This is what I learned in Mikimoto's Pearl Masterclass.

I have done sufficient education of pearls and have experienced pearl farming first hand, so I was not interested in an education of pearl knowledge. I wanted to know what Mikimoto staff does with that information.

What I did not know was the detail to which the company strives to be open and accurate with the information that they possess. It was so encouraging to hear the sales staff talk about the qualities of a pearl and how to look for them. They knew the process of culturing a pearl and spoke about their 2 pearl farms in Japan.

I asked them about their grading of Akoya pearls vs South Sea and Tahtian Pearls. You know from these blogs that Akoya pearls are graded D, C, B, B+, A, A+, AA, AA+, AAA, AAA+. With Akoya pearls there is no AAAA. AAA+ is also called gem quality.

With South Sea and Tahitian pearls there is only D, C, B, A. All D pearls are crushed because it is illegal to export or sell them. There are no AA or AAA South Sea or Tahitians. Be suspect of a company or store that claims so.

The Vice President of Merchandising, Shogo Nakanishi, had spent his first years with Mikimoto actually doing the surgery of implanting oysters with a nucleus. He  admitted to killing many oysters because the surgery is so delicate. But he spent 2 years on the farm learning farming from experience.

I am telling you this, not because I am sending you off to Mikimoto to buy your pearls, but because it is so important for anyone selling you pearls to know these kinds of facts. I have been in a jewelry store where the salesperson didn't know the difference between freshwater and saltwater pearls. That is a tragedy.

This is what I give you with the blogs of Pearl Knowledge. I want you to have the tools to know what you are getting when you go to buy pearls or even to admire what a friend is wearing. I want you to have the confidence to buy pearls from my website as well.