淡水真珠　VS　アコヤ真珠　２

Ebay Akoya Pearls という
pearl-guide.comの一連の話題。

「My question is, does anybody know of a reputable ebay dealer from China who sells Akoya pearls that truly are nice?」
というメッセージに対して。

「中国ではアコヤ真珠といいながらも淡水真珠が多く売られている。」

「ブレスレットなら、淡水のほうがいいのでは？」

「花珠とトップクオリティの淡水真珠。見分けるのは難しいよ。」

みたいな、一連のメッセージが興味深すぎる！！

You are going to very hard-pressed to find good quality akoya pearls there from China.

I just did a search on eBay for akoya pearls and then sorted by lowest-price listings which included shipping, returning 200 results per page. I've checked every 5th page of listing and am now on page 25 of 55 results. That 5,000 out of 11,000. I haven't seen a strand of genuine akoya pearls yet - they're all freshwater pearls being sold as akoya.

Even in a small size (around 6 mm), if the strand is under $300, it's not going to be a fine strand of pearls. The $100 strands you find there will last 3-4 months and then you'll be left with nothing but bead.

Is there a reason why you particularly want the pearls to be Akoya (saltwater pearls cultured with a bead inside) rather than high quality round freshwaters (with no bead inside, but just some mantle tissue, they are essentially all nacre)?

Consider that freshwaters have improved a great deal in roundness, and overall quality in recent years. Consider also that a bracelet is going to get more wear and tear than, say, a necklace or earrings. Really you can get more bang for your buck with cultured freshwater pearls.

I agree with that. And they should be the highest quality freshwater pearls which are as beautiful as good akoyas, but cost a fraction of the price. They can take a lot of wearing and never wear down to the bead, because there is none.

One of those below is a Hanadama strand, the other is a top quality Freshwater strand. It is hard to tell the difference.

とりあえず。メモ的なエントリー。

ナカミチ／nakamiti