The 7.5 x 8 mm "A1 Quality" Japanese Akoya Cultured Pearl Necklace features hand-selected Akoya cultured pearls chosen for exceptional luster and a clean surface. Personalize your product above.
Every piece is unconditionally guaranteed by American Pearl for authenticity and workmanship. Evaluation & Identification Report available.
Ships within a week of your order; customized orders are hand-made and can take a little longer. Every item is unconditionally guaranteed by American Pearl for the authenticity of its gold or platinum and for its workmanship. Not 100% satisfied? Return it for a full refund.
Every American Pearl piece arrives gift-ready — your jewelry is nestled in a soft protective pouch inside our signature American Pearl gift box, finished with a ribbon, and a complimentary gift receipt is available on request. Just let us know at checkout if it’s a gift.
This 7.5 x 8mm natural color Japanese Akoya cultured pearl necklace is American Pearl's best-selling size, and the last size in the lower bracket of more readily available sizes; a jump to the next size, 8 x 8.5mm, more or less doubles the strand's price. It's really the only size one could call neither "too small" nor "too big." It's a staple of any woman's wardrobe; she can dress it up or dress it down. It's not too showy, and it very tastefully exudes an image of importance; a classic for the upwardly mobile career woman. It also suits very well as a wedding-day gift or a wedding anniversary gift through the fifth year of marriage.
The "A1 Quality Pearls" shown in this necklace exhibit low luster and have thin nacre (the skin of the pearl). In fact, nacre thickness and luster are directly correlated. In order for a finer quality Japanese Akoya cultured pearl to have very high luster, it must have very thick nacre. According to the Gemological Institute of America, pearls with low luster (A1 Quality) must have at least 0.5 millimeters of nacre thickness on all of the pearls.
American Pearl always advises you to purchase the finest quality pearls in your price range; even if this means stepping down to a smaller size more brilliant pearl. There are numerous reasons why this holds true. Finer quality pearls have more of the qualities for which people are enamored with pearls in the first place. That is, they are more beautiful as they exhibit higher luster. Beauty is the paramount quality of any jewelry or gem that secures its value. The more beautiful a gem has the more valuable it is. Finer quality pearls therefore have the best chance in holding their value and appreciating in value over time. In addition to beauty and value, finer quality pearls are more durable. In order for a strand of pearls to exhibit higher luster, it must have a thicker nacre. Nacre is the so called "skin" of a pearl and luster and nacre thickness are directly correlated. Lastly, because finer quality pearls are indeed more beautiful, they will be enjoyed more. Hence, this is why purchasing the finest quality pearls in your price range is always the wisest choice.
and A grading system that you might be familiar with.
necklaces exhibit the exact same luster, bodycolor,
shape, nacre thickness and overtones as the AAA, AA,
A+ and A pearls. Except within this new "ONE" line of
price of the unblemished pearl line. Accordingly,
A1. Each grade has a numeral one at the end of its
unblemished to blemished.
is the unmistakable sole authority for grading pearls,
of pearls that you think is AAA that is actually AAA1
advertise AAA, AA, A+ and A quality only to learn that
blemishing (95% inclusion free).
Generally speaking, the finer the grade, the more luster the pearls exhibit. Luster is defined as the mirror like quality of a pearl and really is the single characteristic that draws people to pearls. Technically, luster is defined as the amount of light that reflects off of the pearl's surface and reaches your eye.
In addition to selling you clean pearls, American Pearl is renowned for selling you the whitest bodycolor pearls with your choice of a silver or rose overtone. American Pearl does not sell you yellow creamy pearls. White Bodycolor pearls (with your choice of silver or rose overtones) are the most valuable bodycolor pearls in the marketplace compared to their light cream counterparts. Many consumers unknowingly purchase a strand with a slightly light cream or yellowish bodycolor to the pearl which are worth considerably less. In fact, according to the the Gemological Institute of America, pearls with a light cream bodycolor are worth 40% less than pearls with a white bodycolor. So examine the pearls you are considering very carefully. Are they creamy? Yellowish? Or are they white? Be especially doubtful of pearls that claim to be "bright white" or other made up names that are not part of the official nomenclature used by the Gemological Institute of America as shown by the chart below:
When examining a strand of pearls, it is advised that you do so under a controlled setting for grading pearls. The Gemological Institute of America, through their course work and literature, recommends that you always examine your pearls under a fluorescent light against an either white or grey background. A glass surface is the least effective area on which to examine pearls as the bodycolor of the pearls in question is difficult to detect. In fact, when the owner's of American Pearl sell their pearl's to Tiffany & Co., it is our experience that they always use a fluorescent lamp for grading. This setting creates a neutral environment where the nuances in bodycolor—from white to light cream—can be identified. Because a pearl's surface is so reflective, one must consider very carefully the light source used to examine and grade pearls.
One should be particularly skeptical of an incandescent light source used for the grading of pearls. Incandescent light, by its very nature, shows a fuller distribution of color from the color spectrum. When used in the grading of pearls, one may be associating attributes to the reflective qualities of the pearl's surface that are in actuality originating from the light source. This PEARL MIRAGE does not take place under fluorescent lights.
The most valuable lesson to be learned here is that upon the examination of pearls, make sure you are grading the pearls, not the light source. The quality and awe of a fine quality pearl seen under a fluorescent lamp will be obvious. Because pearls have hundreds of concentric layers of skin (what we call nacre) that are translucent, reflecting light as well as allowing light to pass through each layer, a "play-of-light" is achieved on the surface of a pearl which gives PEARLS the very qualities for which people have marveled in awe over them.
This necklace comes standard length at 16 inches long which includes the clasp. If you are looking for a longer strand, please click the pop-up menu located below near the order button to choose any length up to 51 inches.
All the pearls begin at 7.5 millimeters on either end of the necklace and slowly graduate to 8 millimeters in the necklace's center. These pearls were farmed in the saltwater oceans off the shores of Japan. This is where the inventor of the cultured pearl made his first round cultured pearl that changed the world.
