I do not understand English! !

Would love to learn from your opinions; please provide clues for judgement of the chung dZi bead.

IMHO: One general fact, chung dZi were never worn as often as mik dZi, this usually makes chung dZi harder to Identify. The lesser impact of wear, lowers the amount of wear characteristics. When examining an uncirculated Venetian bead one must consider the empirical evidence of history, original glass colorants, styles, shapes, techniques, and tools etcetera of the original era. The situation is equivalent with Chung dZi. like myself many of the esteemed collectors, travelers, researchers, and dealers whom haunt this forum have been handling decorated agate before the Chinese were capable of reproducing dZi. I personally was obsessed, I quizzically conversed, studied, read, and re-read from every article, book, and dealer I could find. I also obsessively collected, bought sold and handled as many dZi as possible during this mostly uncontaminated era. This said, when I try and identify a chung dZi, I am pulling my opinion from this myriad of experience.

Sleep now, more later?...

They talk to me - and saying back I AM FAKE FAKE FAKE...or I AM REAL REAL REAL... plus when it comes down to something that cost 20,000 i will never ever give it benefit of doubt. ITS $20,000

Hi Fred - the skin on the 2nd bead is a red light.. a little too regular in its patina, does not mean its definitely a copy, but raises a suspicion. Would need to check closer to be sure.

This bead is posted for sale on the Garuda website, I do find it beautiful, and think it authentic. Probably asking something like $40,000? IDK. Scroll down and there is a curious, beautiful half four eye which I enquired about ($8000). I do have a beautiful match for it, though my half, as usual shows the honey under color at the broken section.

Garuda did recently sell the beautiful three eye shown in the banner for large sum, it is my understanding that the buyer is in Tibet. I do not know if the buyer is Chinese/Tibetan.

What do you think?

I personally think James is good man and Dharma practitioner and will never lie on the subject of the gzi beads.

If he saying its real - it is real. it also look real to me, so i will be confident buying from him any day and any time. its just question of price! and for many different reasons I refuse to comment on price!

哇！很漂亮！I especially enjoy the carved human bone apron component.

cooked

i can't tell chungdzi without examine it.

I have no good way to distinguish dzi beads! Only to see more, and see more pictures is a good way (after all, we can not find a lot to see in the hand),

2

ºÃƯÁÁµÄË«ÏßÁ½ÑÛ°¡

Perhaps there are clues which would help a novice -such as myself- identify a fake. Would any of you kindly suggest what to look for when we are suspicious of a $20,000.00 dZi bead?

I realize that it is extremely difficult to explain what makes something "right." However, it seems comparatively easy to point out the characteristics of a copy. Your expertise is highly appreciated.

Thank you,

The most valuable dZi from my collection is a beautiful chocolate Sago Namgo, it is the closest I could come toward this outlandish value. When I look at this bead there is no doubt in my mind of it's authenticity, of course it does not hurt that I acquired it before the surge of reproductions. The patinated color, the beautifully polished perforation, the perfect conchoidal percussion fractures. I love the bead, and it is not a question of price, of course I have not acquired any extremely valuable dZi in many years. will try and post a photo from my phone.

Fred~ I have not been handling many original dZi outside of my collection for some time and I am sure that I have quite a lot to learn. Lately I have been buying some of the good fake antique dZi to understand the differences between the true historical beads, and the ones with false age. Actually in your hand most of them are very discernible, though I cannot afford the very good fakes.

Jake - no question is real gzi and provide for wearer all benefits that only real gzi give. My personal view is - that gzi is gzi is gzi.. as soon as its real - you will get everything you expecting from wearing it (i been wearing gzi beads for 20+ years).

Considering where prices are now, I think you very fortunate man to have them in your collection. I can say same about myself - i could never buy what i have now at current prices. I still remember somone coming to my hotel in Peshawar for 2 days trying to convince me to buy some 4eye gzi bead back in late 80ties and me refusing do so... I wish I knew, I wish he knew :)

On subject of pricing and grading. There are A B C D grade of pure gzi beads (same as diamonds) , and prices we often hear about are applicable to grade A beads. Most pieces you see for sale on internet or by American/European dealers are mostly grade C with very few of grade B... You 2 eyes are typical grade B bead and sago-namgo grade C bead, 3eyes you been talking about from Garuda website is C-- (almost D) and sago-namgo from same website is C. I think its very important consideration when people price/buy gzi beads. Not all gzi are priced same, while all gzi beads provide same benefits for wearer!

Hope my mumble helps

P.S. On another note - i think its just matter of price. If somone prepare to pay market price - there are very few beads that you can't buy. name what you want - and i can source it! so when everything said and done - its all about money, i.e rather boring subject!