Nepalese or Tibetan skull bone beads inlaid with chips of turquoise and tiny seed pearls. 8mm thick by 14-18mm diameter. Sold as sets of 11 beads.
The pearls, as unexpected as they may seem, are more likely to make these real. The tourist strands are all inlaid with coral and turquoise, surprisingly pearls are a traditional and highly valued choice in Tibet, so far from any ocean.
Are they real skull bone, if so whose? Well the dealers will tell you that they belonged to monk. I also asked a medical student and he said they could only be part of a shoulder blade as those were the only parts that sandwich a porous part between to solid parts, no opinion from him on who the skull or shoulder blade might belong to. The certainly could be animal too, but don't know which
I can't say I think they are pretty, but they are an example about how humans seem to be willing to turn just about anything in the world into a bead!
These are from the collection of my mom, Joyce Diamanti, world traveler, not in the least squeamish, bead researcher, writer and educator.
Choosing a selection results in a full page refresh.
Press the space key then arrow keys to make a selection.
