Freshadama Pearl Collection
Freshadama is our top freshwater grade and the name is ours. It is the top 0.01% of a harvest, selected pearl by pearl, set aside, and often sold a single pearl at a time. It is the highest quality freshwater produces. You will find it here across necklaces, earrings, bracelets, pendants, rings and sets.
What Freshadama actually means
Four things separate it from the AAA strand next to it.
Roundness
This is the one that separates the grades. A AAA freshwater pearl looks round in a photograph and wobbles if you roll it on a table. Freshadama pearls are almost perfectly round, and once you have seen the two side by side you cannot unsee it.
Luster
Sharp enough to throw a reflection with edges rather than a soft glow. Freshwater pearls are nacre most of the way through, so when the nacre is laid down well the light goes in and comes back rather than skating off the surface.
Surface and matching
Clean surfaces, and on a strand every pearl has to agree with its neighbors on color, overtone and shape. Matching is the slow, expensive part and it is where most of the work goes.
Where it sits
Above our AAA by a clear margin. In the larger sizes it gives you a presence that would cost considerably more in a saltwater pearl.
Before you buy
Is Freshadama an industry grade?
No. Freshadama is our own grade and our own name, exclusive to us. It is the top 0.01% of a freshwater harvest, the pearls left after everything with a visible flaw, a weak luster or an off shape has been taken out. There is no independent body that certifies freshwater pearls the way laboratories certify hanadama akoya, which is exactly why we created a standard of our own and published what it means rather than leaning on a letter grade that anyone can print.
How is it different from your AAA?
Roundness first. Roll a AAA freshwater pearl on a table and it will wobble. A Freshadama pearl is almost perfectly round. After that it is luster, then surface, then how tightly the pearls are matched to each other. AAA is a good pearl and wears beautifully. Freshadama is the one you buy when you have looked at both.
Are the colors natural?
Yes. White, lavender and pink to peach are the pearl's own color, straight out of the mussel, and a multicolor strand is those natural colors sorted and arranged. We do not put dyed pearls in Freshadama.
How does Freshadama compare with akoya?
They are different pearls and both are excellent. Akoya gives you the classic round white strand with a very sharp luster. Freshadama gives you the top of what freshwater produces, in white and in natural pink, peach and lavender, and it reaches larger sizes for considerably less. Which one is right depends on the look you want rather than on quality.
Can I see the exact pearls, and can you match pieces to each other?
Ask and we will photograph them, at no cost and with no obligation to buy. And if you order more than one piece together we match the pearls to each other before anything is strung or set, at no charge. On colored Freshadama that is worth real money, because natural color varies and two lavender strands bought months apart will not necessarily agree.
See the difference for yourself
Ask us to put a Freshadama strand next to a AAA on camera. It is the fastest twenty minutes you will spend on this decision, and we are happy to tell you when AAA is the smarter buy.
