Mosaic Coral Necklace

Corals originate in seas and oceans, both are very far from Tibet and therefore highly prized there. When polished or when broken, smaller pieces of coral  would be combined into bigger beads using a mixture of wax and pith called lakh. when dried the new bigger pieces would be polished to create larger beads that look like mosaic. The majority of these beads were made in the mid 19th century but some can be older. By the beginning of the 20th century with better trade roots and advanced methods of trading these mosaic beads are no longer made and have become quite rare.

This necklace is comprised of  44 beads and  weighs about 1lb.