3x GIA certified Hanadama pictures and Takahashi gem comparison

[NY_Resonant]

I was very curious about this new GIA certified Hanadama at Pearl Paradise, so despite finding the price a bit too expensive I decided to buy 3 pairs to see if I loved any of them. They came very quickly in the mail after ordering.

None of them, sadly, wowed me but one of the pairs was noticeably superior to the other two. I’ll defer making too many comments (@yssie and others feel free!) since I want the pictures to speak for themselves.

my favorite GIA pair:


2nd pair:


3rd pair, I got this to see what “lightly spotted“ meant for GIA.



These imperfections are NOT obvious to the naked eye but next two pics should illustrate:





My favorite pair is in middle with backs pushed up close to pearls. I still find it weird they are labeled pink and green overtone by GIA, I didn’t really feel much green. pinkest pair.






Direct comparisons in next post.

 

[NY_Resonant]

My favorite (earring back pushed near Pearl to identify) vs 2nd pair pictures:

 

[NY_Resonant]

My favorite pair vs 3rd pair:

 

[NY_Resonant]

So that’s the end of my GIA hanadama vs GIA Hanadama section. I think the photos shows quite a bit of variation in luster between them, so in my personal opinion it‘s just like the PSL Hanadama —- you want to shop and avoid bottom-of-range GIA Hanadama pearls.

Next I’ll compare the favorite GIA (8.4mm) with a 8.1mm Takahashi gem pair that was the first pair I bought through instagram (not in person). I’ll let the pictures speak for themselves but I’ll comment that the high GIA price premium does NOT seem warranted.

Which pair do YOU think is better? GIA has the yellow gold butterfly and Takahashi has the white gold rubber backs.














Forget luster on this one, look at that overtone difference!!

 

[NY_Resonant]

@yssie asked me to post a few pictures of the favorite GIA next to my Natural White Ten-nyo Takahashi necklace. Earrings usually have a higher standard but I figured why not. I wish I had more sunlight pictures to show the overtone differences more…







Interesting difference in overtones in this picture:

 

[lovedogs]

Wow, the Takahashi vs gia comparisons are crazy. For me, the earrings side by side make it clear that T wins by a mile!

 

[yssie]

I can only repeat my last parting sentiment: Ouch.

So clearly buying direct from Japan remains the most cost-effective way to get the best akoya.

@NY_Resonant You’ve cured me of my FOMO and both my wallet and my partner thank you

 

[NY_Resonant]

I can only repeat my last parting sentiment: Ouch.

So clearly buying direct from Japan remains the most cost-effective way to get the best akoya.

@NY_Resonant You’ve cured me of my FOMO and both my wallet and my partner thank you

Yea, given the SIGNIFICANTLY higher pricing on the GIA pairs ($900-$1200), I had hoped for a more competitive level of pearl quality to the Japanese sourced gems... And that's after picking the best out of 3 pairs to compare.

I don't know how the GIA compares to the PSL Hanadama pearls at Pearl Paradise but if people saying it is a "stricter" standard are correct ---- all I can say is people are leaving a *LOT* of quality (and money) behind in exchange for that return policy by choosing not to go with the Japanese vendors.

 

[pearlsngems]

My understanding is that the GIA certification reflects what the PSL certification used to; that PSL has lately gotten looser in what it defines as Hanadama. Not that there is a higher standard for the new GIA Hanadama pearls than there used to be for Hanadama certifed by PSL.

If this is the case I imagine PP will be sending their Hanadama pearls to GIA for certification rather than PSL. Other USA-based online retailers may follow suit. I suppose there is also an advantage to shipping to NYC rather than to Japan.

Of course, we all know that there must inevitably be a range of quality within any grade, from any retailer, since pearls are not made in factories but by living mollusks.

@NY_Resonant, I notice the posts on your Takahashi studs are thicker and longer than the PP GIA ones. I have thick earlobes but I find the PP studs really comfortable. Do you find the longer, thicker posts comfortable? Did you have to specially request them or are they standard with Takahashi studs?

