The necklace in the photo above looks deceptively easy to acquire, but it isn’t. You can’t buy this necklace at any price. It is a “School Artifact”.

Relics like these can be reconstructed from ancient materials. In this case, note that the maker of all the lapis beads is the same, from the same workshop. This is not the case with beads acquired through the ordinary marketplace. Matched sets of ancient beads is exceedingly rare. Continue reading →