Linked Coral and Turquoise. The seven Corals in the above necklace originally were used as spacers in a Tibetan Coral strand of larger Corals. Most if not all of these seven would have been cut from the same branch of Mediterranean Coral imported into Tibet some time in the early 1900s. Though these are of proper gemstone Coral quality they would not have been considered high quality because of the pittings caused by marine parasites; as spacers, however, they were useful.
The Turquoise heishi beads in the above necklace are from Arizona. The combination of Turquoise and Coral is attractive; the Tibetans certainly thought so, for the combination of their own Turquoise, mined in the western regions of their land, with Coral, from the China Sea originally and later from the Mediterranean, has always appealed to them.