Two Japanese buying deep sea precious coral necklaces

This is a vintage Japanese deep sea coral necklaces.
Set of two necklaces.

Natural color, untreated not dyed.

Japanese deep sea precious coral is beyond rare and has been virtually unavailable for decades.

Size of coral beads of the necklaces are about 3x3-8x10mm
White coral necklace length:40cm
Pink and white necklace length:40cm
weight:44.7g

Mint condition

Please keep in mind that Japanese deep sea coral almost always has a few cracks and dimples that usually don't stand out.
Most Japanese deep sea coral has cracks, which come from the change in water pressure when the deep sea coral is harvested and pulled to the surface.
However it does not break easily, and it's no problem for wearing it.


My column series “Beads Around the World” was just published.
This time I wrote about Japanese deep sea coral, which is used for jewelry. Japanese deep sea coral has been famous around the world and has been exported, similarly to Japanese cultured pearls. But its history started only about two hundred years ago, when a fisherman found coral in his net. Until then we did not know there was jewel coral around us.
Jewel coral buying has been highly admired throughout history. It was carried by merchants through the Silk Road from the Mediterranean sea for thousands ofyears.
Now Japanese deep sea corals are endangered species and need protection from illegal fishing and over-harvesting.
All my coral products are recycled from old jewelry made around 1960-1980, when coral was not endangered. I always intend to deal with coral only in ways that are environment-friendly and sustainable.
I especially love my coral bracelet made from Haori-himo.
A Haori-himo is a string that holds the front of a kimono jacket together.
I use the original set of natural colors, untreated coral beads and silk thread and adding new thread and untreated coral beads.