Thank you, Cathy. 
BWeaves, wow, you're right about that!  
This afternoon I restrung my recently-purchased consignment shop akoyas, using ivory Serafil from Pattye's shop. In the process of getting them ready, I saw one pearl with a larger than usual drill hole, and shone my light inside to see how thick the nacre is.  I liked what I saw!  I tried to get a shot of it.  There is a slight change in color where the nacre ends and the bead begins-- a thin white line.  It's clearer when I look at my huge original of this photo.
Also I noticed that the end 2 pearls on each side were not original to the strand.  They are whiter, a bit less lustrous, and looking inside the drill hole, they have about half as much nacre thickness as the pearl I photographed.  Someone had lengthened the necklace, which explains the mediocre knotting job.  I removed the 4 additional pearls.  The finished strand is now 6.2-9.0mm and 17.75".   I like that the graduation isn't drastic, as it is with some of the old strands. 
I'm just sitting at my desk in natural light for this shot.
This off-white color would look fabulous on my daughter's skin.    When she comes home for the long weekend in October I'll see if I can interest her in it. 

  Hey, a mother has to try!  
