Double Longevity Motif Dzi Bead with Bloodspots, 38.6×12.5mm, Pitch-Black Agate (V-092824-DLBS2)

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 cream lines on this bead are not clean white. Every one carries a warm honey-to-rust tint along the boundary where cream meets black, and that warmth runs the full length of the bead.

This is a vintage Taiwan dzi, crafted in the 1980s from high-quality natural agate using the traditional dzi crafting technique. The pitch-black ground is a true black across all four faces in flat-lit photography, against which the cream motif lines read with strong contrast. The Double Longevity grid is broadly drawn, giving the cream lines more width than usual, and the honey-to-rust tint along every cream and dark edge is visible even at normal viewing distance, a warm character that sets this piece apart from the cleaner cream of the other longevity beads. Both drilled tips show a warm brown tone, the agate's natural colour.

The surface is smooth and well polished, with the high gloss of quality 1980s Taiwan work. A minor surface mark is visible in the lower cream zone in one photo, disclosed here as found. No cracks are visible in any photo. The drill channel is clean at both ends.

Bloodspots

The macro photographs show natural cinnabar (硃砂, zhūshā) inclusions clearly throughout this bead: fine orange-rust micro-dots across the cream motif zones, consistent in colour and size. The warm tint along the cream and dark boundaries in the wider shots comes from the same natural cinnabar held in the stone at those edges. Learn more in our guide to bloodspots in dzi beads.

The Double Longevity Motif

The Longevity or Tortoise Shell motif is associated with health, long life, and the enduring vitality the tortoise embodies in Tibetan and Chinese Buddhist tradition. A bead bearing it is traditionally worn as a wish for lasting wellbeing. Both main faces carry the full motif, and here the broad cream grid and its warm edges give the design an unusually vivid presence. Read more in Dzi Motifs and Their Interpretations.

Specifications

• Motif: Double Longevity (Tortoise Shell)
• Length: 38.6mm
• Diameter: 12.5mm
• Form: Barrel
• Material: Natural agate
• Age estimate: Vintage, crafted in Taiwan in the 1980s using the traditional technique
• Condition: Good; minor surface mark in one cream zone; no cracks visible
• Bloodspots: Prominent; natural cinnabar micro-dots throughout the cream zones, with warm tinting along the edges
• Product ID: V-092824-DLBS2
• Collections: Taiwan Dzi | New & Vintage Dzi | Bloodspot Dzi

Its companion pieces: this is the largest of three vintage Double Longevity dzi with bloodspots. The first is dark-dominant with narrower cream lines (34.8×12.4mm); the second is cream-dominant with dark shapes floating in a white field (34.9×12.6mm).

From the blog

• Taiwan Dzi Beads: The Vintage 1980s Guide
• Bloodspots in Dzi Beads

The largest of our three vintage Double Longevity dzi with bloodspots, set apart by its broad cream grid, pitch-black ground, and warm honey-rust edges along every motif line.

All photos are unretouched. White-background shots show true colour; macro shots show the bloodspots at close range.