Is this carved amethyst or some other stone? How old?

[FreeBirdTim]

Trying to help a friend identify this necklace. It has no markings on it at all. Is the carved stone amethyst? I think the round stones are, but I've never seen one like this stone. And a very weird feature of the stone is that it appears to have something glittery in it. You can only see it when you reflect sunlight off of it. Very strange!

Any help identifying the stone and how old the necklace is would be appreciated.

 

[BIGSCOTT]

Cool looking necklace, any history? - the stones(all of them) look like sodalite to me

 

[taz42o]

Banded amethyst maybe. Is the biggest stone purple or blue?


Antique Chinese Carved Amethyst Gourd Bead Sterling Paperclip Lavaliere Necklace | Collectors Weekly

 

[FreeBirdTim]

All the stones are purple. Sorry about the lousy pics!

 

[FreeBirdTim]

I don't think it's sodalite because you can see through the stones. No swirls in them. As for the history, it belonged to my friend's mother. My friend is 73 years old and her mother died in the late 1960's, so I would guess that it's from the 1930's or earlier, but I'm not positive.

 

[pippinwhitepaws]

I am agreeing with taz...Chinese/oriental jewelry...pre 1960's.