LET US EXPLORE ONE OF NATURE'S GREATEST GIFTS PEARLS

Natural pearls have been highly valued and held as objects of beauty for many centuries. The word ‘pearl’ has even become a metaphor for something fine, very rare, admirable and valuable.

Pearls are formed naturally when a foreign object such as a shell fragment or grain of sand lodges inside an oyster. If the oyster cannot expel the irritant its natural defence is to surround the object with layers of protective coating - ‘nacre’ thus forming a pearl.

The process of cultivating pearls mimics natures own. Oysters are gathered from the sea and implanted with a specially selected irritant or nucleus. It is only this process of nucleation that distinguishes a cultured pearl from a natural pearl.

After the nucleus is inserted, the oysters are returned to the sea where nature takes over.

Please click the tabs to learn more about each individual aspect of pearls.

STANDARDS OF EXCELLENCE MIKIMOTO

Each pearl is as different and individual as a fingerprint, making it essential to follow quality grading standards.

As the Originator of Cultured Pearls, Mikimoto has maintained the highest standards of quality and consistency by devoting more than a century to understanding the sea and researching the oyster.

Mikimoto developed a proprietary grading system, unique within the cultured pearl industry, which accurately and consistently grades its pearls based on lustre, surface perfection, colour, shape and size.

There are four Mikimoto grades: A, A+, AA and AAA with AAA being the highest quality.

A mere three to five pearls out of everyone one hundred harvested are deemed worthy to bear the Mikimoto name.

UNDERSTANDING QUALITY

Lustre

The surface glow, as well as the deep, mirror-like reflection of the light, or ‘inner-light’ of a pearl, is know as the lustre. The better the nacre quality of the pearl, the more superior its lustre. Only the highest quality pearls radiating the most luminous luster carry the Mikimoto name.

Surface Perfection

The tiny marks found on the surface of a pearl are part of is natural texture, and like the rarest silk, part of its intrinsic nature. Generally, the less blemished the pearl, the higher its quality and value.

Colour

There is a wide spectrum of colours that can be found in pearls, including cream, silver, pink, gold, green, blue and black. The colour you select is ultimately a matter of personal preference and should complement your skin tone. Regardless of colour preference, pearl colour should be a rich and even, emanating from deep within the pearl.

Shape

Of the many shapes available, perfectly rounded pearls are truly the rarest and most valuable. Exotic shapes such as teardrop, oval, button and baroque are also available and are used to create unique jewellery designs.

Size

Pearls are measured in diameter increments of millimetres (mm). Larger pearls are more difficult to cultivate, as there is an increased likelihood the oyster will reject the larger implanted nucleus. Akoya pearls range from 3mm to 10mm in size. Sea pearls start at 8mm.

LOOKING AFTER YOUR PEARLS CARE

With proper care, cultured pearls will last for generations.

Cultured pearls are organic in nature and should be kept away from chemicals, perspirations, cosmetics and perfumes, which may damage their appearance.

In order to protect your pearls from harm, they should be the last thing you put on and the first thing you take off. 

To keep your pearls at their most lustrous do not use ultrasonic jewellery cleaner. We recommend that you gently wipe off any oils and fingerprints with a soft cloth after each wearing.

By keeping your pearls in the original pouch or box, you can protect them from getting scratched by other gemstones or jewellery.

Pearls should not be stored in a security box for long periods of time as this may cause them to dehydrate. We recommend taking your pearls out of such boxes frequently.

Mikimoto pearls are strung with a fine silk thread that is knotted between each pearl. Even if your pearls are not worn often, we suggest you restring them annually as the silk may become soiled and weakened. 

Over time, pearls do change in appearance. However, if you follow our recommendations, you should enjoy your jewellery for many years to come.

LEGEND OF THE PEARL KING

A precious pearl from the sea, natures own secret and one mans dream. Kokichi Mikimoto, the founder of Mikimoto was the man whose lifelong quest was to perfect the art of cultivating exquisite pearls to adorn women everywhere.

After many years of effort he succeeded in 1893, thus beginning an industry.

‘I would like to adorn the necks of all the women in the world with pearls” Kokichi Mikimoto said shortly after his success.

The elegant beauty of Kokichi’s pearls was eventually recognised throughout the world and his wish was fulfilled as Mikimoto became a global brand.

Today, almost all pearls on the market are cultured pearls, cultivated by the method developed by Kokichi Mikimoto.

NATURE'S GIFT

Pearls are formed naturally when a foreign object such as a shell fragment or grain of sand lodges inside an oyster.

If the oyster cannot expel the irritant its natural defense is to surround the object with layers of protective coating, ‘nacre’ thus forming a pearl.

CULTURED PEARLS

What is a cultured pearl?

