The origin of the name "Yaoshizhu" It is said that if the Yaoshizhu is placed in a sealed small space and held in the center of the palm of your hand, the temperature of its bead will rise, and after a period of time, it will naturally emit a fragrant medicinal taste, hence the name. According to legend, pharmacist beads also have the effect of treating diseases and avoiding evil spirits. The age of the first-line pharmacist bead belongs to about 2000 ~ 4000 BC. Archaeologists have found this kind of natural bead in Iraq, Iran, Pakistan and other countries. Perhaps because of mutual trade, a large number of traces of pharmacist beads have been found in the countries around the Himalayas in the past and now. Pharmacists in Tibet generally offer confessions by fire. The role of pharmacist beads used to be a mascot, which has the functions of trading beads and avoiding evil spirits. Because of its round shape, it is very suitable to be used as a rosary, especially for Buddhist disciples to practice the pharmacist method with pharmacist beads, which can achieve the effect of unity of body and mind, good luck and contentment. However, it should be noted that when the pharmacist beads are strung into necklaces or bracelets, it is best to put soft beads in the middle to avoid wear. Pharmacist beads, also known as round beads, are mostly lentil-shaped beads with a white stripe in the middle. The grain of each pharmacist bead is naturally formed and belongs to a kind of dzi bead. The origin of the name "Yaoshizhu" It is said that if the Yaoshizhu is placed in a sealed small space and held in the center of the palm of your hand, the temperature of its bead will rise, and after a period of time, it will naturally emit a fragrant medicinal taste, hence the name. According to legend, pharmacist beads also have the effect of treating diseases and avoiding evil spirits. Pharmacist beads are also called round beads in West Asia. In Tibetan, Lu Mei or Chimonanthus praecox are mostly lentil-shaped beads. According to the unearthed data, the earliest production date can be traced back to the 7th century BC to the 6th century BC. The pharmacist's beads are silk-wrapped agates with a white stripe in the middle, also called round beads. The grain of each pharmacist bead is naturally formed and belongs to a group of dzi beads. Take straight line as the best top grade! The nobles of ancient Persia and Sassanian dynasty had a special liking for this kind of beads. The origin of the name "Yaoshizhu" It is said that if the Yaoshizhu is placed in a sealed small space and held in the center of the palm of your hand, the temperature of its bead will rise, and after a period of time, it will naturally emit a fragrant medicinal taste, hence the name. According to legend, pharmacist beads also have the effect of treating diseases and avoiding evil spirits. It is essential to support and practice the pharmacist Buddha. The age of Yaoshizhu belongs to around 2000 ~ 4000 BC. Archaeologists have found this kind of natural beads in Iraq, Iran, Pakistan and other countries. Perhaps because of mutual trade, a large number of traces of pharmacist beads have been found in the countries around the Himalayas in the past and now. 1388, in the twenty-first year of Ming Hongwu, Cao Zhao wrote "Gegu Yaolun", 3 volumes. In the first volume, there are four theories about ancient bronzes, ancient paintings, ancient ink marks and ancient inscriptions; There are guqin, Gu Yan, rare things (including jade, agate, pearl, rhinoceros horn, ivory) and Jin Tiesi in the middle volume; The second volume has five theories about ancient kiln wares, ancient lacquerware, brocade and strange wood and stones, *** 13. This is the earliest extant monograph on cultural relics appraisal in China. The book Gegu Yao Lu records zygote agate and truncated agate in detail. This kind of beads should be called round beads, and the real pharmacist beads are commonly called jade belts around the waist. The standard pharmacist should be an agate with a black or dark brown background and a white line in the middle. The pharmacist beads should have a dark background, thick white lines, strong color contrast and large size. Pharmacist beads are agate beads, which can be seen according to the method of identifying old agate beads. Pharmacist beads used to be mascots, which had the functions of trading beads and ward off evil spirits. Because of its round shape, it is very suitable to be used as a rosary, especially for Buddhist disciples to practice the pharmacist method with pharmacist beads, which can achieve the effect of unity of body and mind, good luck and contentment. However, it should be noted that when the pharmacist beads are strung into necklaces or bracelets, it is best to put soft beads in the middle to avoid wear. In addition, it is said that this kind of beads is a rosary held by the pharmacist Buddha, who protects the eyes on behalf of the Buddha. Because the pharmacist Buddha chose this bead to practice Buddhism, it was named. It can be used as a rosary, especially when practicing the pharmacist method. It occupies an important position in the religious supplies of Tibetan Buddhism and is favored by believers and collectors. In ancient Tibetan medicine, high-quality pharmacist beads can also be used as medicine. Old Tibetan doctors believe that with the help of some mysterious natural forces, we can achieve the effect of exorcising evil spirits and avoiding taboos. The rosary held by the pharmacist Buddha can reduce people's troubles, increase people's life span, relieve people's worries, eliminate evil spirits, be safe and happy, increase people's happiness and prolong people's life span. It has