Above: Very Rare Ancient Ceylon Sapphire Bead 

26 mm x 16 mm (35 ct)

I recently aquired the above bead as part of a private collection from a gemologist friend of mine. It was collected in Sri Lanka (Ceylon) many years ago. My first impression was that this was a blue chalcedony with a more unusual faceted bicone shape. The facets are rounded at the edges. Under magnification it was much easier to recognise that this was not blue chalcedony. How can you tell this is sapphire? I learnt that if you point a strong beam of light at the end of the bead you can see a faint 6 rayed star, a unique feature of sapphire. The lustre is also much higher than we see with chalcedony.

 above photo from Crystal Treasure

The natural bi-pyramidal shape of a sapphire crystal when found in its rough state (above).

Above: Ancient Blue Chalcedony

Ancient Phum dZi. A rare two eyed 

Phum dZi is seen on the left (33 mm x 16 mm)

Ancient Two eyed dZi beads.

Left bead: 29 mm x 11 mm 

Right bead: 32 mm x 11 mm

Ancient Three Eyed dZi Bead

36 mm x 11 mm
★●•٠·˙ 

A rare quality 'new' three eyed dZi bead
(less than 10 years old)

from Taiwan or China.

36 mm x 12 mm
★●•٠·˙ 

Ancient Indo-Tibetan agate

26 mm x 16 mm

Ancient Indo-Tibetan banded agate bead.

34 mm x 11 mm

Ancient Indo-Tibetan banded agate bead.
(one end is damaged and worn smooth
from possibly centuries of wear)

32 mm x13 mm

Ancient Serpentine Bead

Western Asiatic

19 mm x 6 mm

A small matched pair of ancient two stripe Chong dZi. 

Sourced in Nepal.

18 mm x 6 mm

A perfect pair of ancient decorated agates

(also known as Longevity dZi because the 

decoration resembles the shell of a turtle).

This is a portion of a damaged ancient 12 eye dZi bead.
Six eyes still remain on this bead.

Ancient Phum dZi

18 mm x 12 mm

Above: Banded agate detail.

The above pendant bead was sourced from Thailand a couple
of years ago. This piece was believed to be ancient by the seller,
however, I believe this is a newly created piece. New or old
it is still a magnificient piece of agate!
72 mm x 31 mm

Large ancient Tasso dZi.

28.5 mm x 13 mm

A long ancient carnelian bicone bead (Western Asiatic)

55 mm x 12 mm (at widest point)

Ancient Rock Crystal Beads (Western Asiatic)

Ancient Dvaravati Agate with gold end caps. 

86 mm x 8 mm

A newly created hand carved hexagonal tabular bead.

This tourmaline bead measures only 13 mm
and is carved with Amitabha Buddha on both sides.

A masterful portrait of a young Tibetan by the 

Chinese photograher Zhuang Xueben.

Tibet, 1930s.

A Tibetan woman with a necklace of coral and dZi.

Yushu, Tibet. 1937. Photo by Zhuang Xueben

A Tibetan woman wearing a necklace of 

coral and Tiger dZi. 1936
Photo by Zhuang Xueben

Ancient Pumtek stone bead with zig zag decoration.

Pyu/Tircul Period, Burma.

17 mm x 10 mm

Housed in the Morgan Library Museum, USA.
Mesopotamian Agate Eye Bead

3.84 cm diameter

Ancient Tabular Banded Agate Bead

24 mm x 20 x 9 mmm

Ancient agate bead.

21 mm x 15 mm

Ancient banded agate bead.
18 mm x 11 mm

Ancient Tasso dZi bead 

17 mm x 10 mm