Antique Rosaries With Mother of Pearl Beads

 Antique rosaries featuring mother of pearl beads have a delicate beauty as in this antique French MOP and gold gilt rosary from the beginning of the 20th century. It and the other rosaries featured can be found at The Sacred Bead. If you are thinking about buying an antique rosary, The Sacred Bead has one of the most extensive collections of beautiful antique rosaries in all price ranges on the internet!

 Lovely hand-cut mother of pearl beads show the reflective quality of natural shell. Note, both the center and crucifix are of mother of pearl.

 Very similar in style, but note the uniformity of the beads and difference in the style of chain- this is a slightly newer rosary than the one above.

 A true treasure-this beautiful antique rosary has a lovely shell case. Note the darker color of the shell used in this rosary and the unusual squared shape of the beads.

For millennium, people have made beads of shell. Some of the earliest beads found in archeological sites are drilled shell beads. The beauty and hardness of shell made it the perfect material for bead making. Mother of pearl, also called nacre, is from the shells of mollusks and is especially beautiful due to its iridescent reflectivity. The way it almost glows and changes appearance made it especially valued for not only beads but buttons, inlays in musical instruments and furniture and for many other decorative uses.
Cleaning mother of pearl rosaries should be done very carefully and with a minimum of product use. The only really safe thing is a gentle soap, not detergent, something like a bar of pure soap with a soft toothbrush is plenty. Wash your hands before touching mother of pearl or coral beads as the oils, lotions or other products can cause the beads to dull.
Antique rosaries from the 19th century were frequently made using mother of pearl beads. Some of the earlier rosaries used hand-cut beads, each of a slightly different shape and sometimes quite crude in appearance. Towards the end of the century and into the 20th century, most beads were much more uniform in appearance, many of them were machine cut. Sizes range from large beads, some over an inch in size for large processional rosaries, to tiny oval beads used on lovely antique rosaries with gold gilt or sterling silver metalwork. Some of the most beautiful rosaries have mother of pearl crucifixes and centers.

 Beautifully designed crucifix made of mother of pearl and silver above and a fabulous antique mother of pearl and silver, over 4" crucifix below. There were many faux MOP crucifixes made in the mid-20th century made of celluloid- meant to look like these authentic MOP crucifixes.

I will be adding many more antique French rosaries to The Sacred Bead in the coming month and many will have gorgeous antique MOP beads! Mother of pearl is one of my favorite natural materials, and the mysterious way it plays with light makes it a perfect material for meditative prayer.
I love answering questions about antique rosaries and will always answer them! Feel free to email me at The Sacred Bead. Visit the site and email from there please, you'll find a contact form and email links.