• Handblown Glass Chinese Mala Prayer Beads with inside black Calligraphy and Figures (Circa: 1925 – 1950), Origin: China; Collected: Tibet
• Black Vulcanite Heishe (Circa: Early 1900s); Origin: Bohemia; Collected: Africa
• Handcrafted Sterling Silver Toggle Clasp from Bali
• Sterling Silver Saucer Beads and Findings
• Length: 16.5”

N0912-101: $325.00 (free S&H)

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CHINESE MALA: Malas are prayer or rosary beads used for reciting repetitions of prayers or chants called “mantras” and help to facilitate ritualized meditation practice. These exquisite handblown glass beads were part of a Chinese Buddhist Calligraphy Wrist Mala which once consisted of 15 counting beads with a formal three holed special finishing bead called a “guru” bead or “Buddha” bead. Malas have been used for thousands of years in Tibetan, Indian, Chinese and Japanese Buddhism and Hinduism. Prayer beads in different forms are used in Christianity and Islam, as well.

VULCANITE BEADS: Folklore has it that the black and red beads were made from old records but they are actually made from an early rubber product called “Vulcanite”. Vulcanite is a hard, moldable rubber that has been formed by “vulcanizing” natural rubber through a curing process that involves high heat and the addition of sulfur. The result is a hard substance sometimes called “ebonite” that was used in the Victorian period to make mourning jewelry, combs, ornaments, and buttons. Queen Victoria was known to wear it in tribute to her deceased husband, Albert. Today, vulcanite is popularly used in the form of “heishe” (slices) in strands of beads.