A digital archive showcasing the extensive collection of jewellery and adornment images shared on the former Ethnic Jewels Ning site over the years. These images have significantly enriched discussions on cultural adornment and its global dispersion.
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Comments
It would be useful to know whether this is - as it looks - totally new.
I only said that it LOOKS new. That is the trouble with Dzi beads - there are a great many fakes (the majority are, as we all know!), so if, exceptionally, an old one gets sold we really need to know that in order that we may hope to learn to see the difference. That's why it said it is useful to know whether it was (as it usually is) new - or, of course, old. Congratulations toi your friend.
This is a real authentic ancient dzi bead. Extremely rare and beautiful.
As there are so many fake dzi beads, I always start with scepticism. But this does seem to show a waxy patina, which is considered frequent if not essential in the case of the genuine article, and the colouring and slightly asymmetrical pattern in the material, too, make me quite prepared to believe in what I am told, Dechen and Fernando. I am aware that, of course, genuine dzi beads do exist!
There are several methods to identify an authentic dzi bead.
1) as you said WAX LOOK LIKE patina. (How did it appear??) A buried bead will not show wax patina.
2) Shape (the shape told me that it had been wear from one generation to another generation)
3) Color (these are the ordinary color for a dzi bead)
4) C-shape mark. (Very very important because c-shape are from inside to outside. How does it appear and why it is c-shape??).
5) Hole of the dzi bead (the appearance show be the same as the facade of the dzi bead)
5) During a very long time of wearing from one generation to another generation the dzi bead appear to be a little bit transparent. In China we call them fully cooked (ha......! its just kidding) because I don't know to write in english.
6) I used to buy a dzi bead face to face. I don't like to use photo to judge a dzi bead. I had seen one fake dzi bead which look 95% like a genuine one. The bead trader show it to me and ask me if I was brave enough to buy this 3 eye bead . He want to sell it to me for USD 10,000 but last year the market price around USD 40,000 more . I use a 30x magnify lens to see this bead for almost 10 minutes. All the conditions showing that this was a genuine bead , wax look like, c-shape mark, cinnabar, shape, color, hole etc. There is only one thing that are not logical to me. Usually for a bead full of c-shape mark, you must see some c-shape mark inside the bead but I can't find it from the fake one. Secondly this bead is too white which make me feel uncomfortable. The white color should appear smooth not solid because is cover by a layer of oil.
Lastly, I would like to know if Dechen buy this bead from a Taiwan Bead Trader. I had seen this bead before.