Price is for 15.5 inch of these beads. Each measures 9mm x 9mm cube beads alternating with 5mm round red coral beads. There are about 31 cube beads in a string.

Coral is a natural water-related bead that will sex-up your summer jewellery!

What Is Coral
Coral is not a true gemstone, but a product of marine life - the outer skeleton of sea polyps, made of calcium carbonate. However, it's been used as a gem since prehistoric times.

History
Coral is one of the seven treasures in Buddhist scriptures - and has long been a strong talisman protecting against evil spirits and hurricanes. It's also said to reduce blood flow, help anemia, and is thought to give wisdom and prevent madness!

Coral For Jewellery

Many coral beads are quite rustic, with the original shape of the coral branches. Perfect for creating ethnic jewellery. But since they are also porous and soft, they can be colour enhanced and carved into lovely shapes, allowing them to fit nicely in higher-end designs too.

Coral usually ranges from white to red, and it grows in branches that look like underwater trees. Red, pink, and white corals are usually dense, while sponge and blue corals have small air pockets and interesting spotted patterns. Most coral for jewellery comes from the China Sea off Japan and Taiwan. Coral reefs in the South Pacific like the Great Barrier Reef grow a different species.

The price of coral remains low only because of stockpiles from up to 30-years ago. However, due to over-harvesting and environmental damage, coral is becoming rarer, and natural red coral is very expensive. Most red coral sold today has been dyed. It's quite easy to tell this on bold red coral beads, but the pink and blue corals are often colour enhanced as well.

Fossil Beads
Fossil coral, or agatized coral, is an alternative to coral if you like your beads to be more subtle. This is ancient coral that has been replaced by agate so slowly that the flower-like patterns of the original coral remained intact. Though it will not make a bold statement like the red corals, fossil corals have their own charm. They are mostly beige; but the greyish flower patterns may have subtle hints of pink, blue, and other colours.

Unusual Red Sea Bamboo 9mm Coral Cube and Round Bead String

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