 

[CircularBrilliant]

@NY_Resonant Thank you for this very helpful thread!

 

[NY_Resonant]

My understanding is that the GIA certification reflects what the PSL certification used to; that PSL has lately gotten looser in what it defines as Hanadama. Not that there is a higher standard for the new GIA Hanadama pearls than there used to be for Hanadama certifed by PSL.

If this is the case I imagine PP will be sending their Hanadama pearls to GIA for certification rather than PSL. Other USA-based online retailers may follow suit. I suppose there is also an advantage to shipping to NYC rather than to Japan.

Of course, we all know that there must inevitably be a range of quality within any grade, from any retailer, since pearls are not made in factories but by living mollusks.

@NY_Resonant, I notice the posts on your Takahashi studs are thicker and longer than the PP GIA ones. I have thick earlobes but I find the PP studs really comfortable. Do you find the longer, thicker posts comfortable? Did you have to specially request them or are they standard with Takahashi studs?

There are three tiers of backs to choose from at Takahashi, the mid tier (rubber back) and high tier (butterfly back) come with this nice strong post standard. The cheapest option has a smaller post that they don’t recommend for 8mm+.

I’m a guy so I can’t opine on comfort but my wife and mother find them very comfortable.

 

[yssie]

@pearlsngems The thicker Takahashi posts come in at ~0.9mm diameter and 12mm long. But they don’t have any thicker post with bigger cups - only 4mm. Pearl Paradise’s regular posts are ~0.76mm thick and 10mm long, and their “heavyweight” posts are ~0.85mm thick and 10mm long (same as what Mikimoto uses). And Pearl Paradise’s findings have several cup size options. Takahashi uses a local-to-them goldsmith, not sure where PP sources.

If that’s helpful to you. I do have friends who have newer piercings and couldn’t use the Takahashi posts.

 

[yssie]

https://www.gia.edu/gia-news-press/hanadama-quality-range-comment-added-to-pearl-classification-reports#

It sounds like if a pearl/strand meets some threshold criteria they’ll automatically assign the Hanadama notation:

Round to near-round shape, white body-color (with or without overtone), excellent luster, clean to lightly spotted surface, excellent to very good matching, and sufficient nacre thickness and quality

Open questions for me are how luster is evaluated and what constitutes sufficient/“acceptable” nacre thickness. GIA was much more forthcoming than PSL about how they measure nacre thickness when I asked a year or two ago, when you request a numeric notation on the report. I assume the measuring process is the same for the “acceptable”/unacceptable boolean.
1. X-ray the strand.
2. Choose, by visual from x-ray, a few pearls that are “representative of the strand”. Neither pearls with thickest nor thinnest nacre, neither most nor least smooth/unblemished. 5-7 pearls for an 18” necklace, 2-3 for a bracelet.
3. For each of those few pearls, measure nacre thickness (from exterior of nucleus to exterior of pearl) in four directions.
4. For each pearl, average the four nacre thickness measurements to one number.
5. Average all sample pearls’ (averaged, single-digit) nacre thickness results into one number.
6. Report a strand nacre thickness to two decimal place precision.

Same bracelet strand. Both reports a couple years old now - my understanding is that PSL’s standards have deteriorated meaningfully since then.

 

[NY_Resonant]

https://www.gia.edu/gia-news-press/hanadama-quality-range-comment-added-to-pearl-classification-reports#

It sounds like if a pearl/strand meets some threshold criteria they’ll automatically assign the Hanadama notation:


Open questions for me are how luster is evaluated and what constitutes sufficient/“acceptable” nacre thickness. GIA was much more forthcoming than PSL about how they measure nacre thickness when I asked a year or two ago, when you request a numeric notation on the report. I assume the measuring process is the same for the “acceptable”/unacceptable boolean.
1. X-ray the strand.
2. Choose, by visual from x-ray, a few pearls that are “representative of the strand”. Neither pearls with thickest nor thinnest nacre, neither most nor least smooth/unblemished. 5-7 pearls for an 18” necklace, 2-3 for a bracelet.
3. For each of those few pearls, measure nacre thickness (from exterior of nucleus to exterior of pearl) in four directions.
4. For each pearl, average the four nacre thickness measurements to one number.
5. Average all sample pearls’ (averaged, single-digit) nacre thickness results into one number.
6. Report a strand nacre thickness to two decimal place precision.

