Tenjo Grade?

[Red]

Color analysis is right down my husband's alley. I'll check with him.

Too bad I'm not a collector of round white pearls...

 

[Katbran]

Oh wow ... this just got too complicated for me ..lol

Red - im sure we would all be interested in any assistance your DH can offer !

So...basically this classification is actually the very very best Akoya you can buy ? The Hanadama ‘top of the line’ due to a superior orient/aurora .. ?

 

[Abi]

I love learning new things over here in our Pearl world

 

[Icyjade]

So...basically this classification is actually the very very best Akoya you can buy ? The Hanadama ‘top of the line’ due to a superior orient/aurora .. ?

That’s my understanding... 天女 aka ten-nyo is basically the best hanadama aka 花珠 available. Most jap vendors who carry akoyas are familiar with the term.

I like to browse jap sites and they always use ‘teri’ which I interpret as orient/iridescence. So to qualify as ten-nyo grade the pearls need to have really outstanding orient.

Not that this makes a lot of sense to read but this is from the grading site that provides the certs :
http://www.sinjuken.co.jp/image/en.pdf

And i think the vendors take out the ten nyo stock with a flourish as it’s the best and priciest akoyas available. Haven’t asked to see ten nyo strands for a while as being shocked by the asking price the first time was enough for me. I am not too much into small uniform white pearls but yeah they look good, even better than ‘normal’ hanadama strands... I can’t really rem but I think I prefer ten nyo strands on the counter but the natural white akoya against my skin... so still best to try in person before taking the expensive plunge.

Comparative pics of ten nyo vs hanadama pearls via the site below which I thought might be interesting:
https://global.rakuten.com/en/store/world-pearl/item/999902072/



More pics of ten nyo grade pearls here which I hope is allowed... Rakuten is like eBay? This is the search result for ten nyo 天女 pearls 真珠 on the English version of the site:
https://global.rakuten.com/en/search/?k=天女真珠&l-id=search_regular

 

[Lugana]

Thanks icyjade! that all looks a bit clearer now)) even though in real-life photos of CrazyMissy the difference between ten-nyo and just hanadama are far more subtle than in those japanese photos.. but if you say rakuten is like japanese version of eBay - I'm not surprised))

Apparently, matama strands can also have ten-nyo grade. I now want a strand of those

 

[CrazyMissy]

Oh wow, talk about collaborative effort! Thanks everyone! Thanks IcyJade for the reference as well, those photos look a lot better that those I took! (Note to self, take close up shots!). I hope we can hear more about that color analysis from Red's DH, that would be interesting.

... and all this started because I wanted something like the Miki 88 strand.

 

[Icyjade]

Now my question is this .... when they are looking at pearls to grade them as Hanadama ( or not) .. do they only use the ‘Aurora Viewer’ on the strands that appear to be outstanding Hanadama or do they use it on all of them as part of the grading process?

Loads more info on Chinese language sites and according to those sites basically the vendor has to opt to pay for another test. Which means if the pearls don’t qualify for tennyo grade, then they lose the testing fee. So the additional testing isn’t by default.

http://www.sohu.com/a/123189137_513945

 

[Icyjade]

Apparently, matama strands can also have ten-nyo grade. I now want a strand of those

Not according to the Chinese sites? Unless PSL confirmed it?

I found a chart that gives the grading for various akoya colors by the PSL:



1st row:
White Color / Tennyo/ strong orient
/ hanadama/
/ not sure how to translate / pearls below 6mm
/ not sure how to translate / pearls with pink and green orient
(Silver) Blue color/ madama /
/ not sure how to translate / pearls below 6mm
Cream color/ not sure how to translate /
Gold Color / not sure how to translate /

Ok my translation sucks but anyway it appears that there are special names for the best cream and gold akoya pearls. As for blue akoya, the chart only shows two, either madama or another name for smaller pearls below 6mm.

From: http://www.sohu.com/a/159426956_184431

 

[CathyKeshi]

Fascinating! Thanks everyone, especially Lugana and IcyJade

 

[Lugana]

Not according to the Chinese sites? Unless PSL confirmed it?

That would be good if there are none of ten-nyo matama.. would save me a few quid joke. I've asked PSL about matama, if they reply - I will post here)

PS do you learn Chinese? That's sooooo exciting!

