This is a vintage Japanese white coral necklace. Natural color, untreated not dyed. This necklace consists of beads that are each carved in a cherry blossom design on both sides of the bead. It is like a cherry blossom garland around your neck.
This necklace has been re-polished and re-threaded to all-knotted, so the thread is nice and tight.
Like most large carved coral pieces, this one has some cracks, inclusions and small holes. The largest bead seems to have been chipped, but I think it originally looked like this when the necklace was made. Please see the 10th picture.
Size of coral beads of the necklace are about 8.5-13.4mm Necklace length: 46cm Total weight: 60.8g Silver clasp
Mint condition
My column series “Beads Around the World” was just published. This time I wrote about Japanese deep sea coral, which is used for jewelry. Japanese deep sea coral has been famous around the world and has been exported, similarly to Japanese cultured pearls. But its history started only about two hundred years ago, when a fisherman found coral in his net. Until then we did not know there was jewel coral around us. Jewel coral has been highly admired throughout history. It was carried by merchants through the Silk Road from the Mediterranean sea for thousands ofyears. Now Japanese deep sea corals are endangered species and need protection from illegal fishing and over-harvesting. All my coral products are recycled from old jewelry made around 1960-1980, when coral was not endangered. I always intend to deal with coral only in ways that are environment-friendly and sustainable. I especially love my coral bracelet made from Haori-himo. A Haori-himo is a string that holds the front of a kimono jacket together. I use the original set of natural colors, untreated coral beads and silk thread and adding new thread and untreated coral beads.
