Antique Six Eye & Tiger Tooth Dzi, diamond-framed eyes, honey-gold motif, 57.9mm × 12.9mm (At-053126-6ETT)

We never retouch our photos. What you see is exactly what you will receive.

On this bead, the tiger tooth does not have its own face — it has built a frame around every eye.

In the collection's Four Eye & Tiger Tooth bead (At-082525-4ETT), the eye motifs and the tiger tooth motifs occupy separate faces: rotate the bead ninety degrees and one disappears, the other appears. This bead operates differently. Here the tiger tooth diagonal marks surround each eye directly — two marks above, two below, forming an X or diamond configuration with the eye at its centre. The tooth and the eye are not alternating. They are one integrated composition, repeated six times across the bead's full length. Strength does not bracket protection here. Strength is what protection is made of.

The bead measures 57.9mm × 12.9mm — one of the longest beads currently in the collection, and among the fullest in its mid-section. The elongated spindle form is generous: it begins tapering only well into the end zones, maintaining a wide, rounded body across most of its length before narrowing to the end caps. At this scale, the six-eye + tiger tooth composition has room to fully deploy — each eye unit is large enough to read individually, and the spacing between units is measured rather than compressed.

The ground is deep chocolate-brown, warm in undertone, and the motif lines are a rich honey-gold — a vivid, saturated golden-orange that is the warmest and most luminous motif colour in the collection. This honey-gold appears in both the eye ring elements (outer ring and inner concentric dot of each closed eye), the tiger tooth diagonal marks, and the vertical stripe separators that divide the bead's length into distinct compositional zones. The end caps carry the same honey-gold tone, creating a strong colour contrast with the dark body: the tips glow. The drilled holes, visible in Images 2 and 3, show the same warm honey-orange interior — colour consistent throughout the stone's depth.

Each eye is a closed concentric composition: an outer ring, and a small solid central dot within it. This is not an open C-ring and not a large-pupil concentric spiral — it is compact and precise, and the tiger tooth marks surrounding it read as the eye's architectural frame. Above each eye, two diagonal marks angle inward to meet at a point. Below each eye, two diagonal marks angle inward symmetrically. The resulting shape — tooth marks above, tooth marks below, eye at centre — is a diamond enclosing a watching point. Six of these units, in honey-gold on chocolate-brown, across 57.9mm of polished agate.

The surface is highly polished throughout, with a glassy lustre consistent with centuries of sustained handling. Fine natural weathering is visible under close examination — micro-surface texture in the darker ground zones, and the characteristic softening of motif-line edges that distinguishes genuinely old etching from recent work. There are no cracks.

The Six Eye & Tiger Tooth (六眼虎牙) Motif

The Six Eye dzi — mig drug in Tibetan — is associated with the six realms of Samsara and the capacity to move through all of them with awareness and protection. Six eyes are understood to provide comprehensive spiritual coverage: no realm, no direction, no circumstance falls outside the bead's protective gaze. Each eye is a point of consciousness, and six together form a field of awareness that surrounds the wearer completely. The Tiger Tooth element, woven here directly into each eye's frame, compounds this with active force. Where the eye sees, the tooth acts. Where awareness identifies a threat or obstacle, courage and strength are already positioned to meet it. The Six Eye & Tiger Tooth combination is an uncommon one in the dzi tradition — a bead that does not offer protection and strength as separate qualities but as a single, unified capacity.

Specifications

• Motif: Six Eye & Tiger Tooth (六眼虎牙); six closed concentric eyes (outer ring + inner dot), each framed by four diagonal tiger tooth marks in X/diamond configuration; vertical stripe separators between eye units; motif consistent across all faces
• Length: 57.9mm
• Diameter: 12.9mm
• Form: Elongated full-bodied spindle; wide rounded mid-section tapering to end caps; one of the longest beads in the collection
• Material: Ground colour — deep warm chocolate-brown agate; motif line colour — rich honey-gold / golden-orange; end caps — honey-gold matching motif lines (strong contrast with dark body)
• Age Estimate: 300–500 years (antique)
• Condition: No cracks; highly polished glassy surface throughout; natural weathering marks and softened motif-line edges consistent with age
• Bloodspots: None
• Product ID: At-053126-6ETT
• Collection: Antique Dzi Beads

You May Also Like

• Antique Four Eye & Tiger Tooth Tibetan Dzi Bead, 46.4mm × 11.5mm (At-082525-4ETT) — $800.00
• Antique Six Eye Dzi Bead, 54.9mm × 12.3mm, Honey-Gold End Caps, Dark Brown Agate (At-053026-6E) — $2,200.00
• Antique Six Eye Dzi Bead, 41.4mm × 11.4mm, Pitch-Black Agate, Bold Scroll (At-042925-6E2) — $3,000.00
• Antique Tiger Tooth Dzi, cream-dominant ground, warm rose-cream, 28.5mm × 11.9mm, 300–500 yrs (At-053126-Ta4) — $2,000.00
• Antique Nine Eye Dzi Bead, 59.0mm × 13.2mm, Amber Motif on Dark Agate (At-012325-9E4) — $700.00

Further Reading

• How to Tell Real vs. Fake Dzi Beads — motif-line edge softening and surface weathering are covered as key indicators of genuine age
• The Six-Eye Dzi Bead: Meaning & Symbolism — context for multi-eye dzi hierarchy and the significance of eye count in the Tibetan tradition

A 57.9mm honey-gold and chocolate-brown spindle carrying six diamond-framed eyes — one of the longest beads in the collection, and one where every eye is already armed.

We never retouch our photos. What you see is exactly what you will receive.

📷 We never retouch our photos. Every bead is photographed exactly as it is. What you see is what you receive.