Garuda Motif Dzi Bead with Bloodspots, 40.7×11.4mm, Two-Tone Agate (V-091424-GarudaBS)

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.

The composition at the centre of this bead shifts completely when you turn it — what reads as a standing figure on one face opens into a horizontal arrangement on the other.

This is a genuine vintage Taiwan dzi, produced in the 1980s and finished in high-quality natural agate. The ground is two-zone: warm honey-tan end caps confirmed from the angled end-cap shots, transitioning to very deep dark brown through the central body where the Garuda motif sits. The depth of colour increases noticeably as you move away from each drill tip, giving the bead a natural gradient that the bold cream-white motif lines cut across on every face. The Garuda is rendered in a bold stepped geometric style — broad cream bands and angled forms building the figure — and because the composition is not symmetrical, rotating the bead produces genuinely different readings: one face presents a more upright, cross-like arrangement; the opposite opens into flowing horizontal arcs.

Surface finish is smooth and well-polished, with the characteristic high gloss of quality 1980s Taiwan production across both the dark ground and the cream motif zones. Minor surface marks are visible along the equatorial area in the photos, consistent with over four decades of vintage age — disclosed here as found. No cracks are visible in any of the white-background photos; this is my own finding from the images. The drill channel is cleanly executed at both ends, centered within the warm honey-tan stone at each tip.

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 field in both macro shots, with a subtle warm diffusion consistent with sub-surface cinnabar presence in the wider cream areas. Distribution pattern: cream-zone focused scattered. The inclusions are broadly distributed through the cream work and consistent in colour and character across both documented zones.

The Garuda Motif

The Garuda is one of the most powerful protective figures in both Hindu and Tibetan Buddhist tradition — a divine creature combining the strength of an eagle with human form, known as the vehicle of Vishnu and the enemy of serpents and pestilence. In the dzi tradition, the Garuda motif is specifically associated with protection from disease, poison, and calamity, making it one of the most directly apotropaic of all dzi designs. A bead bearing the Garuda is traditionally worn or kept as a shield against harm — both physical illness and the forces that bring misfortune. On a vintage piece with documented cinnabar inclusions, that protective meaning is carried in a stone that has accumulated four decades of its own character.

Spec Block

• Motif: Garuda
• Length: 40.7mm
• Diameter: 11.4mm
• Form: Barrel
• Material: Agate
• Age Estimate: Vintage — produced in Taiwan, 1980s
• Condition: Good; minor surface marks consistent with vintage age; no cracks observed
• Bloodspots: Tier 3 — cream-zone focused scattered; cinnabar micro-dots documented throughout cream zones in macro photography
• Product ID: V-091424-GarudaBS
• Collection: Vintage Dzi

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

Its companion pieces: also in our vintage 1980s Taiwan bloodspot family — V-102723-6EBS (Six Eye, pitch-black ground), V-092924-8EBS (Eight Eye, peachy-apricot end caps), and three Double Longevity pieces with Tier 3 bloodspots: V-090924-DLBS, V-092824-DLBS, and V-092824-DLBS2.

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 Garuda piece with warm honey-tan end caps, very deep dark brown central body, and Tier 3 cinnabar inclusions distributed throughout the cream motif zones.

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.

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