Highly polished chalcedony agate semi precious stone necklace. Beads are opaque  agate chalcedony in rich, deep jade-green in graduated sizes and two different shapes. Hand knotted silk and metallic thread spacers separate and protect each bead.  Vintage 1968.  From Southeast Asia.

54 continuous inches of polished, shaped, genuine semi-precious stone beads. No closure. Can be worn as a long single strand, or double looped... or even worn as a belt with an added jewelry clasp (not included). 

The deep jade green is quite uniform, though some beads have the slightest hints of red or gold.  The beads are of two shapes: spherical balls and three sided/triangular cabochons of gently shaped bricks.

There is a slight graduation in size of the beads along the length of the necklace. The smallest bricks are approximately 0.75"; the longest are 1.126". The smallest round beads are approximately 0.25" in diameter; the largest are 0.38".

This vintage 60's piece is stunning, highly polished, genuine stone. It was purchased as a gift by a US. Army Officer serving in Vietnam for his wife back home. The unique stones came from the rugged mountainous Asian countryside. So many US GIs purchased these in Vietnam and brought them home, that they became associated with the 60s/ '70s hippie/Earth movement in the US.

Condition: As a used, vintage necklace, there may be very small scratches not apparent to the naked eye. But because the spacers of hand knotted silk thread prevent the stones from rubbing against one another, but p0there are no apparent scratches, dings, gouges or cracks. In places, the silk thread of the spacers shows signs of unraveling. This does not, however, affect the integrity of the primary bread strand which holds the beads in place.