Recent widespread misuse of the term "Akoya"

Akoya is a Japanese word for salt water bivalves of the genus Margaritifera (aka Pinctada), in particular the species M. martensii or M. fucata.

There is no significant production of salt water pearls in China. Chinese salt water akoya pearls were experimentally produced during two decades, roughly 1980 to 2000 in the area of Hainan Island, but yielded mostly small baroques in grey colors, which are known to fade unevenly unless stabilized using dye. The experiment was abandoned, and there is no such thing currently on the market that can be correctly termed China akoya pearls.

China produces in-body-bead nucleated (IBN) freshwater pearls. variously called by brand names such as Edison, and often confused with Flame type in-mantle bead nucleated pearls.

The former were produced in small quantities in China since 1985, and mostly sold as Japanese (where production was negligible) often with the aid of brand names (eg Kasumiga) which successfully masquerade as provenance. Only in 2010 did the output exceed what could be construed to be from Japan, which by then had only a cottage industry practiced by 3 diehard individuals.

In short Akoya pearls are ocean pearls grown mainly in Japan, never freshwater pearls.

"Kasumiga" is a brand name, the owner of which can decide what pearls are so called; it implies, does not mean the pearl was grown in the region of Lake Kasumi-ga-Ura, Japan.

IBN (and Flame) pearls were initially cultivated in diameters exceeding 10mm, as the new hybrid mussels were capable, and yielded pearls that could compete with south sea pearls from tropical waters that could support Pinctada maxima et al. shells. They in turn became known as brand names, the most pervasive of which is "Edison". Abetted by certain educators, which it is hard to believe could to quite so ignorant, this is in use by a majority.

From about 2017, smaller diameter IBN pearls started appearing on the market.  The age old prejudice that pearls should be spherical was enshrined in Akoya pearls' concept of "quality" and contributed to great compromises in terms of durability.

Rudolf Voll, who lived in Japan from 1938 and was one of the few first players in the then new field of cultivated pearls who was neither Japanese nor Indian, wrote a letter to the Editor of the Japan Times in 1963. Yet another blast from the past, I provide it here, along with my description of akoya pearls, to illustrate the point that the problem is not new.

For the benefit of anyone prepared for yet another blast, or feels 60-odd years is too old to be relevant, I have unearthed yet another letter, merely 30 years old, about the same subject and referencing the same clipping shown here, there you go.

 

The important difference between akoya and IBN, variously and fraudulently called Chinese or Freshwater akoya, is that in Japanese pearl cultivation only shell nuclei are used. This makes sense because nuclei of the same material, and hence the same expansion coefficient, prevents cracking of nacre due to changes in temperature.  They are predictably uniform, which anyone with recent experience drilling nucleated Chinese pearls knows these are not.  Furthermore, it is enforced by a purist attitude among Japanese pearl producers, who decry the use of nucleation using other materials.

These nuclei are costly, requiring (mostly US sourced) freshwater mussels, being the only shells thick enough for cubing and grinding to spherical shape between metal plates. Another property of shell nuclei is that they reveal inadequate nacre coating by reflection of the flat layer of the mother-of-pearl nucleus, much like a phenomenal gemstone.

China has solved both problems by developing synthetic nuclei, reportedly using shell powder and glues. An example of an extremely large (16mm) pearl was with extremely thick nacre was bisected, photographed and published by your writer in early 2024 (in the IBN product description, which reports that these nuclei appear to have no pre-drilled holes, hitherto required by all in-body bead nucleation).

This enables the cultivation of spherical pearls with extremely thin nacre coating, which in turn guarantees a minimum of surface flaws. No such convenient way to assess inadequately thin nacre exists without the use of shell beads.

These pearl cannot but average a short life span before all nacre wears away.

This promises to cause a new controversy similar to the one documented 60 years ago. It is hoped that readers will not be disappointed by even thinner-nacre pearls posing as "Chinese akoya pearls" or "Freshwater akoya pearls".