How to Buy Pearls: Your Ultimate Guide

An Akoya pearl is a type of saltwater pearl that comes from the Akoya oyster. These oysters are mainly found in the colder waters off the coast of Japan, as well as Vietnam, Korea and Australia. China was a large producer of this pearl type, however, due to several factors, this is no longer the case.

One of the main reasons that so many of the world’s Akoya pearls come from Japan is because it was the Japanese son of a noodle store owner, Kokichi Mikimoto, (perhaps you recognise the surname?) who first learned how to consistently culture pearls. Mikimoto was then instrumental in creating the global cultured pearl industry, a remarkable story and one that we will cover in a future article. While their freshwater cousins average a whopping 20-50 pearls in a single culturing cycle, it would be a rare occasion where an Akoya pearl oyster would produce more than two.

Saltwater pearls are grown across Australia and Asia, and there are three main types of saltwater pearls, which include South Sea pearls, Tahitian pearls and Akoya pearls and these are considered to be more valuable than freshwater pearls. This is because Saltwater pearls take longer to cultivate, only produce a single pearl at a time, and have a thicker nacre. They also have a beautiful lustre and colour.

An Akoya pearl is a type of saltwater pearl that comes from the Pinctada fucata. These pearl shells are mainly found in the colder waters off the coast of Japan, as well as Vietnam, Korea and Australia. Our Akoya pearls are cultivated in NSW, at our Broken Bay Pearl Farm. As the Akoya shell is much smaller than the Pinctada maxima and is the smallest of all the pearl-producing molluscs, this is one of the reasons Akoya pearls are generally smaller than South Sea pearls, with most Akoya pearls measuring between two and eight millimetres. The colour of Akoya pearls can vary, so while most people think of white pearls when they think of Akoya pearls, there are many other colours to choose from. 

South Sea pearls are a type of saltwater pearl and are considered the rarest of all types of pearls. They come from the Pinctada maxima shell, where the name “South Sea” originates from the location of the shell, as these shells are found in the southern hemisphere – particularly around northern Australia, Indonesia, the Philippines, Burma, and French Polynesia. Our South Sea pearls are sustainably cultivated in the pristine and remote waters of our Cygnet Bay Pearl Farm, located on the Kimberley Coast, WA.