A visit to Mikimoto NYC... And musings...

[pearlsngems]

I string with Serafil, which is a polyester thread. If Mikimoto is using polyester thread now, good for them!

If any given brand of polyester thread is made from recycled plastic bottles, that's a plus IMO. Here's to finding a better use for plastic bottles than polluting the oceans!

 

[yssie]

The thread is made from recycled plastic bottles. That’s a good thing, in my book.

I’m sorry that you read ill-intent in my words love_pearls, but none was intended on my part.

If you’re implying that I’m affiliated with a vendor, or marketing for them, then I’ll politely request that you take those implications elsewhere; I’ve done nothing to merit them and I certainly don’t appreciate them.

 

[pearlsngems]

I have not read any posts about pearls on Pricescope that appear to shilling for a vendor. Any vendor.

 

[pearlsngems]

Per corporate - Mikimoto uses polyester thread now, made from recycled plastic bottles! No more silk

....

....


Here is something more educational and helpful instead of throwing evil eyes and saying Mikimoto uses thread made from recycled plastic bottles.

The emoji @yssie used is of clapping hands-- i.e. applause. Not evil eyes. Maybe the emoji was misunderstood?

I think we are all agreed that using recycled bottles to make polyester thread is a good thing. It would certainly be a smart thing for Mikimoto do; @yssie offered a positive comment about it, not a criticism.

My favorite purses are made of polyester thread from recycled water bottles. The brand is Lily Bloom. They are whimsical, colorful and very lightweight and have all the compartments I need.

 

[love_pearls]

The thread is made from recycled plastic bottles. That’s a good thing, in my book.

I’m sorry that you read ill-intent in my words love_pearls, but none was intended on my part.

If you’re implying that I’m affiliated with a vendor, or marketing for them, then I’ll politely request that you take those implications elsewhere; I’ve done nothing to merit them and I certainly don’t appreciate them.

I feel that there should be more introductions of pearl stores and companies instead of just keep talking about few companies even though those companies offer good service or products.

That's why I started the thread other companies besides Mikimoto, Tasaki, Takahashi.

Yes, I did feel that it's not positively pointing out the use of thread material thus the intention of cheapening the brand.

 

[love_pearls]

The emoji @yssie used is of clapping hands-- i.e. applause. Not evil eyes. Maybe the emoji was misunderstood?

I think we are all agreed that using recycled bottles to make polyester thread is a good thing. It would certainly be a smart thing for Mikimoto do; @yssie offered a positive comment about it, not a criticism.

My favorite purses are made of polyester thread from recycled water bottles. The brand is Lily Bloom. They are whimsical, colorful and very lightweight and have all the compartments I need.

It's ok. It's up to you. After all, the followers are gained and there's a lot of hard work. I respected that.

I see the power of marketing or even there's no intention of marketing. The skills and methods are very mature.

First, you established your knowledge base in a particular area in a forum. You did everything to agree with the main stream (e.g. Mikimoto). And slowly and steadily, whenever there's questions about pearls, you know where to go to because we know that there's an expert, right? So by answering other people's questions, you strengthen your status and bond between you and the followers. It paved the road for easy introduction of other brands ( whether there's commission or not, I don't know but I am not surprised, there's always people who are good at e-commerce) because after all, you did talk good things about the mainstream brands, you had one or two of their products. So you can do that from a consumer's perspective and slowly gravitate towards another brand. Soon, your followers do the same. It takes time but it worked. And I am not surprised there are lots of people who followed her and defended her. Because that's the point of skilful marketing. Whether it's true or not, I learned a thing or two about marketing.

 

[glitterata]

Longtime members know that yssie is what she says she is: an avid and expert consumer, a generous enthusiast, and nobody's shill.

 

[pearlsngems]

People will believe whatever they want to, I suppose.
We all see the world through filters.

 

[yssie]

love_pearls, your presumptions say a whole lot more about you than they do about me. I'm honestly surprised by this lunacy, as I've been nothing but helpful and supportive toward you thus far, but I'm going to ignore you moving forward and I suggest you do the same in return.

