Here are some more photos. If anyone needs more just let me know. Thanks again for looking.

Mel

the one in the middle is agate with natural patterns on it
seems to be a animal?

there are also carved lines on the agate in the middle (please see where arrows are pointing)

Mel

you bead seems to be a chinese melon pendent of Qing dynasty on which the carved lines used to be the cover leafs.£¨if the carved lines make leafs together i can not see it clearly£©

this kind of agate we call it banding nanhong (kind of nanhong agate)
it does not appear before ming dynasty in mainland china
so i guess it is from some place south outside china

R.M.

Hello Melissa,

This looks like a typical bazaar strand, such as comes out of Afghanistan and elsewhere. It's a conglomeration of unrelated beads. These often contain some nice specimens. I'd guess some are Sassanian.

I don't see anything I would describe as "etched."

Your single bead, to me, looks like a stylized frog.

Jamey

I am agree with jamey.it is from afghanistan or iran and a bazzar strand.i call it a nomad strand becuse always nomads put diffrent period beads to gether and when i ask the reson /reply is they belive
super nutural power for any bead.dosent matter glass or stone.you got
some glazed quartz early islamic a nice fist or hand.some nice sassanid carnelion .center agate is not etched as i see.it is natural
but shape is like a duck i think.you look better at that.if it has got
any writing,could be using for scale.
enjoy old beads.

Ali

I think you are correct Ali, it appears to resemble the little carved ducks used as weights, the picture shows it upside down, I have included an example from the web strictly to illustrate

Looking at this shape again, I now wonder if this is not a phallus pendant (?).

I definitely do not see a bird.

I am guessing that your reference to "etching" may have been better presented as "engraving." You are referring to recessed carved lines, right? This is a pendant, and not a bead—correct?

Jamey

yes indeed, I thought the same thing that the shape was slightly phallic. And yes, I should have said engraved instead of etched as the grooves have been carved into the pendant using a sharp tool into a cross hatch (almost chevron) design. And it does appear to be a pendant. Hmmm, may have to reasses whether I want to hang this around my neck, LOL

Can I assume that since this is a gather from different unrelated areas that it also represents different time frames? What would you say was the oldest bead, any way of telling? And what about the white "crumb" bead, it really peaked my interest...where is it from?

Thanks again,
Melissa

Bazaar strands sometimes include beads that range in age from 5,000 years ago to five months ago.

They have to be considered on a bead-by-bead basis. Nevertheless, as elsewhere, there will or may be disagreements about identity, and age for any particular specimen. Then, there will be points about authenticity, or mistaken identity.

In spite of our best hopes and efforts, some beads remain unidentified.

Thanks for your reply. Even if you pendant is a phallus, it's unlikely anyone would recognize it as such. I would wear it....

Jamey

I'll have lots of fun researching these beads more with the information you all so generously provided. I'll try to do a little sketch or maybe make an imprint of the carved lines in the large agate bead. Thank you very much for the help, and for taking the time to look.

Best regards,
Melissa

Thanks for the additional info Jamey, what do you think about the two black angular beads or pendants with the "eyes"? I suspected the "crumb" bead as being fairly recent.

regards,
Melissa

Hi Melissa,

I presently have a large pendant in this style, and similar dark speckled stone (serpentine?), that I am working-up for a client. I have seen several of these. (I think one is in my 1996 calendar.)

The reputation of these items is that they are "very old," by which I assume ca 3,000 BCE is implied. I am not convinced they are so old—and I wouldn't be surprised by a Roman Era or Sassanian origin. But I have no real facts. Just gut instinct.

I'll show this pendant when I can.

Jamey

Hi melissa
the two black tear drop shape with an eye on them are cut and filed from a single trangular bead from the time period of jam dot nasser around 3000bc in easter Syria. The duck shape wieght suppose to be babilonian, but the style of its neck is wrong. I suspect it to be new reproduction. The white glazed kwartz bead on the right side of the to black eye beads might be late islamic 13th century AD fist check for fingers on the lower part the thumb suppose to be folded inwards.
All the best yankee