Click picture to see entire image:

Cost per bead:

13.6

Bead material:

Glass

Country of origin:

Czech Republic

Size/shape:

7mm (long) x 8mm (wide) faceted barrel-shaped beads.

Colors/description:

Opaque bluish turquoise.

Hole size:

1mm (estimated).

Defects:

Fire-polished beads always have some imperfect facets, although the facets on these beads seem better than usual.  To read about the fire-polishing process, click here.  All the beads have a seam around the middle, and in some cases the seam is a darker turquoise than the rest of the bead.  I also noticed that an occasional bead has a small pit.  I didn't lower the price because the total number of defective beads is fairly small.  Also, the defects are mild, and many customers will use the defective beads.  In the thumbnail picture above, you can see a bead with a pit in the middle of the second row, and you can see a bead with a dark seam in the third row on the right.

How photographed:

At the window in natural daylight.

Comments:

The supplier first stocked these beads about three years ago, but I felt they were too expensive.  Now that the price of other beads have climbed, their price seems more reasonable.