Five Gemstone Corals, all lovely old South Indian gemstones, handcut in the 1950s or earlier. All these Five Gemstone Corals were part of a partial, broken strand, all of the same deep orange-red. They would all have been cut from the same Mediterranean Coral branch, of the sort imported into the sub-continent from at least the early 1800s, by both British and Indian traders, for the markets of both north and south India, and for Tibet. Where the South Indian market was concerned, Coral branches from which could be cut smallish beads of fine uniform orange-red colour and showing minimum sea parasite damage, were in high demand, these beads as lovely gemstone strands being a staple of every household’s jewellery store.
The six granulated Silver beads in the above bracelet are finely handcrafted, old Bali work from the very early 1980s, faithful replicas of an ancient traditional bead form formerly only crafted in 22ct Gold.