That particular style of necklace - beads knotted on silk with a brooch-style clasp in the front - seems to have been a popular Chinese jewelry item around the 1920s-30s.

They frequently have some sort of Chinese marking on the back of the clasp. The silver filigree style shows up in old Mandarin hat buttons, so likely there were craftsmen still kicking around who were skilled in doing it, even if the Qing dynasty ended in 1912.

The type of glass or stones typically used seem to fall into the "Chinese" category rather than "European" - note how the murrine in your example do not appear molded, but rather assembled by applying strips of glass around a core. Japanese lampworking method applied by Chinese workmen?

There were a lot of tourists and foreign residents in Shanghai and Peking during those decades, so there was a market for that sort of thing. A melting pot of European, Chinese, and Japanese design?

I suppose they could be Bohemian attempts at a "Chinese" look, and it's hard not to remain skeptical - what do you make of the attached necklace, for instance? Czech or Chinese?

The mottled blue beads with the pink murine looked Chinese to me, but they are the only patterned Boshan-type beads I've seen in a European-style necklace (which I now know was made in China). (I'm new to this so saying I haven't seen this before is not saying much.) Beadiste, thank you for the illustrations and taking me on your journey to discovery. (Sorry about the brain cramp.)

Hi,
So interesting.
Attached are some that I thought were Czech or Bohemian from the 30s. There was no clasp when I found it in a thrift store many many years ago. Some of the beads have bubbles. Molded? Any info is appreciated. Thanks.

I, too, have a string of these shou-engraved blue glass beads with the little old-fashioned black and white faceted discs.

Most of the ones I've seen since - they also show up in an amber glass - have a simple version of the 2 shou-like circles, but some (like the necklace in this post) also feature the diagonal slashes or scroll work between the circles, similar to the way the Chinese carve these beads.

Again, the Germans occupied Shandong at the turn of the last century. Hence Tsingtao beer, among other things.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tsingtao_Brewery

Floor's link to the quartz and amber versions in Idar-Oberstein:

http://beadcollector.net/cgi-bin/anyboard.cgi?fvp=/openforum/&cmd=get&cG=9343632373&zu=3934353439&v=2&gV=0&p=

Thank you. So interesting.

I didn't even know I had these two beads until I was going through the 'blue' drawer.

Not nearly as well-made--the 'carving' is much shallower, and more clumsy--but now I know what they are poor copies of! :^)

The mottled green glass beads were also made by Europeans. But is the cabochon clasp on this piece carved (Chinese) or molded (European)?

In blog post from 2013 I described two sets of old cloisonne beads that are clearly mated in necklaces with Chinese glass - one featuring Boshan-style "starburst" beads, the other that mottled green "Peking" glass made to resemble jade.

http://www.beadiste.com/2013/10/puzzling-evidence-twisted-wire.html

Interestingly, the Germans and Japanese both expropriated Shandong province and attempted to set up industries there, so there could be two non-Chinese design sources for these glass Deco-era glass beads.

Two from one quick eBay search is enough, I guess.

The cabochon looks molded, and the little seed pearls are likely glass, dunno what the hallmark says. Neiger or Chinese?

Sterling or fine, not sure.

But, guessing this is indeed a Chinese piece.

Maybe those little pearls are actually seed pearls with nacre deadened by age, and not little glass seed beads?

Maybe I've got this just backwards - these are European beads, cabochons, and findings for sale in China during the 1920s-30s?

Nobody has ever accused this type of glass of being "Peking" glass, have they?

Kill me now, I have a brain cramp.

Found via a Google Images search - link attached.

The Germans were quite expert at dyeing (or staining, if you prefer) chalcedony blue, and the precise geometric cutting seems very Idar-Oberstein as well.

Unlike the filigree silverwork on the Boshan-style necklace, the silverwork on the "Sycee" clasps seems to be more European in technique.

And why the English transliteration "Sycee" - silver items made by Chinese for Chinese clients would more likely feature Chinese characters, yes?

Hmmmm.....

Half a dozen pics coming up...