Wayne,
These beads are mostly agate with some carnelian maybe a few quartz.
I will let those that are more expert say where they are from. My guess most from India.
All my best ...... Danny
and I would have thought Djenne or elsewhere in Africa. Perhaps excavated. I would guess some as old as 1200-1800 perhaps. I think the 1st photo could possibly be Indian & perhaps newer, but the carnelian beads in the great necklace definitely look old and African to me. As well as the individual bead. The round thick disc-like carnelian/agate beads I would think 1800s-early 1900s. I do not consider myself an expert by any means, although I've collected similar stone beads for many years, but I have been told I'm wrong before with my Africa vs India perspective. Either way they're great beads! Lynne
i've had many like these, both the shiny irregular agate ovals and the pebbly cornelian ones with a rubbed, matte surface, which are really beautiful.
they came from Indian dealers, not very recently. some were worked into more recent necklaces with cheapish metal beads between or used with beads that looked more "tibetan". Peter Francis said that the shiny flat cornelian tabular discs were re-cycled by-products of the small industry that cut finger rings from stones- using the middles, not throwing them out. some have a central hole.
one of my close friends wears a short necklace of those flat discs i made her years ago which occasionally needs rethreading because the holes are not too smooth or straight and any threading material, even nylon-covered steel cable eventually breaks. irregular drill-holes is often a sign of origins in India.
