Six Stripe Agate Dzi, 37.1 × 12.7mm, deep warm dark brown barrel, one end chipped (Ac-062226-6Str)

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

The end of this bead tells a different story than the body — and both are worth reading.

Six horizontal acid-etched bands of sandy cream wrap this deep warm dark-brown agate barrel at evenly spaced intervals, dividing the body into seven zones of ground colour. The stripes are consistent in width and spacing across all faces — no compression toward the ends, no drift in register — and their surface has the roughened, granular texture that develops in ancient etched work over centuries of handling: not crisp, not sharp, but worn into the stone in a way that feels inseparable from it.

The body is a straight barrel, 37.1mm in length and 12.7mm in diameter, with gently rounded ends. The ground colour reads as a deep warm dark brown — distinctly warmer and more genuinely brown than the cool grey-brown of the Four Stripe piece (Ac-061426-4Str) in this collection. In the most evenly lit views (Images 1–3), it reads as a rich chocolate-brown with a subtle warmth throughout. In the darker-faced angles (Images 3, 8), the ground deepens further without losing that warmth. This is not the same brown.

One end carries impact damage and is documented across Images 5, 6, 7, 8, and 9. A chip and fracture at the rim have exposed the natural agate interior, revealing a striking cross-section of the stone's own geology: a warm orange-brown zone at the outer edge, a large translucent milky-white zone at the centre, and the dark etched cap still intact on one quadrant. The drill hole is clearly centred and intact, visible in the macro photograph (Image 9). This natural banding exposure is itself a form of authentication — it shows the layered fortification structure of agate beneath the etched surface. The opposite end (Image 4) is intact, with no visible chipping or fracture.

The surface of the body shows the fine longitudinal micro-grooving consistent with centuries of wear — faint parallel lines running along the bead's axis, visible in Images 1 and 2 under angled light. Several minor surface pits and micro-marks are visible in the body in close examination, consistent with age and normal handling over a long life. These are not cracks; they are surface-level only.

Compared to the Four Stripe piece Ac-061426-4Str, this bead carries two additional stripes and is slightly longer and narrower in proportion, giving it a more elongated presence. The natural banding exposure at the chipped end is more dramatic here — the multicolour agate interior visible in Image 9 has no equivalent in the four-stripe piece, where the chip exposed a simpler reddish-brown interior without the milky-white translucent zone.

The Six Stripe Motif

The stripe motif belongs to the Chung dzi (瓊珠) tradition — among the most ancient and elemental forms of dzi bead craft. Six stripes produce seven bands of ground, a composition associated in Tibetan Buddhist thought with the six realms of existence and the aspiration to move beyond them — though the stripe tradition predates any single doctrinal interpretation and has been read across cultures simply as a marking of the sacred through deliberate horizontal rhythm. On this bead, the six bands wrap the full circumference evenly, maintaining their count and spacing from every angle. The motif is the same from all sides: no front, no back, no hierarchy of faces.

Spec Block

Motif: Six Stripe (六條紋); six horizontal acid-etched sandy-cream bands dividing the barrel body into seven registers; uniform wrap on all sides
Length: 37.1mm
Diameter: 12.7mm
Form: Straight barrel with gently rounded ends
Material: Agate — deep warm dark brown ground, sandy-cream etched stripe lines; natural multicolour banding (orange-brown, milky-white) visible at chipped end
Age Estimate: 500–700 years
Condition: Impact chip and fracture at one end exposing natural agate interior (orange-brown and milky-white banding zones visible); drill hole at that end intact and centred; opposite end intact with no visible damage; fine longitudinal micro-grooving consistent with age throughout body; minor surface pits visible at close examination; fully documented in Images 5–9
Bloodspots: None
Product ID: Ac-062226-6Str
Collection: Ancient Dzi Beads | Antique Stripe Dzi

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You may also like:

For other stripe-tradition dzi in the collection:

• Ancient Four Stripe Agate Dzi, 32.3×14.3mm — Ac-061426-4Str
• Ancient Seven Stripe Chung Dzi (SeS-1), 49.4×11.9mm — Ac-081020-7SChung
• Ancient Five Stripe Cho Dzi 措思天珠, 57.5×13.1mm — Ac-061426-5SChung
• Antique Single Stripe Chung Dzi, 38.2×11.5mm — At-020726-Chung
• Ancient Single Stripe Chung Dzi with Bloodspots, 31.4×9.6mm — Ac-061426-1SChungBS

From the blog:

• Understanding Dzi Bead Age and Authentication
• The Stripe Motif in Tibetan Dzi Tradition

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Six stripes, seven zones of ground, and one end that shows you exactly what a thousand years of agate looks like from the inside.

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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