Same bracelet strand. Both reports a couple years old now - my understanding is that PSL’s standards have deteriorated meaningfully since then.

One thing i’ll say about GIA is that their surface grading seems to be more stringent than PSL. Note your bracelet had GIA call it “Lightly Spotted” instead of “Clean” — while PSL gave the highest grade.

That jives with the lightly spotted earring that I have, the surface is actually quite decent on it and I had to look hard to find the imperfections on my pictures.

 

[dmz]

all I can say is people are leaving a *LOT* of quality (and money) behind in exchange for that return policy by choosing not to go with the Japanese vendors.

There has been a lot of commentary that prices have been increasing. Do you have current pricing from Japanese vendors? Are you able to share a rough idea of Japanese pricing in comparison?

I bought some of these as a list minute Christmas present. (Paid extra for DHL, DHL had been on strike and was backlogged. Oops.)

Happy enough with them, but I don't have the eye that some of you all do. Will try and post photos when I have a chance. Visibly nicer than Freshadama studs. Wife doesn't have any other akoyas to compare to.

The comparison photos are really interesting. You didn't happen to save the PP product shots, did you?

 

[empliau]

Is it a photo blip, or is there a flat spot on the 3rd favorite pair?

 

[NY_Resonant]

Is it a photo blip, or is there a flat spot on the 3rd favorite pair?

Photo blip

 

[NY_Resonant]

There has been a lot of commentary that prices have been increasing. Do you have current pricing from Japanese vendors? Are you able to share a rough idea of Japanese pricing in comparison?

I bought some of these as a list minute Christmas present. (Paid extra for DHL, DHL had been on strike and was backlogged. Oops.)

Happy enough with them, but I don't have the eye that some of you all do. Will try and post photos when I have a chance. Visibly nicer than Freshadama studs. Wife doesn't have any other akoyas to compare to.

The comparison photos are really interesting. You didn't happen to save the PP product shots, did you?

I don’t know current Japanese pricing but as of a few months ago, you could get a gem 8.5mm pair for $300 plus $90 (no butterfly back option) on setting plus shipping.

PP product shots? I posted the pictures that I took. I just returned the earrings today (Fedex ground) — so I imagine they will be back in inventory soon.

You can go by the mm sizes of the pairs to identify a specific pair on PP… my first post shows the sizes. My favorite pair was 8.40 and 8.48 mm. That specific pair was listed at $918, a bit cheaper than the others due to being in the below 8.5mm bracket.

 

[pearlsngems]

@dmz,
CPAA magazine ThisIsPearl has this article about rising pearl prices in their November issue:

001-026 #thisispearl VOL_III

This interactive flipbook is created with FlippingBook, a service for streaming PDFs online. No download, no waiting. Open and start reading right away!

online.flippingbook.com

I also posted this thread back in April about the rise in pearl prices:

AGTA Article: Buckle Up—Japanese Akoya Pearl Prices Have Skyrocketed 80% with No End in Sight

Article by Jennifer Heebner, Editor in Chief, American Gem Trade Association Buckle Up—Japanese Akoya Pearl Prices Have Skyrocketed 80% with No End in Sight

www.pricescope.com

Based on this article:

Japanese Akoya Pearl Prices Have Skyrocketed 80% with No End in Sight

Sticker shock for Japanese Akoya Pearls continue, with many dealers saying more price hikes are en route after early 2023 harvests are processed.

agta.org

 

[ShinyPink]

First of all, HOW did you take such wonderful photos???

