It is always good to hear from someone who is on the spot, so to speak. I have a picture of three supposed Tibetan prayer malas, or strings perhaps, that I bought some years ago. The top string was said to be made of Yak bone, but is made with nicer than normal materials. The bottom two strings were said to be made of Human bone. The typical story of being made of a holy person's bones.

They are obviously made of different bone types than the yak, and also have much better than average turquoise, carnelian, shell and silver accessories. In other words it is easy to tell that they are nicely made pieces and more valuable than the normal stuff. I showed them to my doctor friend who teaches medicine at a local university here and he said that they could be human bone, but he could not say for certain without testing.

I guess my question would be with your experience in Tibet, do these appear to be authentic pieces, or just more tourist material? If Bob is listening out there his opinion would be most welcome also.

Thank you for contributing your valuable insights to this forum, it is certainly appreciated.

Jan Skipper
mosquitobay