dZi (pronounced zee, and spelt with a small d and large Z) or more correctly, gZi beads come from the central Asian region, and are usually found in an area ranging from Afghanistan, Iran, Tibet, India, Pakistan, Nepal and Burma. They come in many shapes, sizes and forms, from tiny etched carnelians to huge multi eyed and striped dZi.

The photos in this collection are beads that I have personally collected in India and Nepal over the last 30 years.

 

When I first started collecting dZi, there were only original beads around, 1000's of years old, or obvious copies and fakes not even made from agate, but usually bone or glass, and often quite old in themselves, but there was no mistaking the real from the copy. In recent times however the market has been inundated by so-called "middle period" or "antique" 100, 200 or 500 year old dZi which the sellers are claiming to be genuine. This is simply not true. I will state categorically here and now for the record as far as Tibetan dZi is concerned: "There Is No Middle Period!"

Apparently the Chinese started manufacturing eye beads 100 - 200 years ago, and these are what is know as Middle Period beads, but they are nothing to do with Tibetan dZi other than the fact that they have copied their patterns. A buyer needs to be very careful when considering buying these Middle Period beads, because there are also modern copies manufactured usually in China or Taiwan with certain techniques applied to them to "age" them, and as the market has become flooded with people selling these fakes as real dZi or as Middle Period, and it neccessary to clarify this. Ebay is particularly bad for the sale of fakes which the vendors sell as the real thing. Some of these fakes are so good that even some Tibetan dealers and "experts" themselves are frequently fooled. One way to spot fakes is with a good quality jeweller's loupe or eyeglass. Help on how to detect fakes is outlined below.

Please check my links for websites that sell real dZi, and I can provide a list of genuine ebay sellers of dZi for anyone interested. Use the Contact Me button above or the link at the bottom of this page.

                                                                                 HISTORY

I believe there are inaccuracies about the dating of the original "pure" dZi, the most common error is stating that it is 8th century. This error of thinking comes from a date found in the bead collector's bible "The History Of Beads" by Lois Sherr Dubin, where dZi is placed on the fold out "Time Map" in the 700's AD alongside the introduction of Buddhism in Tibet. However, if the reference numbers next to the beads are checked, the detail states that the actual dates are unknown. This is because the Tibetans have never allowed Archaelogical digs in Tibet, so no accurate dates can be established. The assumption is that as dZi is connected with Tibetan Buddhism, then the beads are tied in around the same time that Buddhism started.

In fact it is widely understood, certainly by the Tibetans, that dZi was part of the Bonpo tradition which preceded Buddhism in Tibet and goes back 4000 years or more, and some of the oldest dZi like Phum dZi is very likely to have come from this time. I have been told that the Bon Chiefs used to wear them on their ceremonial robes and when they died they were cremated in their ceremonial regalia, and the remains buried(though this mainly conjecture and cannot be proved), but it would explain why dZi beads are often found in the ground and why so many are found blemished, burnt or broken, as the heat from the pyre would have been very likely to damage the beads.

This is not to be confused with chips in the beads, which could be accidental as agate is a hard, but brittle stone, but as likely to be deliberate. A conversation with a Tibetan from Lhasa revealed that beads were deliberately chipped either as medicinal or religious offerings which is widely known, or to include as part of a burial offering on the death of the previous owner, which is perhaps not so well known. Therefore beads with small chips in them generally do not affect the value of the beads, and indeed can even be seen as desirable, especially if it was for medicinal purposes, as the bead would be deemed to have an intrinsic power.

There is another desirable feature to be found in dZi beads known as Blood Spots or Cinnabar spots, probably caused by particles of iron oxidising within the stone, also known as Martik to the Tibetans, to whom these spots are extremely significant.

 

 
Blood spots or Martik

                                                                                POWER

As to questions about the power of the beads this is a very subjective matter, and I personally do not believe that they have any intrinsic power specifically bestowed by any Gods or supernatural powers that be, as the Tibetans do, but having said that, I always wear them for protection when I am travelling. However, I do believe in the power of the mind, and quantum physics tells us that the universe only exists as we percieve it because of our belief, and those beliefs actually change how the atoms behave and interact with us. Therefore the beads contain the power that has been bestowed upon them, and that power may be retained in the atoms of the stone and benefit subsequent wearers. The older the bead and the more people who have held beliefs in a bead's ability to protect them, the more powerful the bead becomes. So it is a mixture of both natural science and belief, they work side by side. New beads will have very little, if any, power at all, and none of it protective. The ones that have been deliberately faked to look old may even have negative energies in them.

                                                                    HOW WAS DZI MADE?

The great mystery of old dZi and etched carnelians is how they managed to get the markings on the surface without breaking or cracking the stone. The Silica family, of which chalcedony, agate and carnelian are a part, are particularly suseptible to heat, which will crack or even shatter the stone. The technique of how to heat it without damaging it was only discovered in recent times, using sophisticated technology which entails heating the stone in a vacuum. As agate is porous, there is air and moisture within the stone which when heated expands and causes it to crack. In a vacuum the air has been removed so greatly reduces the chance of the stone cracking when heated. This technology was not around 100 years ago in remote Tibet, nor indeed was it around many of thousands of years ago, hence the mystery.

                                              HOW TO SPOT CERTAIN KINDS OF FAKES

The most obvious sign of true ageing are the tiny natural circular cracks or blemishes that appear on the surface of the bead to a greater or lesser degree depending of the density of the stone and its age. Beads that have been buried a long time will show this effect (see below), probably due to water getting in and then expanding and contracting due to freezing in the seasonal changes of the climate. 

               

                                                  Wear around hole and circular ageing marks.


                

                                                                    Authentic ageing marks

It is not only the Silica family that shows these ageing marks as the following picture of a Sarcen limestone from the stone circle at Avebury, UK shows. These stones date back to 2500BC, and again it is probably 

seasonal climate changes that are responsible for the markings, as the stone from which they are made is porous too.

                  

                                              Circular ageing in the Sarcen Stones at Avebury

Certain kinds of agate do not always show this ageing, agate that is very dense in its structure, and therefore the surface is less porous and less likely to be affected by this kind of age wear. Also, if a bead has not been buried but has always been worn and not exposed to climate extremes, would probably not show this type of ageing, as in the case of the bead from the Afghanistan area below. 

 

                                             

 

 Old agate C. 500 AD without circular age marks


A lot of the modern copies also have these circular markings on them which are artifically created and the key to telling the difference between the modern and the old is to inspect the cracks with a 10 x loup or magnifying glass. On the original beads the circular cracks are worn, and have a rounded edge to them where the crack goes into the stone, usually from being worn for millenia. The modern ones tend to have a sharp more squared edge to them where the stone's surface has been ground and polished after the ageing effect has been applied. See cross section diag. below.

New  Old

 Also the holes each end where the string goes are not worn or smooth and usually show a roughness.

 

                    

 Unworn holes of modern fakes                               Old hole with wear