoto is a combination of name and quality, but you are still paying a lot for the name.

The most important value factor, especially with akoya pearls, is luster. In Japan, a strand with fine luster and blemishing is considered more valuable than a clean strand with low luster. When the strand is worn, people can't necessarily see minor blemishes, but they can all see the luster.

For a cleaner strand with luster as good or better than Mikimoto, a true, top-grade hanadama is the way to go.

 

[mrselephant]

Hi Jeremy,

Do you know why Mikimoto in Hong Kong don't use the A/AA/AAA rating system? When I compared the luster of the "best of the best" to their medium quality strand, my untrained eye really couldn't tell the difference. Would the higher price be due to it being a little more pink in colour?

Thanks!

 

[pattye]

Mrselephant,

Welcome and thanks for sharing your Mikimoto experience. We all learn from discussions like yours and Jeremy's.

 

[jshepherd]

Hi Jeremy,

Do you know why Mikimoto in Hong Kong don't use the A/AA/AAA rating system? When I compared the luster of the "best of the best" to their medium quality strand, my untrained eye really couldn't tell the difference. Would the higher price be due to it being a little more pink in colour?

Thanks!

It is hard to say, but Mikimoto uses a different system in Japan too.

I think the key thing to know about the "best of the best" is that the "best of the best" most likely just refers to what that particular store has in stock at the moment.

A few years ago a good friend of mine from Japan came to visit us for a week. His family is a pearl family, specializing in akoya pearls. We decided to check out the Rodeo Drive Tiffany & Co.

In the boutique, we asked to see a strand of akoya pearls. The salesperson brought out a single strand of akoyas around 8 mm and 18 inches in length. My friend and I examined the strand pretty closely and were critiquing the pearls, but in Japanese so the salesperson did not understand our conversation. The strand was not that great. The blemishing level wasn't too bad, but the luster was only ok and quite a lot of the pearls had visibly thin nacre.

I asked the salesperson what the quality grade was and she responded, "Tiffany & Co. only carries one quality -- the best." She then advises that a shorter strand might be better for my friend's wife and pulls out a 16-inch strand. The difference was night and day. The 16-inch strand had better luster, surface, and my friend was confident it was composed of koshimono akoya (left in the shell for two seasons). The strand was easily worth five times the first strand. But it was actually less expensive because it was a shorter strand, and the quality grade was the same -- the best, of course.

I've also gone to the Mikimoto store, which is across the street from Tiffany and examined their pearls with Hisano. Mikimoto does use a grading system, but I believe even their system can be subjective and vary a bit. Most of the strands in the store were A+ grade. The A+ grade was better than the first Tiffany strand, but for that quality a lot is being paid for the name.

This was about four years ago, but if I recall, they had three of four strands of AAA in the store. The strands had fantastic luster, but all of the AAA strands had clearly visible blemishes. According the Mikimoto's grading system, AAA has a "Blemish-Free Surface*." But notice that asterisk. At the bottom of their grading scale they note that "*Tiny marks are part of the pearl's natural texture."

Those marks are blemishes.

 

[CathyKeshi]

Very helpful, and very informative ... thanks

 

[mrselephant]

Thanks for all the info, Jeremy! I'll be going to Tiffany's and Tasaki's in the next few days. I know Tasaki is more affordable than Mikimoto. Do you know anything about their quality? The saleslady at Mikimoto said Tasaki is inferior, but I think she may be biased and would like to know your opinion. Thanks!

 

[Katbran]

Really interesting ! I was in there briefly in Feb this year...but I grew faint from the prices... good lesson for my sister in law though ...she was thinking of getting her granddaughter a strand for her birthday ...that idea got dropped like a hot potato lol

 

[KarinK]

You know what I really dislike about these overly expensive Brick and Mortar shops? People paying these prices for pearls often think they have made an investment and the day they need money, they'll be posting on PG and be bitterly disappointed about the resale price.

If it's gold or involves a lot of craftsmanship I can see some point in buying from a brand but pearls? Pearls are their own masters. It is impossible to see where they came from or who sold them.

- Karin

 

[Bailey1856]

I was quoted once a pair of 10-11mm Mikimoto GSSps for a whopping $5300 at one of the high-end jewelry stores here that carry only Mikimoto brand pearls. I politely declined

 

[cmd2014]

That was my experience at Mikimoto in NYC this past June. The AAA's had fantastic luster. Although the ones I looked at were not hugely flawed, they were not blemish free. Plus, I was quoted a price of $13,000.00 USD (pre-tax) for an 18 inch strand of 7 - 7.5mm pearls. Made me feel way better about my non B&M purchase that were of equal luster, almost zero blemishes (with close inspection I can see one tiny blemish on a single pearl near the back), and larger (7.5 - 8mm), for about 20% of the price. Tiffany's pearls seemed to have a quite a range in quality based on the strand, but also had more blemishes than I would have thought for such a high end store. The prices there were not as high as Mikimoto, but still stratospheric.

 

[Cees]

Bailey1856, you not help Mikimoto by not buying

 

[Bailey1856]

Cees, they didn't have them in store but I'm sure they're not more spectacular than a $1K pair I can get from vendors in this forum.

 

[Tumutoa Berg]

Thank you for conversating. Loved it.