These are usually or often brown serpentine, inlaid with silver or gold (or gold-colored) wires. They were originally made to be fittings onto the handles of, or near the mouthpieces of hookahs (or whatever name you want to use for Middleastern water pipes). Note the large straight perforations.
Historically, one was published by Orchard in Beads and Beadwork of the American Indians (1929, p. 35 Figure 24). (P. 42 in the 1975 reprint.) This was said to have been found in Mississippi, and to be "unique." It is a curious error.
The actual identity of these beads was determined by my friend Elizabeth Harris, in the 1980s. But every once in a while these surface, and are not recognized—since they are not common beads.
Jamey
Thank you very much for sharing your knowledge with me. These 2 pearls are very beautiful and I had never met any similar pearls in the literature. I bought them with other ancient beads . I will publish some pictures of the other beads to validate with you my guessing about the origins.
Thank you again.
I have searched for over an hour (not the first time), looking for an actual example of these serpentine beads in situ. No luck. But I did find some examples of hookah mouthpiece that were made with beads—these being identified as amber and stone. Some have similar shapes.
JDA
Thank you very much.
Looking for more informations I found this example
""Description: Yellowish colored amber pieces with carved green/ red stone center piece. Original metal tube. Small old chip to bottom edge of mouthpiece section. Minor age wear, scuffs, flakes, etc. 52 total grams approx. Circa late 19th/ early 20th C. 2.75" amber section; 7.25" total length"