| Original Message: Re: Large Agate Beads - seen in China |
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I'm doubtful about these having much age. I saw quite large supplies of similar beads in the tourist markets in western Yunnan when I was there recently. One of the characteristics I noticed was that in any batch there always seemed to be some beads that were drilled at an angle to where you would expect the perforation to be on, say, a genuinely ancient bead. It struck me that someone was trying too hard to make them look "primitive." There are several like that on the strand that's illustrated here. I wasn't interested in the agates, but I did buy a couple of similarly rough turquoise beads, often drilled in the same way. They're dyed turquoise, I'm sure. The seller had but a ridiculous starting price on them, claiming they were ancient Tibetan, but brought the price down by 95% in less than a minute! Cheers, Will All rights reserved by Bead Collector Network and its users |
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