I ordered a pair of GIA Hanadama earrings from the special Facebook event PP had, and even with the discount, I couldn't justify keeping them. My Takahashi are so lovely, and really hold their own when compared to a Hanadama. I took some photos with my Takahashi pearls before returning them, but my photo skills are horrible:

 

[NY_Resonant]

First of all, HOW did you take such wonderful photos???

I ordered a pair of GIA Hanadama earrings from the special Facebook event PP had, and even with the discount, I couldn't justify keeping them. My Takahashi are so lovely, and really hold their own when compared to a Hanadama. I took some photos with my Takahashi pearls before returning them, but my photo skills are horrible:

Thanks! Pearl photos can be hard to take, thats for sure. I did all mine using an Iphone 13 Pro Max.

Different distances of phone from pearls, different zoom levels and different lighting situations.

Personally I believe that most Takahashi gems would qualify not only as PSL Hanadama but the higher grade of PSL Ten-Nyo (Especially if you pick the best of a few sets from photo comparisons). I just couldn’t justify paying the PSL certification fees on studs but I believe @yssie sent some of her Takahashi gems for testing and got Tennyo results.

Only one I sent for PSL testing was my first Takahashi purchase, a blue-grey gem akoya which came back as PSL Madama as expected/hoped.

 

[ShinyPink]

@NY_Resonant I used an iPhone 15 pro. Maybe I shouldn't admit that.

I always knew my Takahashis were stunning, but when I received the earrings it just reinforced my belief that @yssie has led us to the best!

 

[yssie]

First of all, HOW did you take such wonderful photos???

I ordered a pair of GIA Hanadama earrings from the special Facebook event PP had, and even with the discount, I couldn't justify keeping them. My Takahashi are so lovely, and really hold their own when compared to a Hanadama. I took some photos with my Takahashi pearls before returning them, but my photo skills are horrible:

Your Takahashi outdo the GIA Hanadama no question!

GIA is definitely staying true to their habits here. Their EX grade for diamonds is a range. Their Hanadama, also clearly a range.

Some diamond vendors - their best quality is GIA EX. GIA EX is enough. And then there are the precision cutting diamond boutiques who demand the best of GIA EX, their best quality is a small subset of all the diamonds that earn GIA EX.

Pearl Paradise seems to be going by GIA's grading. They aren't selecting beyond or demanding more than the GIA Hanadama notation. The economies of scale that must make maintaining a very-nice-but-not-cream-of-the-crop quality threshold most profitable, even for such a specialized product - goodness knows a GIA Hanadama pearl is not an everyday ask! I wonder if that will change enough to make specialty sourcing a profitable mass-market #Thing?

I would love to see GIA invest more heavily in pearls research.

 

[NY_Resonant]

Your Takahashi outdo the GIA Hanadama no question!

GIA is definitely staying true to their habits here. Their EX grade for diamonds is a range. Their Hanadama, also clearly a range.

Some diamond vendors - their best quality is GIA EX. GIA EX is enough. And then there are the precision cutting diamond boutiques who demand the best of GIA EX, their best quality is a small subset of all the diamonds that earn GIA EX.

Pearl Paradise seems to be going by GIA's grading. They aren't selecting beyond or demanding more than the GIA Hanadama notation. The economies of scale that must make maintaining a very-nice-but-not-cream-of-the-crop quality threshold most profitable, even for such a specialized product - goodness knows a GIA Hanadama pearl is not an everyday ask! I wonder if that will change enough to make specialty sourcing a profitable mass-market #Thing?

I would love to see GIA invest more heavily in pearls research.

Pearl Paradise used to price their PSL Hanadama pieces using a uniform pricing strategy. That seems to have changed with their GIA pricing.

Here is an example of two GIA studs, same GIA specs, the larger set is cheaper than the smaller set! Does this mean they are applying a quality (Luster?) pricing modifier like many Japanese vendors do?!?

