Hello everyone.
Most of my treasure hunting involves estate sales and scrap yards. I am not a bead collector at all, but I was at a scrap yard a couple of weeks ago and when I was at the checkout counter, I noticed what looked like necklace at first. Being a father of 2 girls, I asked to see it, hoping for an inexpensive gift. When the clerk handed it to me, I was immediately intrigued. Strung through a very old looking cord, was a triangle shaped carved bone, and an extremely dense hand carved bead. The bead measures only 7/8" in diameter, but it weighs nearly 1/2 of an ounce. To me, the carving looks Asian. Maybe Chinese? I tried to do some research on them and the closest thing I could come up with was a netsuke bead. That would explain the cord that had been strung through it. I'm guessing it is made of either ox, or rhino horn but really have no evidence to support that idea. If anyone could shed some light on what these might be, or point me in the right direction to continue my research on them, I'd be grateful. Thanks for your help!!
Most of my treasure hunting involves estate sales and scrap yards. I am not a bead collector at all, but I was at a scrap yard a couple of weeks ago and when I was at the checkout counter, I noticed what looked like necklace at first. Being a father of 2 girls, I asked to see it, hoping for an inexpensive gift. When the clerk handed it to me, I was immediately intrigued. Strung through a very old looking cord, was a triangle shaped carved bone, and an extremely dense hand carved bead. The bead measures only 7/8" in diameter, but it weighs nearly 1/2 of an ounce. To me, the carving looks Asian. Maybe Chinese? I tried to do some research on them and the closest thing I could come up with was a netsuke bead. That would explain the cord that had been strung through it. I'm guessing it is made of either ox, or rhino horn but really have no evidence to support that idea. If anyone could shed some light on what these might be, or point me in the right direction to continue my research on them, I'd be grateful. Thanks for your help!!
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