Kraków Red — Nanhong Agate Bracelet, Ice-Float

Red agate has been moving westward along trade routes for two thousand years.

Nanhong agate — literally "southern red" — is a variety of agate found primarily in Yunnan and Sichuan provinces in China. Unlike most commercial agate, which is dyed to achieve colour, nanhong derives its red entirely from natural iron oxide deposits within the stone. The colour ranges from bright vermillion to deep oxblood, sometimes within a single bead. The variety called ice-float contains translucent zones — patches where the stone is clear or milky — suspended within the red, like ice caught in moving water.

Kraków was one of medieval Europe's most important centres for gemstone and mineral trade. Red agate from the east — carried along the Silk Road through Central Asia — arrived in Kraków's markets and was reworked by local craftsmen into jewellery for the Polish royal court. The stone that began in a Chinese mountain ended up in a European crown. The route between them is the story.

These barrel-shaped beads are cut from ice-float nanhong — the translucent zones visible in several beads, interrupting the red with patches of near-clarity. The barrel cut exposes more surface area than a round bead, which means more of the internal variation is visible. The colour is entirely natural.

Origin: Yunnan / Sichuan, China · Kraków, Poland
Material: Natural nanhong agate, ice-float variety
Type: Bracelet

One piece only. What you see is what ships.