 

[empliau]

@love_pearls --

@yssie is amazingly generous with her time and her expertise. I like so many others have benefited from her beautiful photographs, her unmatched eye, and her advice.

I can't imagine why you would suggest such a thing. You are gravely mistaken.

 

[love_pearls]

Just as I have predicted, a lot of followers would be coming at me.

Like I said, I am not surprised.

 

[love_pearls]

love_pearls, your presumptions say a whole lot more about you than they do about me. I'm honestly surprised by this lunacy, as I've been nothing but helpful and supportive toward you thus far, but I'm going to ignore you moving forward and I suggest you do the same in return.

At least I didn't state something as a fact while your followers stated everything as a fact and used subjective adjectives.

If you saw it as dirtying your reputation, that's up to you but I brought up the question at hand with critical thinking. I thought the world would be inclusive enough to accept different opinions? Just like people would be open enough to introduce different brands and reviews different companies and brands? I am saying there should be more diversity or variety of introducing pearl companies and brands.

I didn't use any kind of rude words. Simply voicing my doubts. That's all.

 

[NY_Resonant]

Just as I have predicted, a lot of followers would be coming at me.

Like I said, I am not surprised.

Why do I feel like we just got promoted to the internet big leagues?

We got our own Pearl internet troll mascot now!

 

[love_pearls]

There's nothing glad about it when a pearl company used obvious symbols ( same beading, same clover design) that have been used in another big brand--- in this case, VCA.



And when I voiced this out, two members here replied me here in this forum at the same time and mentioned their disbelief about Takahashi using imitation of vca clover symbols.

 

[lovedogs]

Oh ffs. This user is using every thread (even old ones) to find fault with Takahashi and push some random agenda (no idea what, since the comments are nonsensical).

 

[love_pearls]

People cannot accept being fooled.

It's ok.

It's not my money.

Time will tell.

 

[pearlsngems]

Oh ffs. This user is using every thread (even old ones) to find fault with Takahashi and push some random agenda (no idea what, since the comments are nonsensical).

Or with members who may suggest the company's products.

With the exception of a very few who are in the trade (and have badges to show that they are), we are all just buyers here. People ask for advice and we offer it based on our own experience. That is all.

Think what you like, @love_pearls, but maybe consider stopping your smear campaign. It only reflects badly on you.

 

[lovedogs]

People cannot accept being fooled.

It's ok.

It's not my money.

Time will tell.

Ahhhh yes. I was SO FOOLED by Takahashi that I kept buying from them because they sell great products at fair prices. I've also bought from Andrew Moline, pearlparadise, Cees, and general pearl. I assume I've been fooled by everyone since somehow I'm not on your (unclear) bandwagon. How sad for me. I'll go pout with my pretty pearls all alone now.

 

[pearlsngems]

I will join you, having bought from so many different sellers.

 

[yssie]

Love_pearls please get out of my thread.

This is my thread, it’s my celebration of everything Mikimoto has to offer. You’re welcome to start your own thread with whatever conspiracies you like but quit trying to debase mine.

 

[LLJsmom]

Pave Alhambra motif?

Don't tell me that it's a universal symbol lol.

Wow! Well, I guess that’s people getting creative.

 

[LLJsmom]

@yssie you were discussing akoya and pearl prices. Are people still actually buying at these prices?

 

[yssie]

@yssie you were discussing akoya and pearl prices. Are people still actually buying at these prices?

Yes!! Apparently the newly wealthy in China are buying pearl suppliers out en masse!! A Japanese vendor who splits wholesale and retail advised me to wait a few years, until Chinese demand dies down.

But... Noone's figured out how to fix the akoya-oysters-are-dying-off problem so... I'm guessing even after the market goes back to "normal"... High quality akoya will still sell at significant premiums over one, two, three, four years ago. Just because availability will be such a disaster

 

[LLJsmom]

Wow. Ok. People got coin. Too ba r that akoya prices are a going bu

Yes!! Apparently the newly wealthy in China are buying pearl suppliers out en masse!! A Japanese vendor who splits wholesale and retail advised me to wait a few years, until Chinese demand dies down.