the significance of extensive financial resources, smooth career, peace, auspiciousness and health, and is suitable for all kinds of students. The pharmacist Buddha is also known as the pharmacist Tathagata, the Great Doctor King Buddha and the Twelve Wishes King. It is the title of the leader of the oriental clear glass industry. According to The Merits of Liuli, the Pharmacist Buddha, Sunlight Bodhisattva and Moonlight Bodhisattva are two major threats to the Pharmacist Buddha. Moonlight Bodhisattva and Sunlight Bodhisattva are the first of countless bodhisattvas, and they have successively filled the Buddha's position, knowing that they can hold the magic weapon of pharmacist Tathagata. The pharmacist Buddha has a kind face, solemn manners, blue body, black hair in a bun, double earlobes and shoulders, wearing a Buddhist dress, bared his chest and exposed his right arm, holding a branch of the great bra in front of his right knee, holding a Buddha bowl in front of his left navel, and crisscrossing his feet in the center of the lotus throne. There are auras, auspicious clouds and distant mountains behind him. The image of the pharmacist Buddha, according to the pharmacist Liu Wangqi Buddha's wish to recite the scriptures, holds the medicine container in his left hand (and made priceless beads), puts on three seals in his right hand, and sits on the lotus platform with twelve gods under the stage. These twelve gods will swear to protect the pharmacist law, each with 7 thousand medicine forks, to protect all beings who hold the name of pharmacist Buddha everywhere. It is also widely circulated as snail hair, left-handed medicine pot, right-handed fearless seal (or willing to seal), with two bodhisattvas of sunlight and moonlight beside them, called three pharmacists. There are many records about agate in China ancient books. In the history books before the Han Dynasty, agate was called "Qiongyu" or "Chiyu". It is said that the word agate comes from Buddhist scriptures, and its real name in Sanskrit is "Asmagbo", which means "agate". After Buddhism was introduced into China, "Qiongyu" or "Chiyu" was renamed as "Agate" in China. Therefore, agate is also one of the seven treasures of Buddhism, which has always been regarded as a treasure for decoration and wearing, and has also been used as an evil spirit and amulet. Agate is one of the earliest gem materials used by human beings. It mainly occurs in cracks and caves of volcanic rocks and also in sedimentary rocks. In chemical terms, it is a colloidal condensate of silicon dioxide. From the mineralogical point of view, agate, like crystal and jasper, is an important member of the seasonal family, which is produced in China and many parts of the world. Interestingly, in ancient times, there was a constant debate about the attributes of agate. Until the Ming Dynasty, Cao Zhao still thought that it was "not a stone but a jade" in his On Ge Gu Yao Lun. Later, it was agreed that jade raw materials gradually gained the upper hand, and the "jade genus" of "agate" was considered as the dust settled. This broad conclusion of "Jade genus" is generally confluent with the definition of mineralogy today. Agate ornaments and utensils have always been very popular with the royal family. An agate cup with animal heads unearthed from the Tang Dynasty cellar in hejia village, Xi 'an, is now on display in Shaanxi Provincial History Museum. This animal head agate cup is made of red silk wrapped with agate, and it adopts round carving technology, and its shape is well made. Carved into a beast's head, the cup is lifelike, just like a galloping moment. This masterpiece from Central Asia can be found in the record of "Japanese offering agate as big as fighting king" in the Book of the Tang Dynasty. It can be seen that agate artifacts at that time were rare luxury goods at home and abroad. In the Yuan Dynasty, the royal family set up a special agate jade bureau, and agate treasures spread from the Ming and Qing Dynasties to the present are even more common. In Fuxin City, Liaoning Province, the development and utilization of agate resources has a long history and is known as the "hometown of agate". Since the Qing dynasty, there have been records of picking agates in the local area. The agate products in the Forbidden City in Qing Dynasty were mostly supplied by Tumote Zuo Qi (now Fuxin Mongolian Autonomous County), including agate beads worn by Qianlong all his life and buried after his death. This shows that the Qing court recognized agate. Fuxin agate mining and processing has a long history. Fuxin ancestors had been engaged in agate mining and processing as early as 8000 years ago, and it was quite prosperous during the Liao and Qing Qianlong periods. The "Agate King" excavated in 2004 and the "Agate Great Wall" excavated in 2005 caused a sensation. In 2006, "Fuxin Agate Carving" was officially included in the first batch of national intangible cultural heritage list. In order to promote the great development of this advantageous and characteristic industry, Fuxin Municipal Party Committee and Municipal Government set up the Agate Characteristic Industry Office, and at the same time set up the Municipal Agate Association, formulated industry conventions, and implemented three strategies: cultural nourishment, brand promotion and personnel training. Agate industry has been included in the revitalization program of Liaoning cultural industry, and the annual Agate Expo is unprecedented. Agate, with its ever-changing variety and natural beauty, has maintained a mysterious attraction to human beings for thousands of years. There is a saying that "a thousand kinds of agates, ten thousand kinds of jade". From