Japan's akoya oysters have been preëminent among cultured pearls ever since Kokichi Mikimoto first established the industry in the early part of this century. But since 1994, something has been ...

Figure 1. This strand contains more than 300,000 akoya keshi pearls, each one only 0.7–0.9 mm in diameter. Photo by Eric Welch. How small can a pearl be? At the American Gem Trade Association show in ...

As testimony to China's achievement, their freshwater pearls are round enough and good enough to pass as Japanese akoya. China already ... the 1980s to bright red, blue, lavender, yellow or ...

Japan and China both produce akoya cultured pearls. South Sea Cultured Pearls Australia ... They might be gray, black or brown, and they can have blue, green, purple or pink overtones. Freshwater ...