But... Noone's figured out how to fix the akoya-oysters-are-dying-off problem so... I'm guessing even after the market goes back to "normal"... High quality akoya will still sell at significant premiums over one, two, three, four years ago. Just because availability will be such a disaster

Ok, people got coin. Too bad the akoya prices are going nuts. It’s a good thing you bought what you did when you did.

 

[LLJsmom]

I just read through these last few posts and now understand what happened. Someone just went off the deep end. Sorry that happened. Your pearl collection is so outstanding btw. Gonna go back to that thread and ogle for a while.

 

[canuk-gal]

Ahhhh yes. I was SO FOOLED by Takahashi that I kept buying from them because they sell great products at fair prices. I've also bought from Andrew Moline, pearlparadise, Cees, and general pearl. I assume I've been fooled by everyone since somehow I'm not on your (unclear) bandwagon. How sad for me. I'll go pout with my pretty pearls all alone now.

Well you can pout, but for goodness sakes DON'T CLUTCH!

 

[Civnhasy]

Hello to anyone still reading this thread! Since it's so Mikimoto focused I thought I'd post here. @yssie I just wanted to say thank you for all you have posted here! I have been reading through all 12 pages of this thread the last few days and relishing every word, picture, and bit of knowledge dropped.

I am a recent convert to the pearl world (jewelry in general, but pearls in particular). I just had a recent, happy work success that coincided with a trip to Las Vegas and I decided to buy a strand of Mikimoto A+ pearls to celebrate. Pearls are my birthstone but oddly I've never seen high quality or even "real" pearls before, so was never that captivated with them.

Then I went to Mikimoto, LOL. Wow! Unexpected love at first sight. And I had such a fun, wonderful experience at the store. Completely unpretentious; they were happy to let me play around and try things on, and my sales associate has been so great post-sale with my random pearl questions. As it should be!

In any case. I did do a bit of reading on various pearl forums/websites before going in, so I wasn't flying completely blind, but I had a completely different lens and mindset. Now, given my newfound enthusiasm (obsession?), I've had some time to go down many many more rabbit holes and am wondering if I should have bit the bullet and splurged on the AAA vs the A+ that I bought. The strand I have is beautiful, but I also bought a pair of AAA studs and now I can't stop comparing the two (I even got a jeweler's loupe and that made it worse ).

I know the price of pearls has gone up exponentially and it might be better to just wait, but climate change also seems to be a factor in the shortage and that isn't going away any time soon (if I'm wrong about this being a contributing reason for the shortage, please do correct me!).

I am on the very cusp of the exchange window (and I do wonder whether the exchange in their favor would make them more agreeable to it). I am thinking of asking my SA for some pricing. I fear she is going to think I'm a crazy person. I myself kind of fear I'm a crazy person(?!) [Do y'all think I'm a crazy person? ]

I just wish I had known what I know now. And don't want to wistfully think about AAAs every time I wear this necklace (which is still the prettiest thing I've ever owned, so I admit all of this hand-wringing is kind of ridiculous). But I figure if anyone can relate to this it's this group! And if my SA comes back and says they don't have in stock or it's too late, then at least I'll feel like I tried and things worked out as they were meant to be.

There's also an argument to be made for keeping what I have and hanging onto those funds for other pieces of jewelry down the road.

Anyway, including a photo for tax. The A+ strand, 7.5 mm and AAA studs. Hard to see in the photo (still working on my photography and lighting skills!) but the studs just have deeper, more beautiful luster and close up, the surface is nearly perfect.

 

[lovedogs]

Hello to anyone still reading this thread! Since it's so Mikimoto focused I thought I'd post here. @yssie I just wanted to say thank you for all you have posted here! I have been reading through all 12 pages of this thread the last few days and relishing every word, picture, and bit of knowledge dropped.

