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I have an antique beads of various materials and some are ivory and silver and are signed and I was hoping to find out more information on these signatures so would appreciate if anyone can help please.

Hi,

Nice necklace. Those beads are called "Ojime" and are in fact Japanese. They were typically used on sagemono (items that would hang from the belt) to loosen the cords. I've attached an image of one in use so that you can get an idea.

Someone must have decided to turn their collection into a necklace, either to wear or just to keep them all together.

Sometimes they were plain, others more ornemental. I can't really say for the stones but I'd say that some of the metal ojime are definitely 19th century, maybe a few of the bone/ivory ones as well.

As for the signature, I'm not sure it is one. Perhaps someone who's better at kanji and seals than I am will contradict me but it looks more like some sort of stamp.

Hope this helps!

Thank you for your response - I will post photo of other beads which have some different signatures and hopefully someone can help me with these marks.

These are the last photos.

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