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End of the season report on Japanese Akoya

YAMAMOTO DORI KOBE

Once the center of cultured pearls.

We visited Japan for the final time this year and were very pleased with the strands and loose pearls we selected. It seems that our supplier saved the best for last. We were able to obtain large quantities of 6 x 61/2 MM strands in qualities ranging from medium to our top quality, Crown. The strands are very lustrous with medium to heavy nacre coating and very clean (minimal spotting). The other sizes we selected were similar in quality to the 6 x 61/2. I asked about the forecast for next year’s crop and was pleasantly surprised.

It seems that next years crop will be one of the best quality wise that the Japanese have had in a while. The reason for this is that they are harvesting “second year pearls”. Each year after nucleating the oysters, the farmers periodically examine a certain percentage of the oysters to check on the health of the oyster and to see if the nucleation process is going well. When a large percentage of the oysters that are examined are found to be healthy, the farmers leave about 35% to 50% of the oysters in the water for another year. Thus we have “second year pearls”. These pearls have better luster and coating than the pearls that only stay in the water for one year. The downside is that they can be more spotted. While the European markets do not mind spots, the American market does.

We were also informed that there will be more 6MM available next year due to the fact that the oysters that were grown for nucleation this year are smaller than usual so there will be more smaller sizes and fewer larger sizes. We were also told that there has been resurgence in the demand for high quality Japanese Akoya strands. While we know that there is only a limited quantity of high quality produced, our supplier produces most of it and puts it aside for us before showing it to other importers.

Education

It is our belief an enhanced knowledge of the cultured pearl product category results in greater sales and an increased passion for pearls.

A look at the Birth of Australian Cultured Pearls

Pearls from Silver Lips

1959 article recalling the early days of South Sea pearl culture.

In the 1950's, Australians established their first commercial pearl farm. The farm was established at Brecknock Harbor. This is about 250 miles north of Broome.
The farm was assisted by a Japanese contingent in providing culturing technology and know how. The bay was renamed Kuri Bay in honor of the man leading that Japanese team - Tokuichi Kuribayashi. Today, it is the oldest and largest farm.

Posted Monday, Nov. 23, 1959

The northwest coast of Australia is one of the most desolate spots on earth. The nearest city of any size is Perth (pop. 376,000), some 1,450 miles to the south; mosquitoes and crocodiles infest the mangrove swamps; 12-ft. sharks cruise the lonely bays. In that unfriendly land, at remote Kuri Bay, a syndicate of Australians, Americans and Japanese called Pearls Proprietary Ltd. is turning out a product that has the world's jewelers agog. The product: fabulous pearls as big across as a 25-cent piece of gem quality so fine that a Manhattan jeweler recently sold a choker of Kuri Bay pearls for $100,000.

January 2 1960