I am a recent convert to the pearl world (jewelry in general, but pearls in particular). I just had a recent, happy work success that coincided with a trip to Las Vegas and I decided to buy a strand of Mikimoto A+ pearls to celebrate. Pearls are my birthstone but oddly I've never seen high quality or even "real" pearls before, so was never that captivated with them.

Then I went to Mikimoto, LOL. Wow! Unexpected love at first sight. And I had such a fun, wonderful experience at the store. Completely unpretentious; they were happy to let me play around and try things on, and my sales associate has been so great post-sale with my random pearl questions. As it should be!

In any case. I did do a bit of reading on various pearl forums/websites before going in, so I wasn't flying completely blind, but I had a completely different lens and mindset. Now, given my newfound enthusiasm (obsession?), I've had some time to go down many many more rabbit holes and am wondering if I should have bit the bullet and splurged on the AAA vs the A+ that I bought. The strand I have is beautiful, but I also bought a pair of AAA studs and now I can't stop comparing the two (I even got a jeweler's loupe and that made it worse ).

I know the price of pearls has gone up exponentially and it might be better to just wait, but climate change also seems to be a factor in the shortage and that isn't going away any time soon (if I'm wrong about this being a contributing reason for the shortage, please do correct me!).

I am on the very cusp of the exchange window (and I do wonder whether the exchange in their favor would make them more agreeable to it). I am thinking of asking my SA for some pricing. I fear she is going to think I'm a crazy person. I myself kind of fear I'm a crazy person(?!) [Do y'all think I'm a crazy person? ]

I just wish I had known what I know now. And don't want to wistfully think about AAAs every time I wear this necklace (which is still the prettiest thing I've ever owned, so I admit all of this hand-wringing is kind of ridiculous). But I figure if anyone can relate to this it's this group! And if my SA comes back and says they don't have in stock or it's too late, then at least I'll feel like I tried and things worked out as they were meant to be.

There's also an argument to be made for keeping what I have and hanging onto those funds for other pieces of jewelry down the road.

Anyway, including a photo for tax. The A+ strand, 7.5 mm and AAA studs. Hard to see in the photo (still working on my photography and lighting skills!) but the studs just have deeper, more beautiful luster and close up, the surface is nearly perfect.

Lovely pieces! I can't be helpful because I don't have a good sense of miki prices, but to my understanding the AAA are an insane premium vs the A+.

But I'm strongly considering a pair of AAA earrings and your post is seriously convincing me that it's worth it !

 

[NY_Resonant]

Hello to anyone still reading this thread! Since it's so Mikimoto focused I thought I'd post here. @yssie I just wanted to say thank you for all you have posted here! I have been reading through all 12 pages of this thread the last few days and relishing every word, picture, and bit of knowledge dropped.

I am a recent convert to the pearl world (jewelry in general, but pearls in particular). I just had a recent, happy work success that coincided with a trip to Las Vegas and I decided to buy a strand of Mikimoto A+ pearls to celebrate. Pearls are my birthstone but oddly I've never seen high quality or even "real" pearls before, so was never that captivated with them.

Then I went to Mikimoto, LOL. Wow! Unexpected love at first sight. And I had such a fun, wonderful experience at the store. Completely unpretentious; they were happy to let me play around and try things on, and my sales associate has been so great post-sale with my random pearl questions. As it should be!

In any case. I did do a bit of reading on various pearl forums/websites before going in, so I wasn't flying completely blind, but I had a completely different lens and mindset. Now, given my newfound enthusiasm (obsession?), I've had some time to go down many many more rabbit holes and am wondering if I should have bit the bullet and splurged on the AAA vs the A+ that I bought. The strand I have is beautiful, but I also bought a pair of AAA studs and now I can't stop comparing the two (I even got a jeweler's loupe and that made it worse ).

I know the price of pearls has gone up exponentially and it might be better to just wait, but climate change also seems to be a factor in the shortage and that isn't going away any time soon (if I'm wrong about this being a contributing reason for the shortage, please do correct me!).

