Above: The round dig or weathering on this side reveals the original colour

of the stone (greyish white). This was the colour of the agate/chalcedony
before it was treated to turn it to a more desirable black.

Ancient decorated agate bead
w/ 'railtrack' and mountain peak motif.
21 mm x 12.5 mm

A 'new' dZi bead from China (less than 5 years old) that has been purposely broken in half and polished smooth. It is clearly an attempt to look like an ancient damaged bead. What is interesting about this bead is that the decorated lines have also been framed and inlaid with silver or a silver coloured metal. It is quite an attractive effect, however, this was not a technique used to decorate dZi beads in ancient times.

 

A new book on 'Himalayan dZi Beads' by the Chinese author Xiaoli Zhu has just been published. It is currently only available in Chinese, however, there is a content section in English. It is packed full of beautiful images of dZi beads and there are few pages dedicated to Pumtek and Thogchags. A number of beads from our own blog have also been featured. 

ISBN 978-7-5494-1621-9

Ancient Western Asiatic Carnelian Bead

28.5 mm

Ancient Western Asiatic decorated carnelian.

18 mm

Ancient Carnelian Lion Bead

South East Asia

17 mm x 17 mm

Losar Tashi Delek! Happy Tibetan New Year! 

February 27th - Year of the Fire Rooster

A Tibetan or Bhutia woman circa 1920s.
The dZi beads on this necklace 

may well be glass imitations.