Akoya Cultured Pearl Strand

One row of matched round Akoya pearls on silk, closed by a small gold clasp: the pearl necklace made repeatable by Mikimoto's own invention.

From €5,850on the MIKIMOTO site, October 2026

Introduced: 1893 — 1893 is Kokichi Mikimoto's first cultured pearl, a half-round one; round pearls fit for strands came years later. The house signs itself 'Since 1893'; its corporate outline dates the business to March 1899, when the first Ginza shop opened. The French site names the line « Rang de perles de culture Akoya ».
Designer: Kokichi Mikimoto
Idea: The pearl
School: Tokyo
Materials: pearl, yellow gold, white gold

The story

In 1893 Kokichi Mikimoto, eldest son of a udon-shop family in Toba, got an Akoya oyster to coat an irritant he had slipped inside it and grow a pearl. Cultured pearls ended the scarcity of natural ones and moved the strand from royal treasuries to a shop counter in Ginza. Mikimoto still sorts its strands by size and lustre, from A quality up to grades it calls Mikimoto Premium and The Best of The Best.

The ladder

Entry Collier rang de perles Akoya 7,00–7,50 mm qualité A, fermoir or blanc 18 kt (U-K75116/W9U) €5,850
Signature Collier rang de perles Akoya 7,50–8,00 mm qualité A+, fermoir or jaune 18 kt (U-K80216/W9K) €10,050
Top of line Collection « The Best of The Best » – collier de perles Akoya (U-K00701), the house's top strand grade €21,200

Prices as published by MIKIMOTO in euros, October 2026.

Lineage

Answered by · 2012
M/G TASAKI, TASAKI (2012)
M/G TASAKI slices the round pearl open, so the banded inside that the perfect strand hides becomes the ornament.
Answered by · 2010
balance, TASAKI (2010)
Balance takes the matched Akoya of the strand and lines them up on a straight gold bar, level as a spirit gauge.
Answered by
danger, TASAKI
Danger gives the most polite gem in the case fangs, horns and claws of gold.
Answered by
Jeux de Rubans, MIKIMOTO
Mikimoto ties ribbons of pavé behind a single Akoya, as if the pearl had just been wrapped as a present.
Answered by
Les Pétales Place Vendôme, MIKIMOTO
Cupped petals of pavé drift against a round pearl, as if blown across the Place Vendôme.