Mirror, Mirror, on the wall ... who is the fairest of them all? In our humble opinion, it might just be the lustrous Hanadama Akoya pearl!
Every day we receive questions from customers all over the world about pearls. We decided to post our answers here for every one to read!
When you close your eyes, and think of a pearl necklace - what do you see? Most people will answer a demure white pearl necklace, perfectly round, bright and lustrous. That perfect describes Akoya pearls!
But where do Akoya pearls come from? Let's find out!
Photo courtesy of Mikimoto Pearl Company
The saltwater Akoya pearl was first cultured in Japan by Kokichi Mikimoto, who was known as the Father of Cultured Pearls. Mikimoto got his start as a young man, working for his father’s noodle business in Japan, and running errands all over the seaside docks, selling noodles and other items to merchants there. He became fascinated by the ocean and all of its treasures, and this love affair birthed one of the modern world’s most coveted treasures: cultured pearls.
He spent many years experimenting with the mollusk used to grow Akoya pearls, Pinctada fucata martensii, growing many mabé Akoya (half-pearls grown on the shell of the oyster) before finally creating the holy grail: a fully round, gleaming cultured Akoya pearl. He spent additional years perfecting his techniques, and then opened his first Mikimoto Pearl Company retail outlet in the exclusive Ginza shopping district in Tokyo.
Photo courtesy of Kanpai-Japan.
Today, the name Mikimoto is synonymous with the classic white pearl necklace. There are Mikimoto retail locations in every major city spanning the globe from Los Angeles to London to Tokyo and Moscow. The Mikimoto Pearl Company spent decades culturing their own pearls and distributing them to retail locations and other jewelers for customers to purchase. However, since the 1970s, those operations were discontinued and Mikimoto decided to focus solely on retail operations as well as pearl and oceanographic science pursuits instead.
These days the Mikimoto Pearl Company purchases their pearls from the same pearl farmers and processors as Pearls of Joy (they do get the pick of the harvest though!). You can visit the Mikimoto Pearl Museum, built on the same site as the original farm in the Mie Prefecture of Japan, which houses some of the most famous pearl creations that Kokichi Mikimoto made for various World Fairs and celebrities while promoting his pearls.
Photo of Kokichi Mikimoto's Pearl Pagoda, built for the Philadelphia World's Fair held in 1926. Photo courtesy of Japan Travel.
Akoya pearl farming takes place primarily in the cold ocean bays in the southern half of the Japanese islands, in Mie Prefecture in Ago Bay and the sea of Ise Shima.
Akoya pearls are also farmed in Vietnam (known for their natural blue and golden Akoya pearl colors), China which produces smaller Akoya pearl sizes, and the United Arab Emirates which is reestablishing itself as a pearl producer. However, Japan is the undisputed champion of farming Akoya pearls and is legendary for producing the highest quality Akoya pearls in the world.
Currently there are around 680 active pearl farms in Japan, down from nearly 3,700 peak in the 1960s. The ageing population combined with the low birth rates of the Japanese people means that there are less and less working age people to operate the farms. That said, the farmers were able to produce 13,000 tons of jewelry quality Akoya pearls in 2022!
The farms consist of operating sheds, docks and boats and either floating rafts or buoys where the oysters are hung in nets while the oysters grow their pearls. Most of the farms are smaller, family-run operations, but some larger companies like Tasaki operate more than one farm.
The process of seeding an oyster with a bead nucleus is a delicate operation. Inside the operating shed is where technicians gently open the young oysters, and then nucleate them with a mother of pearl bead nucleus which begins the pearl formation process. The oyster is returned to a healing tank to recuperate from the operation, and the mollusk begins enveloping the nuclei in a pearl sac, and proceeds to coat the bead in layers of lustrous nacre.
A grafting technician skillfully operates on an Akoya pearl oyster, placing a bead nucleus inside to begin pearl formation. Photo courtesy of Pearl Falco pearl farms.
The newly operated on and healed oysters are transferred to lantern baskets to be suspended from rafts or buoys and left alone to grow their pearls. The pearl formation process takes between 18 and 24 months; this is a delicate balancing act for the farmer: the longer a pearl stays within its host oyster, the thicker and more lustrous the nacre will be. However, increased time in the water also increases the risks of natural disasters such as storms or algae blooms, which can wipe out the entire oyster population.
Farmers periodically check on their oysters throughout the growing process to make sure that the bead nuclei haven't been rejected, to clean them of parasites and algae growth and to ensure that the mollusks are healthy and happy, slowly growing the lustrous harvest of pearls to come.
