At Tucson, I was shown some beautiful strands of new amazonite beads, purchased in Morocco. Has anyone seen these yet? Their color is remarkably bright teal blue (and a somewhat darker tone in some strands). The beads are large and chunky, not precisely cut—but handsome—and in shapes that remind me of the barrel and oblate shapes typical of African "amber."

I first saw these at the stall of Abdul Wais at Riverwalk. He was frank that they were new beads (which was apparent anyway). At The Gem Mall, I found a chap who had a group of these beads (and pendants), but was selling them for double the cost quoted by Abdul, with the story that they were "ancient." It would have cost $65 to buy a single pendant (for specimen purposes), though he offered it to me for $50. Still much too high.

I wish I had gotten a photo—but I assumed they would be around for a while.

JDA.