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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;Any Jewelry, post: 370777, member: 2844&quot;]Congratulations, an incredible find, Joan. One that makes this lover of antique Mediterranean red coral very excited.<img src="styles/default/xenforo/clear.png" class="mceSmilieSprite mceSmilie49" alt=":happy:" unselectable="on" unselectable="on" /></p><p>These are the growth lines Bronwen mentioned, clearly visible in the top bead:</p><p>[ATTACH=full]127288[/ATTACH]</p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p>It is exactly like Ukrainian and other European antique coral beads. Those beads all came from the Mediterranean and have been traded throughout Europe, North Africa and Asia for thousands of years.</p><p>Mediterranean coral used to be sourced in Italy, Croatia, Spain, Morocco and Algeria. There were smaller pockets here and there, but those were the main countries. Croatian coral is often called Adriatic coral, but it is also Mediterranean coral. The Adriatic sea, between Italy and Croatia, is part of the Med. Adriatic coral is also highly sought after.</p><p>The prime locations were around the Italian islands, where coral is still sourced in very limited, controlled amounts. No doubt there will be a complete ban in the foreseeable future. Already most coral used in Italian jewellery today comes from old stock or is recycled from older jewellery. So if you have no reason to sell this beauty, keep it, it will get more valuable in the future.</p><p><br /></p><p>Your beads are 19th century. They are essentially Mediterranean red coral, but because red coral slowly gets a little paler over the centuries, it is now close to salmon coral. It would never have been deep red. This is the colour and very soft sheen collectors of antique coral look for. We don&#039;t like that bright red shiny coral, too new looking, no character.</p><p>The value of the clasp, etc is a nice bonus, but peanuts compared to the value of the coral.</p><p>The Chinese would go crazy over your gorgeous necklace. They would buy it in a heartbeat, probably to take it apart to make their own jewellery using antique Chinese silver or gold beads and findings.</p><p>If you enter &#039;coral&#039; in the search box of this page, you will see nice antique Med coral in many of the threads.</p><p><br /></p><p>Nice detail, did you ever wonder why Italians drink so much espresso and other types of strong coffee? Well, they traded their coral to jewellery country Yemen, the former land of Sheba. The Yemenis paid in their local coffee and in incense. The main Yemeni harbour town was Mocha, which is why we call strong Arabian coffee mocha.</p><p>If you are addicted to coffee, blame it on the coral trade.<img src="styles/default/xenforo/smilies/wink.png" class="mceSmilie" alt=";)" unselectable="on" />[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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