Here's a Wikipedia link for serpentine, which notes that Afghanistan has long been a source.

Interesting. I would say the descriptions under serpentine fit including the pleasantly "greasy" feel. I took to the stone immediately just due to the lovely feel and weight, but, as I said, was skeptical of the jade label. Thanks for the tip.

Hi Jodi,

Your beads may well be serpentine. It's a very common mineral all around the world. (It's the State Stone of California where I live, and the San Francisco Mint is situated on a hill that is composed of serpentine.)

However, something to consider is that the State Stone of Afghanistan is a mineral called "charmaksud" (spelled various ways, depending on who transliterates it, and often without an "R"). Charmaksud is a local variety of olivine—and olivine is very closely related to serpentine. In past times, Afghans valued having a strand of prayer beads made from charmaksud—it's color ranging from greenish-yellow to olive green, usually translucent to turbid. I feel fortunate to have such a prayer strand and a few additional specimens.

Any valuable green stone is very likely to be called "jade" by local people or by importers who know the stone is valuable or note-worthy. "Afghanistan jade" sound a lot like "Souchow jade," or any of the jade-substitute names that abound in Asia (particularly China), named for some region or other + "jade."

So, even though there's no local nephrite nor jadeite in Afghanistan, it shouldn't be surprising that someone would try to sell either serpentine or charmaksud as "jade."

Over the past (about) twenty years, Afghan craftsmen (some working in Pakistan) have been cranking-out stone beads for export. (We've had some dialogue about this here recently.) The green stones are largely serpentine (and to my disappointment, apparently not charmaksud). I try to buy some every year or two, because they are handsome, and generally well-made.

I hope this is helpful.

Jamey

Hi there
It seems jamey is the first western man who knows about shah maqsud
stone.i am very happy now becuse for several years i was in doubt
if shah maqsud is olivine or kind of serpentine.today i got my answer
and thx jamey.i also have a nice prayer beads shah maqsud.jamey describ
it very well.also afghanistan serpentine.once i asked an afghani guy
why they call it shah maqsud.he replied that there is a mountain and a valley that this stone comes from there.since past time its been famous
stone for making rosary beads in islamic countries.i met some brazilian
people who where looking for shah maqsud in iran,and i asked them how they know that.they replied that they are sufi and one afghani guy in
brazil recomend them to look for real shah maqsud.unfortunatly as the
rest of stones ,now adays chinees fake shah maqsud is also in bazar.
if you heard the name ahmad shah masud who was commander of opposition
northen aline during taliban rule in afghanestan.the man who was killed
some days before sep 11/i heard he has been also from shah maqsud valley.all this stories i heard from afghani guys and not by search.
by the way shah maqsud is a known stone in iran.
here is a link to see some strands of serpentine and other afghani stones i found before by search.
ALI

Thanks, Ali, for all the information. It's very useful. The link you give has one too many "http"s in it, but it's a good site to see. My melon beads look as though they're a version of some of the beads that are on there. So much for farmers with stories of old forts, eh!

Cheers,

Will

Hello Ali,

Charmaksud (however one wants to spell the name—there are several versions) is an esoteric material—but many people who know Afghan beads are familiar with it. Of course, it was more available some years ago than now.

When Peter Francis was still alive and writing about beads, he thought he had "discovered" these beads and their history, but this had already been worked out by people I knew who lived in Afghanistan in the early '70s. Nevertheless, his article on this topic is worth reading.

In any event, your observations are interesting additions too. It would be a shame if the few remaining beads were to become confused with ordinary serpentine or any commercial beads abounding (or vice versa).

Cheers! Jamey

Reading this thread, suddenly reminded me of these beads, which I bought last May in Northern Pakistan, and had forgotten about completely. I got them on the road from Peshawar to Chitral; we had stopped for a break and a farmer came along on the way to the market. My friends talked to him about me and he showed us these beads, which they translated as being made of "jade." I asked where they came from, and he said an old fort. In my usual way, I wanted to go there, but they said it was too dangerous. (This year the situation has deteriorated so much, I'm not sure I'd even risk going to Peshawar).

Anyway, I assumed the beads were serpentine or some other soft stone, and I've been around long enough not to believe in things being found in old forts without seeing them with my own eyes. It's quite possible that they're part of that recent production you talk about, Jamey, but then again, the melon-shaped beads have a pleasant patina that seems to come from use, and many of the perforations appear to be genuinely worn also. That doesn't mean a whole lot in terms of dating when the stone is as soft as this.

They're roughly carved, but they have a translucent glow in sunlight that doesn't show up in the pictures. Now that I've dug them out, I should probably clean them up and oil them a little; probably I won't get round to it!

I'd very much like to see those prayer beads, Jamey, if you have a picture. And thanks for the thought of a mint that is built on a hill of serpentine far away in exotic San Francisco!

Cheers,

Will

Hi Will,

I think the practice of calling these beads "jade" must be pretty recent—but as mentioned, it's not a surprise. Most of the people I buy these beads from (and even since I first saw them about 12 to 15 years ago, if I remember well) have been frank that they are serpentine. And I'd have to guess that it's because most of these folks (apart from actual Afghans) don't know about charmaksud.

I think your beads will look great if you oil them. I would.

I have a single ancient serpentine bead from Afghanistan that is almost yellow and translucent, and looks very new. I bought it nearly twenty years ago, as the pendant on a strand of small carnelian beads that date from between 1,500 and 3,000 BCE. It's in such good condition, I suggested to the seller (a good friend) that it might be a ringer. However, she was convinced it was an early bead, that had been fortuitously well-preserved. And I am inclined to believe her. (She is a very smart cookie—and not a crack-pot.....)

I'll try to show scans of this and the charmaksud. Lately, I've mostly been working from the laptop, and hardly ever open the desktop computer—which I have to do to scan anything. But I'll try to find some time to do that.

Be well. Jamey

Here's a scan of my necklace, composed from a strand of charmaksud prayer beads I bought from Anahita Gallery about 20 years ago, with some Afghan silver beads and prayer-box pendant.

This is a necklace I made about 7 to 10 years ago, that I have never really liked, and have always wanted to do-over. (The necklace is proportionally too small and thin for it's length and the size of the box. Plus, I have other plans for the silver beads and pendant now.)

The 2nd image shows a detail of the charmaksud beads.

Jamey

Here are my other two groups of charmaksud beads—probably all derived from prayer-bead strands. The leaf-shaped (or paisley or scorpion, or whatever one may want to call it) pendant was a surprise to me. See an enlargement.

JDA

These beads are the smallest and the most yellow of any.

JDA.

Looking at this photo, I see the four central beads seem to have a very slight prominence and the suggestion of a dark line around the equator. These are/can be indications of the tong-molding of glass. Of course, they might also result from the material being turned on a beadmaking lathe. I will have to consider what exactly it is I have here......

JDA.

Here's a scan showing the nearly-yellow ancient Afghan serpentine bead from a necklace of 2nd M. BCE carnelian beads, that I acquired from Anahita in about 1987. We can see both ends, as well as the profile view. I'm showing it life-size and enlarged.

JDA.

These are all absolutely beautiful, especially the prayer beads and the leaf pendant. Thanks for taking the time to scan and show them.

Will

Thanks Jamey
All these beads are nice.i love shah maqsud beads,especially small ones
Those ancient yellow serpantine are also really rare and nice.
Thanx again
Ali

Hi gang, I'd assumed these two oldies were alabaster, but now you've got me thinking! (not easy to do lately!)

Love the greens everybody! THANKS!!
Jeff