Fascinating! Thanks everyone, especially Lugana and IcyJade

Hahahah, yeah, we are determined to find out whether there are further yet-unknown boundaries to splash money in the pearls world))))) though it does feel a bit like "Tell me there are better pearls than the best ones!" or something like that))

 

[CrazyMissy]

Hahahah, yeah, we are determined to find out whether there are further yet-unknown boundaries to splash money in the pearls world))))) though it does feel a bit like "Tell me there are better pearls than the best ones!" or something like that))

In my case, it was more "What? There's something better?!? I'm not prepared for this, but wait, let me think about it! Don't confuse me!"

During the fair, the 9.0-9.5 hanadama strands with matching earrings were priced almost similarly as a 8.5-9.0mm tenyo, but there were no tenyo strands that had matching earrings. It could have been an easy hanadama purchase, but the greedy part of me got confused. In the end, I gave it a pass, to give me some time to think it over until the next fair. Like, does it really matter if the pearl strand had matching earrings?

... will it matter? It has been two weeks since the fair and I still have not figured out the answer.

 

[Lugana]

Like, does it really matter if the pearl strand had matching earrings?... will it matter? It has been two weeks since the fair and I still have not figured out the answer.

Well, if you want a second opinion - considering the price points you mentioned, I would get ten-nyo strand without earrings just out of vanity to have the best best of the best best (I think that's the most acceptable "colloquial" name for ten-nyo grade jk)

First, because I think it's important to match coloured strands with earrings, like blue or gold ones, for example. Because once you got the strand and walked out from the supplier - it will be five times more difficult and expensive to find a matching pair somewhere else. But when it comes to white (pinked) pearls - that looks somewhat easier, primary because it's more pearls to choose from and they are more alike harvest to harvest than natural coloured ones. And if you do decide to have white studs with your ten-nyo strand later, I think hanadama earrings will do the job neatly (especially if someone like PP will actually choose the most matching to your strand for you).

And another consideration for those matched sets - how often it will actually be worn together? Like I wear mine together only to the opera when the Queen is sitting next to me (read: never ). So yeah.. the question is do you really need a perfectly matched studs to a strand to go together or not mine seem to meet only in the storage case

 

[BWeaves]

I think earrings and necklace look better if they don't match. I purposely got 9mm for my stud earrings, which is 1 mm bigger than my 8mm Hanadama rope. Also, my earrings are pinked, but my rope is natural white, because this is what looked best when I actually wore them. I found that natural white earrings actually were too white for my ears, and you cannot tell they don't match exactly when I wear the earrings and rope together.

 

[Icyjade]

In my case, it was more "What? There's something better?!? I'm not prepared for this, but wait, let me think about it! Don't confuse me!"

During the fair, the 9.0-9.5 hanadama strands with matching earrings were priced almost similarly as a 8.5-9.0mm tenyo, but there were no tenyo strands that had matching earrings. It could have been an easy hanadama purchase, but the greedy part of me got confused. In the end, I gave it a pass, to give me some time to think it over until the next fair. Like, does it really matter if the pearl strand had matching earrings?

... will it matter? It has been two weeks since the fair and I still have not figured out the answer.

I think it does matter purely from a collection/perfectionist perspective... even if you don’t/seldom wear the earrings n strand together, it’s slightly more satisfying if you get a set vs an unmatched set... if you don’t mind having a non-matching set then it’s fine but if you think it will bother you down the road, then probably best to just get so that you won’t have regrets. I mean... considering how much you will already be paying for the strand...

You could write n ask the vendor to bring a matched tennyo strand with earrings to the next fair for you to see.

Btw and I dunno how true but I read that PSL doesn’t certify loose pearls/earrings only. So they will certify earrings with the strand, but not separately... I also have no idea why there are unpaired hanadama earrings in the market, hopefully someone can clarify?

 

[CrazyMissy]

Thanks for the advice ladies, much appreciated! Will definitely consider your perspectives.

One last thing to note: I just found it odd that hanadama strands come with matching earrings or the same size (also included in the appraisal cert), yet tenyo strands did not come in sets. I also did not see just hanadama earrings; they were always part of a set.

I had to console myself with a pair of 12mm white ssps, to be sent to the jeweler to be made into stud earrings with the large loop backing. Just kidding, I was really in the market for those. They seem to be more silver than pink so I'm not sure if they will go well with an akoya strand. I'll just bring them to the next fair and see how that combination goes. I hope it's not, err, blasphemous to mix ssp studs with an akoya strand!

 

[Pareltje]

Whoah those are gorgeous wssp pair!

 

[piper]

Wow. The wssp are amazing.

 

[kalmen22]

Lovely wssp you got!