Mikimoto Akoya Pearl Stud Earrings (18k white gold)

A pearl on purpose

Kokichi Mikimoto was born on January 25, 1858, in Toba, in what is now Mie Prefecture, the eldest son of an udon shop owner. He left school at 13 to sell vegetables for his family, and as a child he watched the pearl divers of Ise bring their harvest ashore. Judging a pearl exhibition at 20, he was struck by how flawed most natural pearls were.

In 1888 he borrowed money to start his first pearl oyster farm, raising Akoya oysters at Shinmeiura, an inlet of Ago Bay, with his wife and partner Ume. On July 11, 1893, after many failures and near bankruptcy, he produced hemispherical cultured pearls by seeding oysters with a small piece of mother-of-pearl. These first pearls grew attached to the inside of the shell. He applied for a patent in 1894 and received Japanese patent No. 2670 in 1896.

Round pearls, the kind set in a stud earring, took longer. Mikimoto filed for a round-pearl method in 1907, granted in 1908, but at about the same time Tatsuhei Mise and Tokichi Nishikawa developed methods that implant a nucleus together with a piece of oyster tissue. The Gemological Institute of America dates Mikimoto's adoption of the combined Mise-Nishikawa method to 1916, the step that made round cultured pearls commercially viable. A 2024 historical review cautions against crediting the round cultured pearl to any one person.

Selling the idea of a cultured pearl

Mikimoto's pearls were hard to sell at first because the public did not understand them. In March 1899 he opened the Mikimoto Pearl Store in Ginza, where staff could explain cultured pearls and sell them as finished jewelry. A jewelry workshop followed in 1907, and a London branch in 1913.

When round cultured pearls reached Europe around 1920, parts of the natural-pearl trade tried to have them treated as imitations. Scientists, including the zoologist Henry Lyster Jameson and the biologist Louis Boutan, concluded that the nacre of cultured and natural pearls was not fundamentally different, and legal proceedings in France ended favorably in 1924.

Mikimoto also protected the name by destroying stock. In 1932, with Japanese pearl prices collapsing from oversupply, the company publicly burned inferior pearls outside the Kobe Chamber of Commerce to show that it sold only high-quality cultured pearls. By 1935 Japan had 350 pearl farms producing 10 million cultured pearls a year. Mikimoto died on September 21, 1954, at 96; in 1985 the Japan Patent Office named him one of Japan's ten great inventors.

The world in 1893

Mikimoto's first success came in a turbulent year. In January a group backed by U.S. Marines overthrew the Kingdom of Hawaii; in May the World's Columbian Exposition opened in Chicago, and days later a crash on the New York Stock Exchange set off the Panic of 1893 and a long depression.

In June, gold was found at Kalgoorlie in Western Australia, and the British Mediterranean flagship HMS Victoria sank in ten minutes after colliding with HMS Camperdown. In August, France introduced the world's first driving licenses.

The 7mm white gold stud

This entry is Mikimoto's basic Akoya pearl stud: two 7mm Akoya cultured pearls on 18k white gold posts. Mikimoto's U.S. site sells the same style in a size menu running from 5mm to 9.5mm and in four quality grades, A, A+, AA and AAA.

In October 2026 the 7mm pair listed at $820 in A quality, the entry price of the style. The same 7mm pair cost more in higher grades on the same page, and larger pearls cost more again; the largest, highest-grade pairs ran into five figures.

One U.S. retailer's guide describes Mikimoto's grades this way: AAA, the highest, with a mirror-like reflection and little or no blemishing; AA with high luster and a very slightly blemished surface; A+ with very good luster; and A, the lowest grade the company allows, with good luster and a slightly blemished surface. The same guide says Mikimoto approves only about the top 5 percent of its harvest for jewelry, and that genuine pieces carry an engraved Mikimoto name or an oyster outline with an M on the metal, such as the earring posts.

