Ancient Cut Turquoise bead necklace, with eight London-made 9ct Gold spacers around the front and two at the back, with a 9ct Gold spring clasp.
This hand-cut bead form has been unearthed in thousand year old sites in ancient Bactria, northern Afghanistan, and was an Ancient Cut primarily used on Turquoise material and on the dark blue Lapis Lazuli.
The above beads are hand-cut in Jaipur Rajasthan, from Turquoise sourced in one of the Turquoise mines of Tibet. (We have had Turquoise beads in this Ancient Cut in the past, The Turquoise from the highlands of the border regions of western Afghanistan and Iran, but the gemcutters of Jaipur would have no reason to deceive in this matter, and besides, the colour of the Turquoise in the above strand, with its interesting greeny-blue, is certainly what Tibetan Turquoise usually is.
The above Turquoise and Gold necklace is strung in Sydney, on tiger-tail, plastic-coated wire, strong and helpful in maintaining a good hang.