Beads

(via Diamond Cuts in Historic Jewelry:1381-1910) Herbert Tillander writes:

Diamond beads, unlike those made from other gems, are seldom completely spherical, but may have any shape from a sphere to a disc, such as a barrel, spindle, cylinder or ellipse. They are covered with small facets on all sides, often in steps. They have no girdle, table or culet. They were apparently always produced from dodecahedroid rough of an intermediate, near-spherical shape. A pair of exceptionally large diamond Beads from the late eighteenth century is in the possession of the Swedish Royal Family as part of the Bernadotte Foundation. They are set in a pair of earrings known as the Wasa Earrings. Fancy Cuts with all-round faceting are usually described as ‘rare’, so it is surprising to find so many of them in the inventories of the Hope and Brunswick Collections and in the Iranian Treasury.