--- title: "What Does AAA Mean for Pearls?" description: "What AAA, AA and A pearl grades mean: why no standard defines them, how they differ from GIA's seven value factors, and what to ask a seller about one." canonical_url: "https://learnaboutpearls.com/grading/aaa-pearl-grades/" last_updated: "2026-11-04" last_reviewed: "2026-11-01" reviewed_by: "Simon" publisher: "Unique Pearl" publisher_disclosure: "Learn About Pearls is published by Unique Pearl, a pearl jeweler." --- # What Does AAA Mean for Pearls? **Short answer:** AAA is not a standard grade. GIA's journal describes the pearl trade's grading systems as competing, often company-specific methods with coded terminology, and CIBJO has no classification system of its own, so one seller's AAA need not match another's. Ask what each letter measures, or rely on a laboratory's description, such as GIA's seven value factors. **Key facts:** - Agreeing on a universal way to classify pearls has remained one of the main challenges facing the pearl industry. [1] - Grading systems in the pearl trade have been competing, often company-specific methods with coded terminology. [1] - CIBJO has no classification system of its own for natural or cultured pearls and does not endorse one industry system over another. [2] - Writing about tanzanite, GIA notes that individual companies may create their own quality descriptions, like AAA, AA and A, for the range of quality of their goods. [3] - In French Polynesia, the current consensus ranks pearls by letters from A to E, with E the lowest, to set a price. [4] - GIA describes pearls with its 7 Pearl Value Factors, size, shape, color, luster, surface, nacre and matching. [5] Letter grades such as [AAA](https://learnaboutpearls.com/glossary/#aaa-grade), AA and A are not a standard. Knowing where pearl grades come from, and what they leave out, tells you how to read one. ## No standard defines AAA Pearls have never had a grading scale that the whole trade shares. GIA’s journal describes the grading systems developed in the pearl industry as competing, often company-specific methods with coded terminology, hard to understand and to use consistently, and says agreeing on a universal approach has remained one of the industry’s main challenges. [1] The standard-setters haven’t filled the gap. CIBJO, the international jewelry confederation, states that it has no classification system of its own for [natural](https://learnaboutpearls.com/glossary/#natural-pearl) or [cultured pearls](https://learnaboutpearls.com/glossary/#cultured-pearl) and does not endorse one industry system over another. [2] Its guide adds that the grading systems various businesses and organizations have created have often contradicted one another, causing confusion rather than bringing order to the market. [2] Letter scales belong to whoever uses them. Writing about tanzanite, GIA notes that individual companies may create their own quality descriptions, like AAA, AA and A, to denote the range of quality of their goods, and that no standard quality-grading scale exists for that gem. [3] Pearl grades work the same way: because the trade’s systems are often company-specific, one seller’s AAA need not match another’s. [1] ## Grading is not the same as classification CIBJO’s guide draws a useful line between the two. Grading sorts a given harvest within its own range, which varies from one harvest to the next, and often lumps several quality factors together to make uniform lots for sale. Classification uses fixed limits for each [value factor](https://learnaboutpearls.com/glossary/#value-factors), set separately for each type, so that a pearl described as “very good” two years ago would still be “very good” today. [2] So a grade, unlike a classification, may describe a pearl only relative to the harvest it came from. [2] ## Where letters are used Some systems do use letters, each in its own way. In the classification for Chinese [freshwater cultured pearls](https://learnaboutpearls.com/glossary/#freshwater-cultured-pearl) that the National Gemstone Testing Center provides in CIBJO’s guide, letters grade one factor at a time: [luster](https://learnaboutpearls.com/glossary/#luster) runs from A, very strong, to D, weak. [2] Letters are also widely used for [Tahitian pearls](https://learnaboutpearls.com/glossary/#tahitian-cultured-pearl). A 2021 report by the territory’s audit chamber found that, although there is no single classification either internationally or in Polynesia, the current consensus ranks pearls by letters from A to E, with E the lowest, to set a price. [4] The territory’s pearl council had considered a regulatory ban on category E pearls, but dropped the idea in February 2021. [4] The territory’s pearl law itself uses no letters. It classifies every Tahitian cultured pearl by size, weight, shape and [surface quality](https://learnaboutpearls.com/glossary/#surface-quality), with color, assortment, pairing and the thickness of the [nacre](https://learnaboutpearls.com/glossary/#nacre) around the bead as additional criteria. [6] ## Grades Japan once used Japan’s only quality inspection of pearls was once a government inspection of pearls for export. Pearls were rated on [nacre thickness](https://learnaboutpearls.com/glossary/#nacre-thickness), shape, luster, blemishes, flaws and finish, then given a final grade from 1 to 5, and only the top three grades passed as “H” for export. [2] The page [pearl grading](https://learnaboutpearls.com/grading/) explains these systems. ## Describing pearls without letters GIA’s laboratory uses words instead of letters. Its 7 Pearl Value Factors, size, shape, color, luster, surface, nacre and matching, are a standard GIA developed over 70 years of research to evaluate pearls of all types and describe them in terms everyone can understand. [5] GIA developed the system for the same reason as its 4Cs for diamonds: to give pearl quality a standard terminology in plain language. [1] The idea is older than it looks. A pearl classification like the diamond system first appeared in Gems & Gemology in 1942, with categories from gem quality, extra-fine and fine down to good, fair, imperfect and poor. [1] In 1967, GIA’s Richard Liddicoat proposed a system based on the seven value factors. [1] In GIA’s own example, an [Akoya](https://learnaboutpearls.com/glossary/#akoya) strand is described this way: [1] - Size: 5.51 to 8.82 mm [1] - Shape: near-round - Color ([overtone](https://learnaboutpearls.com/glossary/#overtone)): variously colored - Luster: excellent - Surface: lightly spotted - Matching: very good - Nacre: acceptable Every GIA laboratory that grades pearls uses the same system and carefully matched master sets of pearls, so that the results can be repeated. [1] The same seven quality factors read two ways: summed up in one letter on a seller’s own scale, or described one by one in words, as in GIA’s Akoya example above. Drawn for Learn About Pearls. **Text version of this diagram** Seven quality factors down the middle: size, shape, color, luster, surface, nacre and matching. On the left, lines from the seven run together into one letter grade, AAA, on one seller’s own scale, which often combines several factors into one. On the right, each factor gets its own description in words, as in GIA’s example of an Akoya strand: size in millimeters, a near-round shape, a variously colored overtone, excellent luster, a lightly spotted surface, acceptable nacre and very good matching. ## How to read a letter grade Treat a letter grade as the seller’s own description and ask what stands behind it: - **Which factors does it cover?** Pearl quality rests on seven factors: size, shape, color, luster, surface quality, nacre quality and, for jewelry with several pearls, matching. [7] CIBJO notes that grading often combines several factors into one. [2] - **Whose scale is it?** Ask whether the grade is the seller’s own or comes from another system, and what the top and bottom of the scale are. - **What about origin and treatment?** A quality grade is not an identification. A GIA report states whether pearls are natural or cultured and records any detectable treatments. [8] The page [luster](https://learnaboutpearls.com/quality/luster/) explains the factor GIA calls perhaps the most important. ## Questions people ask ### Is AAA the highest pearl grade? Only on the scale of whoever uses it. No standard defines AAA for pearls, and GIA notes, writing about tanzanite, that companies create letter descriptions such as AAA, AA and A for their own goods. In French Polynesia, the consensus letter scale for pricing pearls runs from A to E, with E the lowest. [1, 3, 4] ### What is the difference between AAA and AA pearls? Whatever the seller's own scale says. Because pearl grading systems are often company-specific, the difference between two letters depends on that company's definitions. Ask which value factors each grade covers, such as luster, surface and shape, and what each grade allows. [1, 7] ### How does GIA grade pearls? With words rather than letters. GIA's 7 Pearl Value Factors describe size, shape, color, luster, surface, nacre and matching. In one example from GIA's journal, an Akoya strand is near-round, with excellent luster, a lightly spotted surface, very good matching and acceptable nacre. [1, 5] ### How are Tahitian pearls graded? French Polynesia's pearl law classifies them by size, weight, shape and surface quality, with color, assortment, pairing and nacre thickness as additional criteria. For pricing, a 2021 report by the territory's audit chamber found that the current consensus ranks pearls by letters from A to E, though there is no single classification. [4, 6] ## References 1. Joyce Wing Yan Ho and Sally Chan Shih (2021). Pearl Classification: The GIA 7 Pearl Value Factors. [Source](https://www.gia.edu/gems-gemology/summer-2021-pearl-classification-the-gia-7-pearl-value-factors) · [Archived copy](https://web.archive.org/web/20260211121639/https://www.gia.edu/gems-gemology/summer-2021-pearl-classification-the-gia-7-pearl-value-factors) 2. CIBJO Pearl Commission (2025). CIBJO Guides Describing and Classifying Natural and Cultured Pearls, the Producing Molluscs & Responsible Pearling. [Source](https://cibjo.