Advice on buying pearls for fiance

[texas_jack]

Originally Posted by younglaw

I've heard good things about Freshadama too. It looks like the 8.5-9mm is almost twice the price of the 7-8mm. Is the difference in size that noticeable?

They are. My gf is also 5'8" and age 32 so I think a woman like her should wear larger pearls.

 

[tiecollector]

Here is a sizing chart:

http://www.pearlsofjoy.com/index.asp...n=Custom&ID=39

8.5-9mm is pretty large for a 32 year old, especially in this day and age. My gf is 29 and I'm going with the starter 6.5-7mm. I will upgrade them as time goes on, but I don't want to start off too large.

 

[Dmax]

We had a couple threads on pearls before. I think the size of the lady should be considered together with age, profession, etc when deciding on diameter of pearls. You may also need to shorten or order a shorter necklace to have it look the best on your significant other's neck. 18" seems to be the standard length while some retailers offer 16" as well.

Originally Posted by mafoofan

My only advice is to emphasize size over quality once you get beyond the 'A' rating--on a whole strand, the size of each individual pearl will make a much bigger visual difference than their grade.
I am not sure I agree with this. While Mikimoto may only sell the highest grades of pearls, online retailers offer several grades with lower quality pearls having significant surface imperfections, spotty shine and other defects like being "off-round". Some defects may be less visible on lighter color pearls and most online retailers offer liberal return policies but buyng the biggest, lowest rated pearls from a random website will not please the discerning crowd on SF. To make an analogy with diamonds, to me a slighlty smaller F color VS1 diamond is a better value than a lightly larger H color SI1 stone, other things being equal. Also wanted to mentioned that there is no universal pearl grading system you can relly on, similar to a diamond rating from a reliable rating lab like GIA or AGS. Retailer make up the ratings themselves. One online retailer may only have "AA" and "AAA" while others may use "AA"+, "AAA" and "AAAA". The ratings are useful when comparing pearls from a single retailer but could not be relied on fully when comparision shopping.

 

[TheFoo]

Originally Posted by Dmax

I am not sure I agree with this. While Mikimoto may only sell the highest grades of pearls, online retailers offer several grades with lower quality pearls having significant surface imperfections, spotty shine and other defects like being "off-round". Some defects may be less visible on lighter color pearls and most online retailers offer liberal return policies but buyng the biggest, lowest rated pearls from a random website will not please the discerning crowd on SF. To make an analogy with diamonds, to me a slighlty smaller F color VS1 diamond is a better value than a lightly larger H color SI1 stone, other things being equal.

Also wanted to mentioned that there is no universal pearl grading system you can relly on, similar to a diamond rating from a reliable rating lab like GIA or AGS. Retailer make up the ratings themselves. One online retailer may only have "AA" and "AAA" while others may use "AA"+, "AAA" and "AAAA". The ratings are useful when comparing pearls from a single retailer but could not be relied on fully when comparision shopping.

Thanks for enlightening me. I had no idea the grading system was proprietary to Mikimoto and not universal to the industry--so how the heck do I know if I got decent pearls from Mikimoto?

 

[haganah]

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/pearl/

you guys should watch that (i think there's probably a torrent of it out there too). mikimoto aren't even the best pearls from what i understand. anyway they also have the name of a book on pearl buying in there.

Enjoy.

 

[younglaw]

Just to update everyone. I ended ordering from pearlparadise.com...they are having a pretty amazing monthly special which was exactly what I was looking for.

Gem Quality cultured freshwater pearls 19.5" 8-9mm adjustable clasp for $450. If anyone is thinking about pearls for their gf/wife/fiance I recommend taking a look. They have a 90 day return policy, which is key for me. I'll update what I think of them when they arrive in the next couple of weeks.

 

[Dmax]

Originally Posted by mafoofan

Thanks for enlightening me. I had no idea the grading system was proprietary to Mikimoto and not universal to the industry--so how the heck do I know if I got decent pearls from Mikimoto?
Mikimoto only sells high and very high quality pearls so you have nothing to worry about. Other retailers may describe their best pearls as being "Mikimoto-quality" which illustrates the company's position as the industry standard for excellent pearls. Very high retail prices charged by Mikimoto allow them to pay a premium when competing for the best pearls from pearls farms and at auctions. Other retailers do sell Akoya pearls which are the same as the highest grades/quality pearls Mikimoto offers. They are known as "Hanadama" and have to come with a grading certificate from one of the Japanese pearl grading labs. The "Hanadama" quality is the only one that is a standard across the pearl industry. Other grades are assigned by each individual retailer, as I already mentioned.