the section of agate stone, we can see concentric circles, ripples, layers or parallel stripes composed of many different colors such as gray, white, red, green, light brown and light blue. Gemmologists call these aphanitic blocks synchronic, with concentric layered, irregular banded and filamentary structures. Strictly speaking, there is no banded feature, so it cannot be called agate, but chalcedony. Although the main chemical components of chalcedony and agate are similar, the subtle difference lies in whether there are stripes. At present, some chalcedony without stripes on the market is also regarded as "agate", which is inconsistent with the meaning and traditional cognition of ancient agate. According to the thickness, shape and color of stripes, agate can be divided into many varieties: onyx with "middle" stripes is called' onyx', and the most precious one with red stripes is called' red onyx'. In addition, there are varieties such as silk-wrapped agate, banded agate, moss agate and red agate, among which water bile agate is even rarer and the price is higher. There is a closed cavity in water bile agate, which contains aqueous solution. When shaking, there is a gurgling sound of running water, and you can see the water flowing in agate. Agate is very rich in color, including red, blue, purple, green, yellow, white and gall. High-quality natural agate has the same luster as glass and oil, smooth and moist. The most important thing is that agate has a gradual color change, strong layering and obvious stripes. Usually the color of agate determines its appreciation potential. Red, blue, purple and pink are the best natural agates of all grades, and the ones with bright colors, no impurities, no sand cores and no cracks are the best. Because natural blue, purple and green agates are extremely rare, most of them appear in the market by dyeing. According to the aesthetic tradition of China people, red agate has always been respected. Since ancient times, there has been a saying that agate is always poor, which shows that traditional aesthetic customs have been continuously affecting the market value of agate. Agate collection is popular. Besides being used to make jewelry in the jewelry industry, agate is becoming more and more in current collections and crafts: ornaments, snuff bottles, display ornaments, practical utensils, and even rosary, hawthorn, clever carving and juggling. In the past two years, the agate collection has gradually warmed up. Then, where is the collection and investment value of agate, which seems to be very common nowadays? At present, the most popular among collectors is the old agate. Since the Ming and Qing Dynasties, wealthy families in those years basically had agate bracelets, necklaces, rings and ornaments. In recent years, there are more and more old agate lovers, some people collect them, some people send them to relatives and friends, and some people intend to leave them to future generations. These old objects with historical legends and humanistic charm are either nostalgic for the past, or want to leave warm memories for their families, or want to have a warm handle in their leisure time ... This kind of oriental feelings that are clear in their hearts and moisten future generations has been passed down from generation to generation. Although there are still many gaps in the research on the variety and history of the old agate, and the materials available for reference are limited, from the collection market, the old agate has indeed become the new favorite of collectors. In 2007, a Qing Dynasty agate deer-shaped snuff bottle was beautifully carved at Christie's in new york, and the final transaction price was as high as 6.5438+0.29 million yuan. There is no doubt that this characteristic old agate product is highly collectible. Of course, agate is not getting more and more valuable with the age, mainly depending on the natural color, texture, size, pattern, pattern and shape of agate, and whether it forms landscapes, people, animals, stories and other factors. Generally speaking, the price of modern carvings varies greatly due to factors such as size, material selection, quality of sculptors, creativity and reputation of craftsmen. At present, the total price of these carvings is not high, and discerning collectors can choose this kind of "potential stock", which can not only appreciate the beauty of agate, but also have room for appreciation. In terms of modeling, agate collections with general characteristics have high collection value. Agate is very hard and needs dozens of processes to make it. Therefore, the more exquisite the shape and technology, the higher the cost, and naturally the higher its value. In terms of color, collectors' preference for old agate is not just red. According to collectors, the best white agate, commonly known as "litchi jelly", is also expensive. Among the old red agates, the south red agate is the first. Old South Red Agate is said to be produced in Yunnan, but some people think it is produced in Hainan Island. Although there is no unified statement so far, it is an indisputable fact that the old south red agate is expensive. From a historical point of view, it is difficult to find the systematic data of the old agate, because the upper class at that time paid more attention to jade and jadeite, and paid less attention to agate. If ordinary collectors are interested in old agate, they should pay attention to distinguish the authenticity of old agate, and carefully study and identify many details such as material, technology, patina, punching and so on. So as to discard the false and retain the true, learn the old from the new, and hide what you have learned.