I purchased this strand of freshwater pearls from South China many years ago when freshwater pearls were all the rage. Nowadays they look r...

Well, these jade fishes are more likely to have come fom some boulder in some mountain than from the sea. I got this catch from a market, a ...

Still on the theme of BIS, although strictly speaking the jade objects that I show on this post cannot be called Bis. However as their form...

The BI is a form of jade artifact from ancient China. It is a flat jade disc with a circular hole in the centre I bought these 2 bi sha...

What better way to ring in the Year of the Rat than with this gorgeously elaborate nephrite hairpin or is it a floral spray ? I can...

I spent a few happy hours on New Year's Day, 2008 looking through my bead box to come up with this necklace of agates, shell, and old g...

Beancurd is one of my comfort foods. The texture and color of the central bead on this bracelet is so soft and silken it resembles a piece ...

When I chanced upon these jade flowers in a shop on my last visit to China I was almost asphyxiated with Lust (but not of the Lee Ang kind)...

This blue glass pendant hails from Yuan period of China (1115-1368 AD)and was purchased together with items in the 2 earlier posts. Acc...

This tiny pair of earrings brings together my twin loves of jade and beads. I created this design by embedding red vintage glass beads into...

Here's yet another blue beauty. Composed from the same hoard of beads and florets as that in earlier posts. The central disk pendant (...

This piece may have been part of a pair or it may have been a standalone. Bird motifs are popular among jade carvers and this one has been ...

Another charmer (pun intended) is this ancient blue glass necklace which hails from the Song/Yuan period of China. For want of a better ter...

This pair of miniature flower pots are actually extra large jatim beads (6cmx6.5cm). Jatim beads are ancient glass beads from Indonesia. U...

A thing of beauty is a joy forever Its loveliness increases It will never pass into nothingness but still will keep, a bower quiet fo...

Talking about "exquisiteness" in previous post, here is one exquisite white jade flower. Carved in multi layers with the petals o...

The white nephrite jade flowers  I show today are among my favourites and hail from Shanxi Province China. Because of their rather large ...

Chilly, raspberry and ice these are some of my favourite things! No, I'm not talking about ingredients for a recipe but about the co...

According to bead terminology a button is also a bead, hence this set of buttons is included in this bead blog. Their vintage is about 70-...

This mystery jade face was partly inspired by the Mystery Men Exhibition, a travelling exhibition on the Sanxindui Excavations on the lost...

Another favourite bracelet, this time made of etched carnelian beads mostly from Burma. Locals here call these beads "xian zhu" o...

This is one of my favourite bracelets, made up of ancient glass and faience beads from China's Xizhou Dynasty (1027-771 BC) Beads are c...

This little jade flower on the left was originally a hairpin. The centre inset of brass and jade extends into the back as a pin holde...

Two bracelets made up of Venetian glass beads from Indonesia. Vintage of beads about 100-300 years old. Wherever possible I love to w...

"Crinoid stem beads were amongst the more common animals found in the sea floor communities of the Paleozoic era about 543 to 248 milli...

This set of small white yu pian (flat jade pieces) probably date back to the Ming period. Very delicately carved and pierced, some pieces ...

According to bead terminology, a pierced pendant is also a bead. And that is why these four pendants have been included in this blog. Made ...

In old China old ladies wear decorated head bands around their foreheads to keep out the chill. I think there must be a belief then, that t...

This pair of dark green jade leaves was bought in a tourist village in Shantou. Bet they must have formed part of an elaborate ladies...

This bright red carnelian , sometimes also called a button, was probably a hat ornament and maybe 60-100 years old. It has 2 pierced holes ...

I love to wear these modern togs with olden jade decorations, although I seldom get the response I want, such as some compliments, plea...