Artifact - Quartz Bead in Gold Pendant (ex Bill Larson Collection)

Item Description

A really cool artifact in the form of a piece of jewelry from the an ancient city of Bagan (a UNESCO World Heritage Site) in Myanmar. The piece features a polished piece of silvery colored Quartz, which has been encased in bright metallic gold (my guess would be around 18 karat) and set with a bail to create a beautiful antique pendant that is shaped like the many temples and pagodas for which the city is known (see the following image for a comparison https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bagan#/media/File:Bagan,_Myanmar,_Ancient_temples_at_sunset.jpg). It's hard to say specifically how old the piece is, but it could certainly date back over 100 years or more. The piece weighs 15.84 carats (3.168 grams) in total, and it's difficult to know the weight of the gold versus the quartz. A really cool piece from an ancient city reflecting its beautiful culture. It's impossible to put a value on something like this since it's a completely unique, handmade, antique piece of jewelry. I can safely say that you may never see another like it, so this may be your only chance to get one like it. From the collection of Bill ("Burma Bill") Larson of Fallbrook, California. Bill is a well-known gem and mineral dealer as well as a miner and collector. Bill traveled the world for decades in search of fine gems and minerals, and was directly involved in the in-person acquisition and importation of superb specimens and stones from Myanmar (Burma). You can read his biography at https://mineralogicalrecord.com/biographies_labels/larsonwilliam-f/