Delicate Coral & 9ct Gold Necklace: the tiny old Corals used in the above necklet were sourced in Kerala, south India, where gemstone Coral has been an important part of the jewellery tradition for centuries. Originally the Coral would have been sourced from further east, from the China Seas. European traders of the 16th century saw the potential and imported branch gemstone Coral from the Mediterranean Sea.
Nowadays there are strict controls on the collection of branch gemstone Coral of the Mediterranean, for as a precious resource it had, simply, been over-exploited; however, there remains such a store of cut Coral in India, especially in the south, that old Coral can still be sourced in that part of  the world.