Featured One more from the lot w/ amber and coral

This piece also came from the former owner who had the coral necklace and amber brooch. (They had other incredibly high end pieces, beautiful gold, etc.)

So this might be nothing, but thought I'd check. Any idea of the material in the dark beads? The beads are extremely, extremely light weight. Not glass for sure, and not plastic. Hollow feeling, a bit wood-like. Possible that the little orange spacer beads are coral. Any thoughts about the material?

 

Hm. I wonder if it's coated lava.

 

They certainly look it to me.
Can you see the beadholes of the black ones? What do they look like, also the inside, is it the same colour? Do they feel cold?

 

I've never seen coated lava; can it be this shiny? From description & appearance I think these are some kind of seed or seed pod.

 

I'll try to get a few additional photos. Thanks.

 

That's Hawaiian wood coral; I have some around. It doesn't weigh all that much. You can see the tree rings in the pictures.

 

I was thinking the same. Akar bahar or Moluccan black coral has those rings too.

 

I think that might be it. Thanks Evelyb and Any Jewelry.

I'm seeing similar called "Hawaiian black coral"...is another name for Hawaiian wood coral?

Taking the photos was interesting! First pretty sure as we guessed those orange small beads are coral. A few had light imperfections you might expect.

But when I went to take the black beads in sunlight had a total surprise! There were flashes of red -- like it had red glass inside. (But definitely not glass.) Was hard to photograph. You don't see this in regular light:




Would this be consistent with the Hawaiian black coral? Thanks!

 

Same beast. It's on the Endangered list now or some such and can't be harvested.

 

collectable ...wearable...but not so saleable...

 

I've seen lava with a sort of resin over it. Those close ups are the answer!

 

Is this Hawaiian lava, not the stuff called lava from Italy? I'm having trouble understanding what the point would be of covering lava so it looked like something else. Does the surface stay pebbly or is it smooth?

 

Smooth - and it was in Italy. I've no clue why anyone would do it.