Bactrian Ancient Hand-Carved Clear Quartz - 62 cm Melon Beads Necklace

Bactrian Quartz Melon Beads Necklace - Long 62cm 1000 d. C The ancients thought rain-water and pure snow were essential for the formation of quartz crystal. Even up to the middle ages it was thought to be fossilized ice. Considered the most powerful healing stone, able to work on any condition, it has been called the "Universal Crystal" because of its many beneficial uses, such as manifesting, healing, meditation, protection, and channeling. Pure quartz, traditionally called rock crystal or clear quartz, is colorless and transparent or translucent, and has often been used for hardstone carvings, such as the Lothair Crystal. Common colored varieties include citrine, rose quartz, amethyst, smoky quartz, milky quartz, and others. Quartz is the most common semi precious stone. It has in its purest form hardness 7 on Mohr's scale. Along with agate crystal seems to have been extensively used in ancient India for bead making. In spite of the fact that real clear quartz was a scarce material, it seems that especially the Mauryan culture used it for a large number of items including beads. In the ancient Buddhist Indian stupas there has been found a lot of crystal beads in the burial caskets. The Indian quartz was also due to its quality exported to the Roman Empire. The ancient clear quartz melon beads featured in this particular necklace are from Balkh (Mazar-e-sharif) in Afghanistan. Balkh, former called Bactria, was the main capital in the greek-buddhist state Bactria. Afghanistan was dominated by Buddhism up to 1100 AD. This Bactrian necklace is interspersed with 26 ancient hand-carved clear quartz melon beads of different sizes ranging from 1. 4 cm to 2. 5 cm in diameter. It is believe that this piece of jewelry was created between 2nd century BC to 3rd century AD. Congruently, visible effects of natural weathering are consistent to the age of these ancient quartz beads. Weathering effects on ancient clear quartz are characterized by color and gloss changes and increasing roughness due to micro-abrasions. This necklace is accompanied by a bespoke 16", hand-carved wood necklace bust. The bust is cut and contoured from a single piece of suar wood. Durable and resistant to cracking, suar wood is a fast-growing tropical exotic hardwood that is non-endangered and eco-friendly. It carries a Global Conservation status of G5 for being widespread, abundant and secure in the environment. Material: clear quartz Length: 62 cm total Weight: 220,6 g Diameter crystal beads: the biggest is 2,5 cm the smallest is 1,4 cm Provenance: Old European Collection, Vigevano, Italy; Acquired by the present owner from the above in 2018, The Supplier warrants that is has obtained this lot in a legal manner. Related documents seen by Catawiki. Important information. The seller guarantees that he is entitled to ship this lot. The seller will take care that any necessary permits will be arranged. The seller will inform the buyer about this if this takes more than a few days.