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/Final-Guide-October-2025-v2-COMPRESSED.pdf) · [Archived copy](https://web.archive.org/web/20260212155210/https://cibjo.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/Final-Guide-October-2025-v2-COMPRESSED.pdf) 3. Gemological Institute of America (GIA), FAQ. What's AAA-quality tanzanite?. [Source](https://www.gia.edu/FAQ/gia-faq-aaa-quality-tanzanite) · [Archived copy](https://web.archive.org/web/20260510235626/https://www.gia.edu/FAQ/gia-faq-aaa-quality-tanzanite) 4. Chambre territoriale des comptes de la Polynésie française (2021). Rapport d'observations définitives : Politique publique en matière des ressources marines (perliculture), exercices 2015 et suivants. [Source](https://www.ccomptes.fr/sites/default/files/2023-10/PFR2021016.pdf) · [Archived copy](https://web.archive.org/web/20261026000246/https://www.ccomptes.fr/sites/default/files/2023-10/PFR2021016.pdf) 5. Gemological Institute of America (GIA), FAQ. What pearl classification system does GIA use?. [Source](https://www.gia.edu/FAQ/gia-faq-analysis-grading-pearl-grading-system) · [Archived copy](https://web.archive.org/web/20260521011914/https://www.gia.edu/FAQ/gia-faq-analysis-grading-pearl-grading-system) 6. Assemblée de la Polynésie française (Journal officiel de la Polynésie française) (2017). Loi du pays n° 2017-16 du 18 juillet 2017 réglementant les activités professionnelles liées à la production et la commercialisation des produits perliers et nacriers en Polynésie française. [Source](https://www.ressources-marines.gov.pf/wp-content/uploads/sites/24/2017/10/Loi-du-Pays-n%C2%B0-2017-16-du-18_07_2017-Activit%C3%A9s-professionnelles-perli.pdf) · [Archived copy](https://web.archive.org/web/20261026000126/https://www.ressources-marines.gov.pf/wp-content/uploads/sites/24/2017/10/Loi-du-Pays-n%C2%B0-2017-16-du-18_07_2017-Activit%C3%A9s-professionnelles-perli.pdf) 7. Gemological Institute of America (GIA), Gem Encyclopedia. Pearl Quality Factors. [Source](https://www.gia.edu/pearl-quality-factor) · [Archived copy](https://web.archive.org/web/20261016075647/https://www.gia.edu/pearl-quality-factor) 8. Phoebe Shang (2026). Freshwater Akoyas – A Trending Misnomer for Certain Freshwater Pearls. [Source](https://www.gia.edu/freshwater-akoyas-a-trending-misnomer-for-certain-pearls) · [Archived copy](https://web.archive.org/web/20260617073835/https://www.gia.edu/freshwater-akoyas-a-trending-misnomer-for-certain-pearls) **Written by:** Learn About Pearls editors **Fact-checked:** Learn About Pearls editors, November 1, 2026 **Reviewed by:** Simon, November 1, 2026 **First published:** November 4, 2026 **Publisher:** [Unique Pearl](https://learnaboutpearls.com/about/), a pearl jeweler **Revision history** 1. November 4, 2026: First published. First published **How to cite this page** **APA:** Learn About Pearls editors. (2026). _What Does AAA Mean for Pearls?_ Learn About Pearls. https://learnaboutpearls.com/grading/aaa-pearl-grades/ **MLA:** “What Does AAA Mean for Pearls?” _Learn About Pearls_, Unique Pearl, November 4, 2026, learnaboutpearls.com/grading/aaa-pearl-grades/. **Chicago:** Learn About Pearls editors. “What Does AAA Mean for Pearls?” Learn About Pearls. Unique Pearl. Last modified November 4, 2026. https://learnaboutpearls.com/grading/aaa-pearl-grades/. **BibTeX:** `@misc{lap-grading-aaa-pearl-grades, title = {What Does AAA Mean for Pearls?}, author = {{Learn About Pearls editors}}, year = {2026}, howpublished = {\url{https://learnaboutpearls.com/grading/aaa-pearl-grades/}}, note = {Learn About Pearls, published by Unique Pearl}}` Quoting with attribution and a link is welcome. See [how to cite and reuse](https://learnaboutpearls.com/cite/). **Suggest a correction** ## Related pages - [Grading](https://learnaboutpearls.com/grading/): Why there is no single pearl grading system, and how labs, governments and the trade grade pearls. - [Quality](https://learnaboutpearls.com/quality/): The seven value factors for pearls, size, shape, color, luster, surface, nacre and matching, and what each one means. - [Tahitian pearls](https://learnaboutpearls.com/types/tahitian-pearls/): Dark, naturally colored cultured pearls from the black-lipped oyster of French Polynesia.