Featured Ojime beads, I believe

Not mine, but a friend's, who has no intention of parting with them. Found in her old office (!) and about to be thrown away when she rescued them - she's a retired lawyer. They were on a chain, which fell apart. She thinks they're ojime, and I'm inclined to agree. Some carved wood, couple of amber, mixed bronze and silver and some gold embellished. Some are signed.

Aren't they lovely? I like the little orange and the bamboo one.

 

Gorgeous! Yes, some of the beads look like ojime to me as well, really beautiful.
And beautiful antique carnelian, probably from an old Chinese necklace. The amber could be from an old Chinese necklace as well. Think Chinese court necklace style.

 

Yup, there's one carnelian, forgot that. 19th C do you think?

 

Many of them, yes. The carnelian is, imo. Some others probably first half of the 20th century. Together they represent quite a value, just look at the work on some of them.

 

nicest set of wow beads I've seen here in a while !!!!!

 

The work is astonishing, isn't it. I covet them.

 

What a collection! I covet them too...

 

Blimey. http://www.antiquenetsuke.co.uk/ojime

 

Yeah. I realise that's retail, but I don't think she had any clue about their worth.

 

I know! But just think, good netsuke are valuable, and ojime tended to get lost because they are so small, ergo....

 

True: and small objets of vertue are easier to stash than bigger stuff!

 

Still....not a ' bad' sign !!!!!!

 

Hello everyone, this is my first time here, I found this site by chance and I like it. They are really Ojime beads, most of them, some very good pieces, I really wish I had them too, they are very beautiful. It was very typical to make necklaces with these beads in the 1920s and 1950s. Surely the one who lost them did not remember it because he would have memory problems, they really are very expensive. They are expensive, and more and more, but don't see the price on the antiquenetsuque website, this site is too expensive, we hardly buy any of them. I have been a collector of Ojime bead for more than 15 years, although my collection is not very large, my intention lies more in his study than in owning a large quantity, even so I have almost 60 pieces.

 

Welcome @Kyoto1975 , great to have a dedicated collector join us.

Amazing! Will you show us some? Or all, if possible? They are always little masterpieces.

 

I don't have too many good pictures. I will show from time to time. This ojime is one of the most liked. Still not my favorite piece. The meaning, connotation, symbolism of some pieces is so extensive that a book could be written on a simple Ojime. Think that in the past Japanese artists and craftsmen did nothing if a good reason, without an essential reason, nothing could be defined as beautiful if it was not practical at the same time.
This is an Ojime made with the shibayama technique, from the 19th century, Meiji period. It is made of marine ivory inlaid with many different materials, mother of pearl, amber, green jade, buffalo horn, etc. signed Kosu

 

Absolutely gorgeous, @Kyoto1975 .

True. Aesthetic, symbolism, and purpose all went together.

I hope you don't mind, I took the liberty of showing your ojime full image:

 

You can display the image if you want, no problem. I remember that I showed this image somewhere, time ago, and now it can be seen everywhere.