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June 2016 Pearl Buying Trip [Part 2]

Today was mostly about Akoya pearls, which unfortunately seem to be getting more expensive with each passing gem show. The one shining light is I was able to purchase  "Hanadama" & "Madama" certified strands of exceptional quality and pricing. I believe I'll be able to run a great special on these pearls in the near future - stay tuned for more details!

Hanadama Certified Akoya Pearls

Hanadama pearls, are Akoya pearls that have been examined by the Pearl Science Laboratory of Japan. They are inspected for nacre thickness, imperfections and extremely high luster. Pearls that meet the standards set by the laboratory are given an individually numbered Hanadama certificate.

 It's important to note that the"Hanadama" designation represents a quality range, not an exact grade. If you select Hanadama pearls based on lowest price(wholesale or retail), you will inevitably be buying pearls on the lower end of the scale. When investing in a strand of Hanadama, you want to be confident you're getting pearls at the top end of the scale.




Madama Certified Akoya Pearls

"Madama" Akoya pearls are natural color(silver to blue) untreated Akoya pearls, that have undergone the same certification process as regular white Hanadama. These pearls are typically silver to blue in color, with strong orient and about as rare as rare can be. Over the years I've sold a lot of natural blue Akoya pearls, but this is the first time I've brought in stock of certified Madama Akoya.










Vietnamese Akoya Pearls

Vietnam is a country that for some time now has been quietly been producing fantastic Akoya pearls. While they will likely never be a major threat to the Japanese Akoya industry, they do have one advantage -- natural blue Akoya pearls. For reasons unknown, Vietnam produces some of the most intense natural color Akoya pearls available. The only problem is there's never enough available to reliably source them. This time around I had to be content with only selecting a small handful of loose baroque pearls.





The Perfect Blue "Ring" Pearl

Blue South Sea pearls weren't on my shopping list this trip, but being one of my favorite pearls I couldn't help but have a quick look. The only pearl that really stood out was this chubby flat bottomed pearl - perfect for an amazing ring.





Fancy Color Tahitians Pearls

Just as I was about to call it a day, I found this small lot of Tahitian pearls with near metallic luster and insane colors.The only downside being the steep price tag that came with them. With pearls like this, it's easy to talk yourself into a purchase, but I resisted the urge to pull the trigger. But it's very encouraging to see this level of luster and color coming out of Tahiti.





That's it for part two of my report, If you enjoyed the pics leave a comment below and let me know which were your favorite pearls.

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