Beads Collection

Bead size: what size gold bead bracelet for your wrist

Bead size sets the look before anything else. At 8 mm a bead reads bold on the wrist, and 8 mm was the size on 52 percent of the bracelets sold here in the year: gold with black onyx, and gold with tiger eye, green agate, turquoise or garnet. Seven inches of 8 mm beads, touching, is about 22 beads; the same seven inches in 4 mm beads is about 44, a much finer line.

In the middle, the all-gold best seller is 7 mm, diamond-cut beads at 2.7 grams, and both pearl bracelets are 6 mm. At 4 mm sit turquoise, malachite and a black diamond strand, with the ladies’ onyx and gold bracelet at 4.2. The finest bracelets are a 3 mm black diamond one and a 2 mm gold bead bracelet made in 6 inches.

Against the wrist, 8 mm suits an average or larger wrist, and a slim wrist wears 4 to 6 mm beads without crowding. Seven of the eight 8 mm bracelets here say they adjust, so a bigger bead does not change the size you order.

Gold or stone: a gold bracelet with beads of gold, onyx, tiger eye or pearl

Gold beads alone, or 14K gold beads with black onyx, were 717 of the 1,209 pieces sold here in the year, six in ten. The best seller is all gold: diamond-cut 14K beads that catch the light, on a black cord. Onyx is black chalcedony, a quartz hard enough for every day, and it pairs with the gold on the 8 mm bracelet bought second most.

Stone beads bring the color: tiger eye in brown or red, turquoise, green agate, malachite and garnet, nine listings in all, each paired with 14K gold beads. The tiger eye bracelet led them, 77 in the year. Two bracelets pair cultured pearls with gold, and on the black pearl one the color can run from purple to black. Turquoise, malachite and pearl are soft, so keep them away from soap, lotion and perfume.

Two more are 14K gold bracelets set with natural diamonds, 0.60 and 0.25 carats, each in yellow or white gold. Not one listing here says plated, gold filled or vermeil; the difference is laid out in solid gold, gold filled, plated and vermeil.

Black diamond beads: black diamond bead bracelets and a bead chain

Five pieces string black diamond beads, three bracelets and two necklaces, and by value they took a third of the sales this page made in the year. The 2 mm bead chain alone took a fifth of it; it comes in 18, 20, 22 or 24 inches. All five list a natural origin, the color black and the grade AAA, a grade used in the bead trade and not a laboratory report.

The carats on a black diamond listing count the whole strand, each bead added in: 13.53 on the 3 mm bracelet, 64.20 on the 7 mm bracelet and 87.75 on the 26-inch necklace. A big number means many beads, not one big stone. Diamond is the hardest gem there is, so the beads resist scratches. Four of the five list steel as the metal, two of those with 14K gold, and one names no metal.

US orders arrive with our appraisal, which records the carats and the grams; an order abroad receives the appraisal digitally. More strands and rows are in black diamond bracelets.

Stretch or clasp: how a gold bead bracelet fits

No listing here calls itself a stretch bracelet. Thirteen of the 20 say they adjust, and ten close on a sliding cord or a sliding clasp that you draw snug on the wrist and slide open to take off: the all-gold best seller, all seven stone bracelets and both pearls.

Three are sold by length instead. The 3 mm black diamond bracelet comes in 7, 7.5 or 8 inches, another black diamond strand is 8 inches, and the 2 mm gold bead bracelet is 6 inches. For those, wrap a paper strip around the wrist, mark where it meets, and order about half an inch over that measure; the full chart is in bracelet size, wrist to length.

Four bracelets do not say how they close or adjust, the 8 mm onyx and gold one bought second most among them, and two more say adjustable in the title without saying how. Ask the desk before you order one of those. The bead necklaces run 16 to 26 inches.

His, hers and stacked: gold bead bracelets for men, for women and in a stack

Men and women both wear gold beads, and the bead size decides the look more than the case a piece sits in. Here 16 of the 20 bracelets sit in our men’s case and 10 in the women’s, six of them in both, and three are marked unisex. Pieces from the men’s case were 94 percent of the bracelets sold in the year. For a slimmer wrist, the ladies’ onyx and gold bracelet is 4.2 mm, a turquoise and a malachite strand are 4 mm, and the pearls are 6 mm. Browse men’s bracelets or women’s bracelets.

To stack, start with one bold 8 mm strand and add one or two finer ones, a 4 mm stone, a 6 mm pearl or the 3 mm black diamond row, or wear gold beads beside a watch. Eleven of the listings here mention layering or stacking, and six bracelets have beads of 4.2 mm or less. Keep to one or two stone colors so the gold carries the stack.

For a gift, three of the stones are birthstones on our birthstone chart: January’s garnet, June’s pearl and December’s turquoise.