7.68 and 7.72 mm GIA Certified Hanadama Akoya Pearl Stud Earrings

These specially-selected akoya pearls were examined by the Gemological Institute of America and compared against master grading sets in their New York laboratory, where they received the coveted GIA hanadama classification. As described in GIA report 2239132847, the pearls measure 7.68 and 7.72...

www.pearlparadise.com

7.75 and 7.76 mm GIA Certified Hanadama Akoya Pearl Stud Earrings

These specially-selected akoya pearls were examined by the Gemological Institute of America and compared against master grading sets in their New York laboratory, where they received the coveted GIA hanadama classification. As described in GIA report 2235133732, the pearls measure 7.75 and 7.76...

www.pearlparadise.com

 

[yssie]

Pearl Paradise used to price their PSL Hanadama pieces using a uniform pricing strategy. That seems to have changed with their GIA pricing.

Here is an example of two GIA studs, same GIA specs, the larger set is cheaper than the smaller set! Does this mean they are applying a quality (Luster?) pricing modifier like many Japanese vendors do?!?

7.68 and 7.72 mm GIA Certified Hanadama Akoya Pearl Stud Earrings

These specially-selected akoya pearls were examined by the Gemological Institute of America and compared against master grading sets in their New York laboratory, where they received the coveted GIA hanadama classification. As described in GIA report 2239132847, the pearls measure 7.68 and 7.72...

www.pearlparadise.com

7.75 and 7.76 mm GIA Certified Hanadama Akoya Pearl Stud Earrings

These specially-selected akoya pearls were examined by the Gemological Institute of America and compared against master grading sets in their New York laboratory, where they received the coveted GIA hanadama classification. As described in GIA report 2235133732, the pearls measure 7.75 and 7.76...

www.pearlparadise.com

I would love to know the answer to that question! You're right of course, nothing is different on paper.

 

[MakingTheGrade]

As prices and popularity of pearls go up, GIA might invest more in their pearl grading. Especially if the above factors start driving a market for imitation pearls that are more difficult to spot than the current plastic ones lol.

Sadly all the price hikes likely means my pearl purchases will have to massively slow down. But I can’t complain, I have some tennyos, handamas, and even a supearl (WSS) in the mix. My holy grail is still a supearl akoya which Takahashi knows and I’m hoping they’ll let me call dibs one day should one ever appear

 

[dmz]

I would love to know the answer to that question! You're right of course, nothing is different on paper.

I think the 7.68/7.72 (the more expensive ones) are "Natural White", though the only way to discern that is to filter the listings. I don't see it indicated anywhere on the product page.

 

[dmz]

I don’t know current Japanese pricing but as of a few months ago, you could get a gem 8.5mm pair for $300 plus $90 (no butterfly back option) on setting plus shipping.

That's quite reasonable if it still holds. Especially if you're outside of the US where PP's return policy is less valuable.

 

[NY_Resonant]

That's quite reasonable if it still holds. Especially if you're outside of the US where PP's return policy is less valuable.

I imagine Takahashi pricing has not changed much if they are staying near their competitor, GeneralPearl.

8mm+ at $282 (plus shipping):

【テリ評価95点・最高級のテリ評価・キズ評価・表面色評価】越物花珠真珠8mmUPイヤリング・ピアス用ペア珠 | GENERAL PEARL

8.5mm+ at $636 (plus shipping):

【テリ評価100点満点・程よいボリューム感と最高評価の美しさ】越物花珠真珠8.5mmUPイヤリング・ピアス用ペア珠 | GENERAL PEARL

Gotta love the favorable JPY vs Dollar exchange rate currently.

 

[dmz]

PP product shots? I posted the pictures that I took. I just returned the earrings today (Fedex ground) — so I imagine they will be back in inventory soon.

You can go by the mm sizes of the pairs to identify a specific pair on PP… my first post shows the sizes. My favorite pair was 8.40 and 8.48 mm. That specific pair was listed at $918, a bit cheaper than the others due to being in the below 8.5mm bracket.

I found the PP product shots. (The images are still hosted even if the product page has been taken down.)

8.40 and 8.48 mm



8.65 and 8.67 mm



8.70 and 8.73 mm