Double Longevity Motif Dzi Bead with Bloodspots, 34.8×12.4mm, Two-Tone Agate (V-090924-DLBS)

Authenticity guaranteed — every piece hand-inspected and accurately described. All photos below are unretouched, taken against a plain white background to show this bead's true colour and condition.

This bead looks darker on one face than the other — and on the face where the cream dominates, the dark zones have pulled back to irregular islands floating in white.

This is a genuine vintage Taiwan dzi, produced in the 1980s and finished in high-quality natural agate. The ground structure is two-zone: the drilled end tips carry a warm brown tone, transitioning to pitch-black through the main body — confirmed from white-background end-cap shots and consistent with the owner's description of "brown ends, black inside the end bars." The Double Longevity motif creates large, irregular cream cells across the surface, giving this bead an unusually high cream-to-dark ratio compared to most eye-motif pieces. On one face, the cream and dark zones balance nearly evenly in the tortoise shell pattern; rotate the bead to the opposite face and the cream field widens, with the dark zones receding into enclosed shapes within it.

Surface finish is smooth and well-polished throughout, with the consistent high gloss characteristic of quality 1980s Taiwan production. The drill channel is standard and cleanly executed at both ends — warm brown stone visible at each tip. No cracks or chips are visible in any of the white-background photos; this is my own finding from the images.

Bloodspots

The macro photographs document cinnabar (硃砂, zhusha — mercuric sulfide) inclusions clearly throughout this bead. The inclusions present as fine orange-rust micro-dots scattered across the cream motif zones — visible throughout the cream bands on both macro shots, with consistent presence across the white field areas rather than clustering at any single point. Distribution pattern: cream-zone focused scattered. The inclusions are evenly distributed through the cream work, giving the white zones a warm, subtly speckled character under magnification that is not apparent at normal viewing distance.

The Double Longevity Motif

The Longevity motif — also known as the Tortoise Shell motif — is one of the most recognisable patterns in the dzi tradition, associated with health, long life, and the blessings that come with both. The tortoise has long been a symbol of endurance and vitality in Tibetan and Chinese Buddhist culture, and a bead carrying the longevity design is traditionally worn or kept as an invocation of sustained wellbeing. The double composition means both major faces of the bead carry the full motif — two complete longevity expressions in a single piece, each reading slightly differently from the other depending on how the bead is oriented.

Spec Block

• Motif: Double Longevity (Tortoise Shell / 壽字)
• Length: 34.8mm
• Diameter: 12.4mm
• Form: Barrel
• Material: Agate
• Age Estimate: Vintage — produced in Taiwan, 1980s
• Condition: Excellent; no cracks or chips observed
• Bloodspots: Tier 3 — cream-zone focused scattered; cinnabar micro-dots documented throughout cream motif zones in macro photography
• Product ID: V-090924-DLBS
• Collection: Vintage Dzi

For more vintage and new pieces, browse our New & Vintage Dzi Collection.

Its companion piece: also in the collection — V-102723-6EBS, another vintage Taiwan 1980s piece with Tier 3 cinnabar bloodspots — Six Eye motif, pitch-black ground throughout, cream-zone focused scattered distribution.

Curious about what dzi beads are and what makes them authentic? Read What Are Dzi Beads and What Makes a Dzi Bead Authentic.

A vintage Double Longevity piece with a high cream-to-dark ratio, two-zone ground, and broadly distributed cinnabar inclusions running through every cream zone on the bead.

Every bead backed by our authenticity guarantee and easy returns.

All photos are unretouched. White-background shots show true colour; macro shots document bloodspot inclusions at close range.

#DziBead #LongevityDzi #TortoiseshellDzi #TibetanDzi #AgateDzi #VintageDzi #TaiwanDzi #DziJewelry #BuddhistJewelry #DziCollector #AuthenticDzi #BloodspotDzi #CinnabarInclusions #DoubleLongevity #AncientDziShop