I am on the very cusp of the exchange window (and I do wonder whether the exchange in their favor would make them more agreeable to it). I am thinking of asking my SA for some pricing. I fear she is going to think I'm a crazy person. I myself kind of fear I'm a crazy person(?!) [Do y'all think I'm a crazy person? ]

I just wish I had known what I know now. And don't want to wistfully think about AAAs every time I wear this necklace (which is still the prettiest thing I've ever owned, so I admit all of this hand-wringing is kind of ridiculous). But I figure if anyone can relate to this it's this group! And if my SA comes back and says they don't have in stock or it's too late, then at least I'll feel like I tried and things worked out as they were meant to be.

There's also an argument to be made for keeping what I have and hanging onto those funds for other pieces of jewelry down the road.

Anyway, including a photo for tax. The A+ strand, 7.5 mm and AAA studs. Hard to see in the photo (still working on my photography and lighting skills!) but the studs just have deeper, more beautiful luster and close up, the surface is nearly perfect.

Small suggestion; Call some Mikimoto stores in Japan and ask their price for AAA strands before doing anything. I remember them being *significantly* cheaper in Kyoto than in the NYC Mikimoto store… Then if you choose to go that route, you can do a free trip to Japan on the savings alone and also check out non-mikimoto pearls during the trip for even more potential savings (Using your AAA earrings as a baseline).

 

[Daisys and Diamonds]

Hello to anyone still reading this thread! Since it's so Mikimoto focused I thought I'd post here. @yssie I just wanted to say thank you for all you have posted here! I have been reading through all 12 pages of this thread the last few days and relishing every word, picture, and bit of knowledge dropped.

I am a recent convert to the pearl world (jewelry in general, but pearls in particular). I just had a recent, happy work success that coincided with a trip to Las Vegas and I decided to buy a strand of Mikimoto A+ pearls to celebrate. Pearls are my birthstone but oddly I've never seen high quality or even "real" pearls before, so was never that captivated with them.

Then I went to Mikimoto, LOL. Wow! Unexpected love at first sight. And I had such a fun, wonderful experience at the store. Completely unpretentious; they were happy to let me play around and try things on, and my sales associate has been so great post-sale with my random pearl questions. As it should be!

In any case. I did do a bit of reading on various pearl forums/websites before going in, so I wasn't flying completely blind, but I had a completely different lens and mindset. Now, given my newfound enthusiasm (obsession?), I've had some time to go down many many more rabbit holes and am wondering if I should have bit the bullet and splurged on the AAA vs the A+ that I bought. The strand I have is beautiful, but I also bought a pair of AAA studs and now I can't stop comparing the two (I even got a jeweler's loupe and that made it worse ).

I know the price of pearls has gone up exponentially and it might be better to just wait, but climate change also seems to be a factor in the shortage and that isn't going away any time soon (if I'm wrong about this being a contributing reason for the shortage, please do correct me!).

I am on the very cusp of the exchange window (and I do wonder whether the exchange in their favor would make them more agreeable to it). I am thinking of asking my SA for some pricing. I fear she is going to think I'm a crazy person. I myself kind of fear I'm a crazy person(?!) [Do y'all think I'm a crazy person? ]

I just wish I had known what I know now. And don't want to wistfully think about AAAs every time I wear this necklace (which is still the prettiest thing I've ever owned, so I admit all of this hand-wringing is kind of ridiculous). But I figure if anyone can relate to this it's this group! And if my SA comes back and says they don't have in stock or it's too late, then at least I'll feel like I tried and things worked out as they were meant to be.

There's also an argument to be made for keeping what I have and hanging onto those funds for other pieces of jewelry down the road.

Anyway, including a photo for tax. The A+ strand, 7.5 mm and AAA studs. Hard to see in the photo (still working on my photography and lighting skills!) but the studs just have deeper, more beautiful luster and close up, the surface is nearly perfect.

beautiful
i have actually never seen miki's in person but 'everyone' says AAA is far surpurior to other grades
once you have made up your mind what you are going to do and are happy with whatever purhases i would hide your loupe away so you arnt tempted to inspect them for joy-robbing inperfections or damage every time you wear them

congraduations on your work success