Sunstone, Natural, Faceted Cube, 4.5mm Strand

Sunstone, Natural, Faceted Cube Beads, 4.5mm. 

This price is for one strand 15 to 16 inches long. 

4mm cube bead strands have 102 to 107 pieces.

5mm cube bead strands have 83 to 88 pieces.

6mm cube bead strands have 68 to 73 pieces.

Sunstone is a type of feldspar, which when viewed from certain directions exhibits a spangled appearance. It has been found in Southern Norway, Sweden, various United States, including Oregon localities and on some beaches in South Australia. It is usually transparent to translucent. 

The optical effect, schiller, appears to be due to reflections from inclusions of red. These inclusions give the stone an appearance something like that of aventurine, hence sunstone is known also as "aventurine-feldspar".

A theory exists that the sunstone had polarizing attributes and was used as a navigation instrument by seafarers in the Viking Age. A stone found in 2013 in the wreck of a 16th-century warship, may lend evidence of the existence of sunstones as navigational devices.

Hardness 6-6.5 

This is a natural stone that has had no treatment other than cutting, drilling, and polishing.  

The source of these beads is United States and Norway and they are cut, drilled and polished in China.