Coral Meditation Necklace, with Tibetan “butterscotch” Amber and fine blue Turquoise. The above Coral Meditation strand created in Sydney; it follows the ancient 27×4 = 108 format, with four segments of twenty-seven Corals; this 108 bead format is significant in Buddhism and Hinduism, and the 12th century European mathematician Fibonacci thought it might represent existence itself. It is an interesting number of itself, given that 1x2x2x3x3x3 = 108.
The Corals are of gemstone quality, old handcut beads from Sth India. Originally they came in another ancient meditation bead form, 100 beads in a line, with the threading passing through an extra, separated bead, and fanning into a tassel. Oppi Untracht is of the opinion that all the meditation bead strands of the sub-continent, be they Buddhist or Hindu, should fundamentally be of 100 beads, not 108, and that the extra-100 beads are there so the user can be totally sure no veneration has been inadvertently missed, though he grants that the number 108 does have significance.
As there were only 101 old Corals in the original mala, another seven old Sth Indian Corals have been added, well-matching in size and colour.

Centre-bead of old Tibetan “butterscotch” Amber, with the lovely patina of age and wear, is a good example of this favourite Tibetan gemstone. The combination of Coral and yellow Amber and Turquoise is itself a Tibetan favourite.