What Are These Beads Made Of?

[Maria 1]

Good Evening!

Sorry if my question is a bit naïve ...

I saw a lot of beads being sold as " blue Shou Shan Stone" or "snakeskin jasper" or all of that together. They all look the same like in the pictures attached. But real Shou Shan stone looks completely different (and snakeskin jasper too). So, what is it? Man-made?

Thank you,

Maria

[kac 2,290]

Agate maybe?

[Steve Herschbach 31,056]

It's almost impossible to tell from photos. They could be made of rock or plastic or almost anything, just going by looks.

[kac 2,290]

If they are agate then they are worth a pretty penny. If you search agate necklaces you will see similar ones and they tend to keep same colors throughout the necklace.

You have any more info on it? Age, etc?

[GotAU? 123]

If not artificially made, I’d say they are a brecciated (mixed) collection of minerals... agate and calcedony perhaps. But that type and color are sold as “aqua terra” or “sea sediment jasper” which is a generic term used for them.

[Maria 1]

Thank you everyone for trying 🙂

I don't know anything about them except they are sold online. I did not buy them yet. I wanted to, I like them, to make a necklace as a gift. But I know  my friend will ask me what is it, she always wants to know :). So I thought some of you experts will know...

[kac 2,290]

Stupid question, what does the seller say they are?

[GB_Amateur 4,292]

3 minutes ago, kac said:

Stupid question, what does the seller say they are?

I was thinking the same thing.  kac, does that mean you are calling me stupid?  😠

Maria, another possible solution is to buy them, investigate, and then decide whether or not to gift them to your friend.  If the cost is significant (to you), that obviously taints this option unless they can be returned for a refund.

 

[kac 2,290]

Great minds think alike right? 🙂

From what I remember real agate beads are pricey. I had looked into agate stripper guides back in my bamboo flyrod building days and they were $$$ back then. The colors of the beads familiar to me in color and patterns in them and only reason I thought they might be. GotAu seems much more knowledgeable in this area.

[Dig It 315]

They remind me of some glass beads that I would buy to trout fish with, especially the ones with red in them. The size's cover dolly eggs 6mm all the way up to king eggs 14mm. But as others have mentioned hard to tell from photos.