Examining these for the first time in 16 years since I bought them, I noticed some oddities in their shape:
1) The obvious fold join appears only on one side of the hole
2) The opposite side of the hole from the fold crease shows what appears to be a worn concavity, but is it really due to wear, or an artifact of construction?
3) The holes are irregular, sometimes roundish on one side and squashed to oblong on the side - an artifact of the method by which they were rounded after folding? Were they constructed around an irregular organic "mandrel"?
4) The light-medium sapphire color is most likely from copper, in contrast to the cobalt blue of the wound "Dutch" pentagonal bead shown at the top of the picture
Are these mates to the medieval blue beads with the white eyes? Or something else?
Anybody have any guesses as to the construction technique/sequence?
Just full o' questions today, I guess.
