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Akoya Pearls

Akoya was used to refer to pearls in earlier centuries for pearls by Japanese. Akoya is later/now is used to refer the bivalve mollusk producing the pearls. Akoya Pearls are produced by Pinctada martensii, Japanese pearl oyster. The outer rim or the lip of this oyster is yellowish-orange to brown; inner layer is of creamy white and slightly bluish color. The color of Akoya cultured pearls ranges from light pink to neutral white to Yellow (Rose, White, Light Cream, Cream, Dark Cream and Yellow). They also occur in Grey colors very rarely.

Akoya Pearls are usually round but may also occur in all standard pearl shapes which include Perfectly round, Nearly round, Slightly Off-round, Off-round, Distinctly off-round, semi baroque and Baroque.

Akoya Pearls size ranges from 3mm to 10mm, very rarely they can be found in the range over 10mm in 11.5-12mm. Usually the when all the quality factors are same, the larger the size of the pearl, the higher is the value.