From Ginza to the world

After the Second World War, Mikimoto opened stores across Europe, the U.S. and Asia and became one of the first Japanese brands with international recognition. The pearl-farming and sales companies merged in 1972 as K. Mikimoto & Co., Ltd., and the company opened a store on New York's Fifth Avenue in 1975.

Its pearls also reached ceremony and pageantry: Mikimoto made jewelry for Japan's imperial family, including a tiara for Princess Kako, and in 2002 it made and donated the Mikimoto Crown used by the Miss Universe pageant. More recently it has collaborated with fashion brands, including Comme des Garçons in 2020 and Chrome Hearts in 2024, in an effort to reach younger customers and men.

The Akoya stud remains the plainest expression of all that: one cultured pearl per ear, no design beyond the pearl and its post, from the same oyster species Mikimoto first farmed in Ago Bay.

The numbers

Pearl type

Akoya cultured pearl (Pinctada fucata)

Pearl size

7mm

Metal

18k white gold

Grades

A, A+, AA, AAA

Maker

Mikimoto, Japan

Marks

Mikimoto name or oyster-and-M mark on the metal

Timeline

1. Jan 25, 1858

   Kokichi Mikimoto is born in Toba, Shima Province.

2. 1888

   Mikimoto starts his first Akoya oyster farm at Shinmeiura on Ago Bay.

3. Jul 11, 1893

   Mikimoto produces his first hemispherical cultured pearls.

4. 1896

   He receives Japanese patent No. 2670 for hemispherical pearls.

5. Mar 1899

   The Mikimoto Pearl Store opens in Ginza, Tokyo.

6. 1907

   A Mikimoto jewelry workshop is established.

7. 1908

   Mikimoto receives patent No. 13673 for a round-pearl method.

8. 1913

   A London branch opens.

9. 1916

   Mikimoto adopts the Mise-Nishikawa method, making round cultured pearls commercially viable.

10. 1924

    Legal proceedings in France end favorably for cultured pearls.

11. 1932

    Mikimoto publicly burns inferior pearls outside the Kobe Chamber of Commerce.

12. Sep 21, 1954

    Kokichi Mikimoto dies at 96.

13. Dec 1, 1972

    Mikimoto's farming and sales companies merge as K. Mikimoto & Co., Ltd.

14. 1975

    Mikimoto opens a store on New York's Fifth Avenue.

15. Apr 18, 1985

    The Japan Patent Office names Mikimoto one of Japan's ten great inventors.

16. Oct 2026

    The 7mm white gold Akoya stud lists at $820 in A quality in the U.S.

The world in 1893

• Jan 17, 1893

  The Kingdom of Hawaii is overthrown with the intervention of U.S. Marines.

• May 1, 1893

  The World's Columbian Exposition opens in Chicago.

• May 5, 1893

  A New York Stock Exchange crash starts the Panic of 1893.

• Jun 17, 1893

  Gold is found at Kalgoorlie, Western Australia.

• Jun 22, 1893

  HMS Victoria sinks after colliding with HMS Camperdown.

• Aug 14, 1893

  France introduces the world's first driving licenses.

Price record

This is an asking price, not a sale. It is what a seller wanted on the date shown. Asking prices often sit above what buyers pay, but an ask is not a ceiling: a sale can land on either side of it. It is not a value.

By reference price, Mikimoto Akoya Pearl Stud Earrings (18k white gold) is number 100 of 100 in the jewelry entries of the FLOAT 100. 44 of those 100 rest on a realized sale; the rest carry an asking price or a guide value, and each page says which. Rank within the FLOAT 100 itself (100 here) is editorial: how much an object defines its field, not price alone.

Did you know

• Mikimoto's first cultured pearls were half-pearls stuck to the inside of the shell.
• He grew up the son of an udon shop owner and sold vegetables as a teenager.
• In 1932 the company publicly burned inferior pearls to protect its reputation.
• At the 1926 Philadelphia exposition Mikimoto showed a replica of the Liberty Bell covered in pearls.
• The Akoya oyster is also eaten; raw, its texture is compared to abalone.
• Mikimoto made the crown used by Miss Universe from 2002.