Featured Green glass bead necklace - Czech or maybe Japan?

Hello jewelry folks,

This little (16" long - 40cm) necklace has a round brass box clasp. The swirly beads are a tad over 1/2" wide at the widest. The center bead is perhaps malachite glass - and appears to be hand carved with flowers. Some of the bead caps have some bad corrosion/ patina on them, others are cleaner. Any opinions on origin / age?

Thanks once again for looking!

 

Gorgeous beads.

It looks translucent, malachite glass is opaque, like the stone malachite. It is lovely though.

 

Indeed, you're correct as usual - it is translucent - but has the swirly white in it like malachite does. So not actually malachite glass -but reminiscent of it. Thanks AJ!

 

It is an awesome piece. The clasp looks vintage, as do the findings and design.

The verdigris on the metal will hurt value as a necklace, but someone is going to want this for the beads alone. Very unusual and desirable beads.

As for the center piece bead... let me think about that. So clear, with white swirls? Could it be pressed art glass? Are there any seams at all?

Great beads, would have grabbed this in a New York minute!

 

Thanks Lucille!

That center bead is translucent - it passes light - but it isn't clear. It does have some lighter colored almost white swirl in it. It could possibly be pressed/moulded, but looking at it with a magnifying glass I think I see signs of it actually being carved (maybe hand or wheel engraved - don't really know)- I think.

 

Interesting update - the center bead glows under UV -none of the others do:

 

Interesting! Maybe a question for the glass experts.

The necklace itself looks costume, but sometimes there were pretty phenomenal art glass in those old costume necklaces. The main bead on yours is pretty spectacular, and those Italian (...looking) striped ones are really unusual. I say Italian but could easily be Czech, Japan, West Germany.

I happen to have two necklaces out on my table at the moment with molded patterned beads, the 2nd one might be carved for all I know as it seems to be amethyst.



Hope the fact that your bead fluoresces might be a clue!

 

It is.

 

I like your amethyst beads Lucille

 

Absolutely, and hand carved. Looks like those are (carved) jade beads too, you lucky girl.
The blue one is stunning too, and it matches your avatar.

 

Nobody these days uses the old terminology, so I can't confirm my memory for diddly squat. So take this for what it's worth.

I would put the striped beads in the "mosaic glass" category, further identified as "ribbon glass." "Mosaic glass" beads are all beads made using the same basic technique that incorporates pre-made glass canes. Millefiori is the most well known of the Mosaic glasses.

The center bead, I think is Czech. Peter Francis (Beads of the World) states "An early Czech technique was to mold a bead and then decorate it with ground lines." Full discovery: your bead is a much more ornate mold (I do believe it is molded) than the examples he shows.

I still think it's Czech.

As to the glow quandary. I once had a 1930s-ish green bead and clear crystal necklace that, while all the green glass looked identical, three or four beads fluoresced, the rest, nada. No clue why.

 

Thank you so much Jivvy, great info!