Loose amber beads manufactured to specification for jewellery houses, designers and component buyers — supplied by the strand, by weight or by matched set.
Diameters from 4 mm to 20 mm, eleven standard profiles plus custom tooling, drill diameters from 0.6 mm, centre or off-centre drilling, half-drilled and undrilled blanks.
Finishes run from nine-stage mirror polish through satin to calibrated matte, and every finish can be held consistently across a matched set.
For jewellery applications the difficulty is rarely the individual bead — it is the set. We grade and match by tone, transparency and inclusion pattern, and supply matched sets with a stated tolerance rather than an approximation.
Graduated strands are matched by hand bead to bead, which is slow and is priced accordingly, because there is no machine that does it well.
By the strand for stock lines, by weight for component buyers, and as individually packed matched sets for high-value jewellery production.
We can also supply pre-strung sub-assemblies where a client’s own workshop completes final assembly.
Most bead suppliers quote a nominal size and leave tolerance undefined, which means the buyer discovers it during assembly. We state four numbers on every quotation: nominal diameter, dimensional tolerance across the run, bore diameter, and bore orientation. On Luxury Series specification we hold ± 0.05 mm across a full strand; on standard specification the band is wider and we tell you what it is for your order.
Tighter than ± 0.05 mm is achievable and is quoted as a higher price rather than promised at the same one. Any supplier who accepts a tightened tolerance without a price change has either not understood the request or does not intend to hold it.
Half-drilled beads for pin settings, side-drilled beads, non-standard bores, faceted flats on a lathe profile, matched pairs and graduated sets are all normal orders rather than exceptions. What genuinely constrains us is amber itself: at 2.0–2.5 on the Mohs scale it will not hold a fine sharp arris the way a harder stone will, and a design that depends on one is a design that will look worn within a year.
We will say that before the tooling is cut. Adapting the geometry to the material — a slightly larger radius on the arris, a marginally deeper facet — usually preserves the intent and produces a piece that still looks deliberate after five years of handling.
Matched is the most abused word in bead supply. It can mean matched to a nominal size with an undefined band, matched by eye under whatever light was available, or matched to a stated tolerance under standardised conditions. Only the third is a specification, and only the third survives being checked by your assembler.
We state the matching standard as two numbers: the dimensional band across the run, and the colour reference with the light temperature it was judged under. Colour judged under 5000 K is repeatable between Monday and Thursday and between our bench and yours; colour judged under a window is not, and that is the source of most matching disputes rather than any dishonesty on either side.
For component supply the practical consequence is that you can specify once and reorder against the same numbers years later. For a jeweller building a collection across seasons that repeatability is worth more than a small unit-price difference, because remaking a setting costs several times what the beads in it cost.
Component orders fail at the interface more often than at the bead. An assembler expecting a 1.0 mm bore and receiving 0.8 mm has a batch they cannot use, and the fault is usually a specification that named a nominal size without a tolerance rather than anything either party did wrong.
We will speak to your assembler directly if that helps, and we would rather do it before production than after. Ten minutes establishing bore, orientation, tolerance and how the beads will be presented for stringing removes the entire category of problem, and it is a conversation most suppliers avoid because it commits them to numbers.
Yes — by strand, by weight, or as individually packed matched sets.
Yes, from 0.6 mm upward, including off-centre and half-drilled configurations.
Within ± 0.05 mm dimensionally and within a stated tone band verified under standardised lighting.
Minimums are quoted per diameter and grade. Small development quantities are available.
Send it. We measure it and quote against the actual dimensions and tone rather than against a description, which is the only way matching to an existing piece works.
Quoted by weight rather than by piece, with the minimum depending on diameter and matching standard. Tighter matching raises the minimum because it raises the selection loss.
The one your setting actually needs, not the tightest available. ± 0.05 mm across a run is achievable and is priced as such; a wider band costs less and is often perfectly adequate. What matters is that the number is stated on the quotation rather than left implicit, because an undefined tolerance is discovered by your assembler rather than agreed by you.
A photograph, a quantity and a destination is enough to receive a specification, an indicative price and an honest timeline.