Antique Six Tiger Stripe Carnelian Dzi, 50.7mm × 12.9mm, chocolate-brown with bicolour end caps (At-070822-6TS)

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

The two ends of this bead are different colours — one end cap is a warm reddish-brown, the other is very dark brown, and the six tiger stripe bands run between them without acknowledging the difference.

That contrast between the end caps is the first visual fact about this bead, and it reads not as inconsistency but as depth. Natural carnelian agate contains colour bands — zones of different iron oxide concentration that produce different tones within a single stone — and this bead's material has expressed those bands in a particularly legible way. The left end (visible in Images 2 and 6) carries a very dark warm brown zone that deepens significantly toward the tip; the right end carries the warmer reddish-brown that characterises the main body. Between them, the body ground is deep warm chocolate-brown to reddish-brown, with natural banding visible on some faces — including a lighter, subtly mauve-toned zone visible through the mid-body on Face C (Image 4), a natural agate characteristic that no camera filter or retouching produced. What you see is what is there.

The six tiger stripe chevrons are the defining motif of this bead and they demand the full 50.7mm to work. At this length — the longest carnelian bead in this collection — each V-chevron has room to open fully before the next one begins. Six parallel bands, uniformly spaced, all pointing in the same direction: the motif generates a strong directional movement across the full length of the bead that shorter tiger stripe beads cannot achieve. The motif lines are warm off-white to sandy-cream with an aged granular texture consistent with the 200–500 year antique range — different in tone from the honey-gold lines of the five-stripe reworked bead At-030823-5TSR and from the cool silver-grey lines of the ancient carnelian tiger stripe beads, settling at a warm sandy-cream that has aged well.

The surface is semi-gloss — more reflective than the matte-satin of the ancient octagonal carnelian beads, less mirror-bright than At-030823-5TSR. It shows no calcification, no surface crazing, and no remnant motif from rework. The condition is clean and intact across all faces. At 12.9mm diameter, this bead carries the same diameter as At-092724-2EBS (13.0mm) in the agate dzi collection, but in a dramatically elongated form — the length-to-diameter ratio of nearly 4:1 gives it the pronounced fusiform silhouette visible in all the flat-face photographs. The drill holes (visible in Images 5 and 6) are small, centred, and clean at both ends, each sitting within the respective end cap colour zone.

The Tiger Stripe Motif

The six-stripe tiger stripe (虎牙紋 / hǔ yá wén) in Tibetan and Himalayan dzi tradition builds on the tiger's symbolic role as a force that moves without obstruction — strength made continuous by repetition. Six stripes align this bead with the six perfections (pāramitās) of Buddhist practice — generosity, discipline, patience, effort, meditation, and wisdom — understood as the six qualities that, fully embodied, make a person unstoppable. A bead this length carrying all six bands is understood as a complete and uninterrupted statement of the tiger's strength across all six dimensions simultaneously.

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Spec Block

• Motif: Six Tiger Stripe (虎牙紋 / hǔ yá wén) — six parallel V-chevron bands running full body length; all bands pointing uniformly in the same direction
• Length: 50.7mm
• Diameter: 12.9mm
• Form: Elongated fusiform barrel; smooth taper to both ends; not octagonal; longest carnelian bead in collection
• Material: Deep warm chocolate-brown to reddish-brown carnelian ground with natural agate colour banding; very dark warm brown end cap at one end; warm reddish-brown end cap at opposite end; warm off-white to sandy-cream aged motif chevron lines; semi-gloss polish
• Age Estimate: 200–500 years
• Condition: No cracks; no chips; no calcification; no rework; drill holes small and centred; semi-gloss surface well-preserved
• Bloodspots: None confirmed from photographs
• Product ID: At-070822-6TS
• Collection: Antique Carnelian Dzi

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You May Also Like

• Antique Five Tiger Stripe Carnelian Dzi, reworked (At-030823-5TSR) — five-stripe; honey-gold lines; rounded barrel; 25.2mm; same antique era
• Ancient Five Tiger Stripe Carnelian Dzi, octagonal (Ac-030525-5TS) — five-stripe; octagonal; ancient era; 31.6mm; matte-satin surface
• Ancient Twin Tiger Stripe & Tiger Tooth Carnelian Dzi (Ac-061126-TSTT) — combined tiger stripe and tooth; bicolour carnelian; octagonal; 26.5mm
• Ancient Five Tiger Stripe Carnelian Dzi with Calcification (Ac-030823-5TS2) — five-stripe; heavy calcification; rectangular barrel; 28.6mm

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From the Blog

• What Are Dzi Beads? History, Meaning & Authenticity
• Understanding Carnelian Dzi Beads

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Fifty millimetres of tiger stripe, six bands, two end caps that never quite match — and all of it exactly as it is.

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.

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