Kokichi Mikimoto, the founder of Mikimoto, was the first who developed the technology of Akoya pearls cultivation in 1893.

In 1914 on the Japanese island of Okinawa he created the world's first oyster farm where black pearls were cultivated (now they are widely known as “Tahitian pearls”). 

Pearl culture technology is simply a stroke of genius: oysters are gathered from the sea and implanted with a specially selected irritant or nucleus.

After the nucleus is inserted, the oysters are returned to the sea and nature takes over, the process for the pearl to form takes many years.

The end result is one where the cultured pearl is almost indistinguishable from a natural one, and the only way to identify cultured pearls is to transluminate the nucleus using an X ray.

TYPES OF PEARLS

Akoya

The Akoya pearl is the most common type of pearl for modern jewellery buyers. Akoya has been cultured since the late XIX century. Kokichi Mikimoto was the first who achieved success in cultivating Akoya pearls in 1893. Akoya pearls are now cultivated in Japan and China.

Typical Akoya pearls have round or almost round shape (70-80% of pearls), and 20-30% of them have a peculiar Baroque shape or so-called Semi-baroque shape, its size varies from 2 to 11 mm. Most often Akoya pearls of 6-8 mm diameter can be found in jewellery.

The basic colour of Akoya varies from white to cream with yellow, pink, and green undertones. In the jewellery market one can find Akoya pearls with a glow ranging from weak to excellent, its surface may have slight imperfections or it could be perfectly flat.

South Seas Pearls

Leaders in the cultivation of South Seas pearls are – Australia, Indonesia and the Philippines. The size of the pearls varies from 8 to 20 mm. The most common shapes are symmetrical oval, drop or button shaped (40-60% of cultured pearls).

Rarer shapes (10-30% of pearls) are spherical or close to a perfect sphere. 20-40% of South Seas pearls have a Baroque form.

The main colour of South Seas pearls ranges from white to silver with yellow, yellow-orange and blue and pink undertones, and greenish blue.

Tahitian

These pearls are cultivated mainly around the islands of French Polynesia. The largest and most famous of them is Tahiti after which the pearls were named.

The size of Tahitian pearls ranges from 9 to 14 mm. They are cultivated in approximately equal numbers (40%) of the spherical pearls and almost spherical shape and baroque forms. The remaining, 20%, have a symmetrical oval shape, button shape and drop.

The main colour of Tahitian pearls ranges from light grey to brown and black with shades of purple, yellow-green and blue-green and half-tones of pink, green, blue.

Freshwater pearls

Unlike Akoya, Tahitian pearls and South Seas pearls, cultured in salt water, these pearls are grown in ponds and lakes. Its colors, shapes and sizes are extremely diverse. The size ranges from 8 to 20 mm, most cultured pearls have symmetric oval drop shape and button shape (40-60%), its more rare ones to find Baroque shape (20-40%) and spherical shapes (10-30%).

The main colour of freshwater pearls varies from white to cream and silver with shades of yellow, yellow-orange and blue undertones and pink, green and blue.

The main suppliers of freshwater pearls on the market are China and the United States.

Conch and Melo pearls

The value of Conch pearls is due to its rarity: a chance to find such a pearl is extremely small: only one in 10-15 thousand of Conch shells can be opened. Conch pearls arguably may not even be classed as pearls, but have their own independent gemological class (due to its unlikeness to other types of pearls). In addition, this unique pearl pink shade with porcelain shine can not be cultivated.

Conch shellfish (Strombus gigas) can be found in the Caribbean. Conch itself can have different colours, but the most valuable is the delicate pink shade. There were precedents when a Conch weighing more than 45 carats was found, but such cases are extremely rare: to find a pearl over 10 carats is considered a huge success.

Melo pearl became known to the jewellery world even later than Conch, it is also not cultivated, and its weight is also measured in carats. This pearl is valued for its amazing orange color, due to what is considered to be one of the freshest discovery of Western world jewelry.

Their fame spread all over the Western world in the 1990s. The fact that this pearl was highly valued in the East and almost unknown in the West and suddenly became rather popular worldwide is often associated with the following story: in 1993, Benjamin Zucchero, a gem trader from New York, exhibited 23 Melo pearls. Interest around them was so great that in 1997 the Smithsonian magazine devoted an important article to Melo pearls.

Melo can be found in the waters of Myanmar, Thailand, Malaysia, Vietnam and Australia. It is created not by the mollusk, but by a large marine snail. They are called porcelain pearls, just like Conch pearls.

The story of Melo began long ago. Even the emperors of Vietnam believed that they are a supreme symbol of power. However, their greatest rarity and the fact that they cannot be drilled and turned into beads, made them exotic for the jewellery world, known only by a narrow circle.

Melo pearls have only been sold at globally renowned jewellery auctions fewer than ten times.