Featured Coral beads

I was monumentally slow on the uptake about these beads. I thought they were glass but I kept thinking there was something odd about them.
Finally got round to giving them a good bath and the niggle made me have a look with a loupe and I’m sure they are coral as there are the clear striations on the smaller ones.
They arrived in a batch of very old beads but is there a way of knowing if they are old or more modern?. I’m going to restring them so would be good to know what beads or clasps would be contemporary.
Thankyou

 

following..

 

We need close ups, more light.

Having an alarmbell moment....
Ivory?

 

Just to be certain you could try the vinegar/lemon juice test. If bubbles appear on the surface of a bead it would point to coral. The noted 'striations' did make me wonder about ivory as well.

 

Ok, let me put the kids to bed and I’ll be on it.
They don’t feel like ivory but as you know it’s amateur central here!

 

The look like coral from here; those little dark indents are all wrong for ivory and dead right for white coral. Odds are they're vintage; the length of the necklace may well tell you how old. They look like "native" beads, but those are still being made. If they're graduated and something like a 30 inch string, I'd be thinking 1930s. Shorter would mean ... dunno. You can put an old clasp on them either way.

 

More photos
The bead I tested with lemon juice fizzed nicely.
Even with the microscope I can’t get a picture of the little lines in the beads but they are just like the ones in my pink coral beads.

Actually you can just see the lines in the bottom photo.

 

They are graduated and at a rough guess when strung somewhere around 28 inches but a few may have been lost along the way as the necklace arrived broken.

 

Thanks, K, those better pics show the beads are coral.
I think they are antique, they have that irregular look of antique coral beads.
Length doesn't mean much, there were different fashions in the 19th century, and as you said, some beads may have been lost.

True. I didn't see they were indentations, I thought the spots were just flecks of dirt.

 

To be fair you were right about needing better light and I spent an inordinate amount of time scrubbing them thinking it was dirt too.

 

Great photos! I, too, don't think they're ivory. White coral like that....very uncommon, I'd think?

 

Yes, much more rare than the red varieties, but it is related.

 

And old, if not antique. Opera length graduated beads were popular in the late 20s to early 30s, so if they're not strictly antique they're certainly working on it!

 

Thankyou all for great information