Finally harvest time arrives with the advent of November and December, when the ocean waters are colder. The cooler temperatures of the sea cause the pearl’s nacre layers to contract tightly, producing pearls with their trademark ball-bearing shine that makes them so famous around the world.
Once the Akoya oysters are ready to be harvested, workers haul up hundreds of baskets holding thousands of mollusks bearing pearls. As we mentioned above, Japan produces around 13,000 tons of pearls each year, but not all of them are jewelry quality. The vast majority of pearls will be gray, brown or yellowish in color; many will have too many blemishes to use. The pearls that are deemed acceptable are sorted out and sent to the many pearl processing factories for treatment.
99.9% of all jewelry quality Akoya pearls harvested are treated via a process called “Bleaching and Pinking”. This involves immersing the pearls in a hydrogen peroxide solution, and then exposed to bright UV light for approximately 2 weeks to bleach out the unacceptable tints of yellow, gray, green and brown/red. This leaves the pearls are beautiful, bright white. But that’s not all!
Next the pearls are sent for a treatment called “Pinking” or "Toning". This procedure helps to standardize the pearls’ colors, which makes it much easier to match a necklace or bracelet strand. The pearls are soaked in jars containing a light red dye (each processing factory has its own secret recipe) for a few days, imbuing the pearls with their famous rosé overtones and subtle iridescence. These treatments are considered “standard” for Akoya pearls, and are not disclosed on appraisals or gem reports unless specifically requested.
The pearls are then carefully drilled on site. Skilled drillers and high speed, specially built drills are employed to select the exact right spot where a pearl should be drilled, either half-way for earrings, pendants or rings, or fully-drilled for use in necklaces and bracelets. Processing factories very rarely leave Akoya pearls undrilled; this is because the smaller sizes of the pearls (ranging from 3.0-4.0 mm up to 9.5-10.0 mm) and the relatively thinner nacre layers around the bead nucleus make drilling a risky affair for the average jeweler, who could accidentally crack the pearls, or even scorch them with the drill’s high temperatures.
Photo courtesy of Flower-Jem, an Akoya pearl farmer in Japan
After treatment and drilling comes the meticulous activity of sorting and matching. The pearls must be divided into in A-AAA quality grades using the “Value Factors” which include Surface Quality, Luster Levels, Shape, Size and Matching. Very high quality and exceptional pearls are usually set aside for Hanadama Certification by the Pearl Science Laboratory in Tokyo.
Using white daylight lamps, the pearls are then matched into loose hanks for Akoya pearl necklaces and bracelets. Loose pearls are matched into loose pairs for Akoya pearl earrings, pendants or rings. They are then packaged and ready for sale either at an auction, or via a wholesaler who will sell them to a jeweler.
Not every necklace is going to be exactly, 100% perfectly matched, as pearls are an organic gemstone, so some very slight differences in color, overtone or luster can be seen upon close examination. Overall however, Akoya pearls are known for their near-perfect matching and should appear as near as possible to “uniform appearance”.
At Pearls of Joy, we purchase our pearls directly from the pearl farmers and processing facilities of Japan, making sure that your new Akoya pearl jewelry has as few middleman markups as possible on its journey to you.
For Akoya pearls, we work strictly with the Japanese Grading System, and never purchase pearls graded lower than AA+ quality. That way, you’re assured you are only purchasing within the top 10% of each pearl harvest. We purchase loose hanks and pre-matched pairs of pearls from the pearl processing factories themselves so you only get the best, at significant wholesale-to-the-public prices discounts.
Popularly known as "Flower Pearls" for their delicate to deep rose overtones, each Hanadama Japanese Akoya Pearl Necklace features some of the most brilliant, luminous luster ever seen. Graduating from 8.0-8.5mm, this Hanadama Pearl Necklace exudes timeless elegance.
Featuring the thickest nacre of any Akoya pearl in the world, our hand-crafted Hanadama Pearl Necklaces are individually double-knotted by hand on fine white silk, and is finished with a 14K Gold Clasp of your choice. Every Hanadama Necklace is hand-made to order here at our Los Angeles, CA workshop.
Each Hanadama Collection Necklace arrives with its own numbered Pearl Science Laboratory certificate from Tokyo, Japan, detailing the pearls' surface quality, nacre thickness and x-ray results. Your new Hanadama Akoya Pearl Necklace arrives secured in a fine Jewelry Presentation Box for you to keep and is accompanied by a certificate of authenticity and Pearl Care Instructions.
