$485.00
Natural blue Japanese Akoya pearl stud earrings.
Same Scent features a pair of 7.6 mm round Akoya pearls. Green Label features a pair of 7.8 mm near-round Akoya pearls.
Both pairs are made from natural blue Akoya pearls and are set with K18 Gold findings. Handmade in Japan.
1 in stock
These are two pairs of Akoya pearl earrings.
The earrings feature K18 gold fittings. The pearls in Same Scent measure approximately 7.8 mm, while those in Green Label are about 7.6 mm.
Originally, the request was simply to change the fittings on the Same Scent earrings from white gold to yellow gold. While I was working on that, I decided to show the customer another pair of earrings with similar pearls.
Unfortunately, that only made the decision more difficult.
Same Scent features well-shaped pearls with beautiful luster. Green Label, on the other hand, has pearls with slightly uneven surfaces, but their luster is even stronger. The choice ultimately comes down to what you value more: shape or luster.
When comparing the two pairs closely, I noticed that the pearls in Same Scent appear to have an extremely thin white film on their surfaces, perhaps only a few microns thick. This is most likely something secreted by the oyster when it is not feeling its best. Not seriously ill—more like the faintest sign that it might be about to catch a cold.
If the oyster’s condition worsens, the pearl can become covered with a much heavier white layer that looks almost as if it has been painted. Sometimes this condition appears not as a film but as tiny white spots. Interestingly, these small white spots can often be found on commercially available pearls as well.
In the end, the customer decided to purchase both pairs.
Because the customer had expressed a strong preference for luster, I initially suggested Green Label. Instead, I ended up giving them a difficult decision to make, which left me with mixed feelings.
Then I learned that they had decided to buy both pairs.
That gave me even more mixed feelings…
No, I am happy.
I think these are exactly the kind of earrings that make people hesitate. Once you see them in person, you can easily understand why choosing between them is so difficult.
Well, it seems the product description for this item was a bit too short and didn’t do justice to the number of photos. So, I’d like to continue with a bit of a tangent.
Comparing pearls like this is fascinating. Some have a beautiful shape but slightly weaker luster, while others have strong luster but a slightly irregular shape.
What’s interesting is that the appraised values of these pearls end up being roughly the same.
For example, if you have a budget of $100 to buy an 8mm pearl necklace, round pearls tend to have less luster than baroque pearls.
On the other hand, the more irregular the shape of a baroque pearl, the stronger its luster tends to be. Before I started working for a pearl company, I had no connection to gemstones whatsoever; I was aware of the existence of pearls, but they were completely foreign to my life.
As a result, my concept of “pearls being round” was quite vague. What drew me in, however, were blue pearls with a strong luster. For about ten years, every year I would sort through a vast number of pearls at the pearl farm owned by my employer and submit them to auction.
During the three-month auction period each year, I would constantly watch to see how much our pearls were being bid on. More than just watching, managing those pearls and maintaining the ledger was also part of my job.
Managing about 500 auction lots of sorted pearls was quite a challenge. From morning until evening, I would sort pearls non-stop at the farm, and right before the auction, I had to compile a list of them. I would return to the inn where I was staying on business trips at night and work on compiling the list. Until about my third year at the company, I would work on the list until around 4:00 a.m. because I had to submit it to my boss the next day.
Since there was no copier at the inn, after compiling the list, I would drive about 10 minutes to a convenience store to print it out. There were times when I found mistakes and had to make about three round trips.
There are very few convenience stores on Tsushima, so there wasn’t one within walking distance. Once the auction began, the Pearl Association would contact me on my cell phone while I was sorting in the sorting room to notify me of bids. I would report these to my supervisor and the farm manager, receive instructions on whether to sell or hold, and then report that back to the Pearl Association.
If the winning bid is high, my boss and the farm manager are in a good mood, but when the winning bid is low—or when the overall market price at the auction is low—the atmosphere becomes quite tense.
Just because a pearl is good doesn’t necessarily mean it will fetch a high price. When the market is down, even pearls that would typically be bought by Mikimoto or Tasaki can end up with very low winning bids. In recent years, the opposite has been true. With the market strong, high-quality pearls naturally command high prices, and even low-quality ones can fetch more than double what they did back then. It all comes down to market conditions.
Working in this environment, I’ve learned this: even with the same budget, if I choose baroque pearls instead of round ones, I can purchase pearls with a stronger luster and a smoother surface.Since most customers have a set budget, I’ve sometimes explained this reality to them.
For customers who absolutely insist on round pearls, I would suggest necklaces with the smallest possible wounds that they could tolerate, exploring how to maintain the luster while staying within their budget. Pearl wounds come in many forms. Some are small spots, while others are slight surface irregularities. I would present such customers with pearl necklaces featuring pearls of various wounds to identify the specific wounds they would find acceptable.
To gain something, you must give something up. If you want everything, the price goes up. It’s also necessary to clarify exactly what each person is looking for in a pearl. By clearly defining your non-negotiables—such as luster, surface imperfections, shape, size, and color—and identifying the aspects you’re flexible on or willing to compromise on, the pearl-buying process becomes much smoother, allowing you to purchase the pearl you truly desire within your budget. So, why did we end up talking about this?
Right—it was about how the evaluations of the pearls in these two pairs of earrings ended up being quite similar. Well, these two pairs of pearls are similar to begin with, but I felt they served as a good reference point for comparing a cloudy, round pearl with a baroque pearl that has a strong luster. That’s why I found it interesting. It might be hard to tell on a monitor, but if you visit a pearl shop, it might be interesting to compare the prices of pearls that are the same size but have different prices, observing them from the perspective I mentioned above.
Pearls are sold by weight, so larger pearls are more expensive. Of course, this assumes the quality is the same. It gets a bit complicated beyond this point, so I’ll explain it again when I remember.
Until then.
Pearl bless you
Price Breakdown
Same Scent — $245
Green Label — $240
Although these earrings are priced almost the same, they represent two different qualities. Same Scent offers a more refined shape, while Green Label offers stronger luster. Their overall evaluations are remarkably similar, which is why choosing between them can be surprisingly difficult.
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