16-Inch Gemstones
The 16-inch strand is the industry standard—and no one stocks more of them than Dakota Stones. Browse more than 200 stone types across every color and pattern, from everyday staples like Amethyst and Jasper to collector favorites such as Red Garnet and rare Turquoise mine-runs. Because the strands measure a full 15 – 16 inches, you get enough beads for matching earring pairs, stretch bracelets, or a necklace focal and still have extras for accents.
Need to drill down fast? Use the filter bar to sort by Stone Type when you know the gem you want, or by Color when you’re building a palette first. Shapes range from classic rounds and rondelles to cubes, heishi, chips, and rare designer cuts—each strand calibrated for even sizing and smooth stringing.
Whether you’re a hobbyist replenishing a bead board or a pro assembling a full production run, this category is the workhorse of our catalog: reliable lengths, vast variety, and new additions arriving every month. Dive in, filter your way to the perfect strand, and keep your design queue flowing with Dakota Stones’ biggest collection.
Products: 2264
Tiger Eye 4mm Faceted Coin 15-16 Inch
Tiger Eye is a macrocrystalline Quartz stone with bands of rich golds and browns. Its chatoyant layers that create a flash which seems to emanate f...
View full detailsTopaz Dendritic 4mm Faceted Coin A Grade - 15-16 Inch
Yellow Opal 12-16mm Irregular Faceted Coin A Grade - 15-16 Inch
Yellow Opal is transparent to opaque, milky white to pale yellow in color. It sometimes features dark brown to black dendritic inclusions that bran...
View full detailsRuby 4mm Faceted Coin A Grade - 15-16 Inch
Ruby is a precious gemstone known for its deep red color. It is a variety of the mineral corundum, the second-hardest mineral next to diamond . The...
View full detailsAbalone Shell 15mm Flat Coin - 15-16 Inch
Abalone Shell is strong and is made of stacked calcium carbonate tiles. When the abalone shell is struck, the tiles slide instead of shattering abs...
View full detailsCopper Hematoid Quartz 12mm Star Cut Coin - 15-16 Inch
Hematoid Quartz is Quartz with inclusions of hematite. The hematite inclusions are responsible for the stone’s color, which can be yellow, orange, ...
View full detailsTiger Eye 12mm Star Cut Coin - 15-16 Inch
Tiger Eye is a macrocrystalline Quartz stone with bands of rich golds and browns. Its chatoyant layers that create a flash which seems to emanate f...
View full detailsBlue Apatite 12mm Star Cut Coin - 15-16 Inch
Blue Apatite ranges in color from light teal to blue to bright blue to dark blue to green. It can be easily confused with other minerals due to its...
View full detailsLabradorite 4mm Coin Faceted AAA Grade - 15-16 Inch
Labradorite is remarkable for the way its aggregate layers refract light, creating iridescent flashes of blue, gold, pale green or copper red. This...
View full detailsAmethyst 6mm Star Cut Coin A Grade - 15-16 Inch
Amethyst is a beautiful purple stone, known as a “Gem of Fire” by ancient cultures. It has been greatly sought after throughout history and was at ...
View full detailsAquamarine 8mm Star Cut Coin A Grade - 15-16 Inch
Aquamarine is a transparent to translucent stone ranging from cerulean blue to light blue in higher grades. In lower grades it can be transparent t...
View full detailsChalcedony (Marbled) 16mm Puff Coin - 15-16 Inch
Blue Chalcedony is a naturally occurring soft blue translucent stone. It is a member of the Quartz family, a form of silica with a cryptocrystallin...
View full detailsGolden Hematoid Quartz 8mm Star Cut Coin - 15-16 Inch
Hematoid Quartz is Quartz with inclusions of hematite. The hematite inclusions are responsible for the stone’s color, which can be yellow, orange, ...
View full detailsLapis 8mm Star Cut Coin A Grade - 15-16 Inch
Lapis is a semi to precious stone and one of the most sought after throughout history. It is highly regarded for its beautiful blue color flecked w...
View full detailsLabradorite 8mm Star Cut Coin A Grade - 15-16 Inch
Labradorite is remarkable for the way its aggregate layers refract light, creating iridescent flashes of blue, gold, pale green or copper red. This...
View full detailsOlive Jade 8mm Star Cut Coin - 15-16 Inch
Olive Jade is the commercial name for this yellow to green to olive green stone and ranges from translucent to opaque. This material is actually Se...
View full detailsSardonyx 8mm Star Cut Coin - 15-16 Inch
Sardonyx has a Sard base, typically of brown or black, with bands of white Onyx running through it. Sard is not Onyx, but rather a dark variety of ...
View full detailsShattuckite 8mm Star Cut Coin - 15-16 Inch
Shattuckite is a rare copper silicate hydroxide mineral. It occurs in bright turquoise blues and darker blues as well as rust reds, commonly with i...
View full detailsTiger Eye 8mm Star Cut Coin A Grade - 15-16 Inch
Tiger Eye is a macrocrystalline Quartz stone with bands of rich golds and browns. Its chatoyant layers that create a flash which seems to emanate f...
View full detailsBrazillian Amazonite 8mm Star Cut Coin A Grade - 15-16 Inch
Brazilian Amazonite is an opaque blue to green to light green stone, often occurring with inclusions of white, yellow or gray and occasionally tran...
View full detailsRed Garnet 8mm Star Cut Coin - 15-16 Inch
Red Garnet is the most commonly known type of Garnet, which occurs in many colors. Garnet has been used for adornment and spirituality by myriad cu...
View full detailsAfrican Turquoise 8mm Star Cut Coin A Grade - 15-16 Inch
African Turquoise is not actually Turquoise, but rather a speckled teal Jasper found in Africa and often treated to simulate the beautiful blue to ...
View full detailsAfrican Petrified Wood Agate 8mm Star Cut Coin - 15-16 Inch
Petrified Wood Agate is formed from the petrifaction process of primeval trees over the course of many years. Petrification occurs when the wood is...
View full detailsLapis 6mm Star Cut Coin A Grade - 15-16 Inch
Lapis is a semi to precious stone and one of the most sought after throughout history. It is highly regarded for its beautiful blue color flecked w...
View full detailsBrazillian Amazonite 6mm Star Cut Coin A Grade - 15-16 Inch
Brazilian Amazonite is an opaque blue to green to light green stone, often occurring with inclusions of white, yellow or gray and occasionally tran...
View full detailsBlue Apatite 6mm Star Cut Coin A Grade - 15-16 Inch
Blue Apatite ranges in color from light teal to blue to bright blue to dark blue to green. It can be easily confused with other minerals due to its...
View full detailsTopaz 4mm Coin Faceted AA Grade - 15-16 inch
Topaz is a rare silicate mineral and obtains much of its popularity from its beautiful colors and its status as a birthstone. Topaz occurs in a wi...
View full detailsOpalite Pink (Synthetic) 10mm Faceted Puff Coin - 15-16 inch - CLEARANCE
Opalite is the trade name for man to made glass treated to exhibit the internal flashes of true Opals in translucent samples, and opalescence or lu...
View full detailsOpalite (Synthetic) 12mm Puff Coin - 15-16 inch - CLEARANCE
Opalite is the trade name for man to made glass treated to exhibit the internal flashes of true Opals in translucent samples, and opalescence or lu...
View full detailsMosaic 20mm Inlay Coin - Coral, Gaspeite, & Abalone - 15-16 Inch
These detailed inlay coin beads have a variety of stones such as Coral, Gaspeite, Coral, Abalone, MOP, and Turquoise.
Mosaic 15mm Inlay Coin - Coral, Gaspeite, & Mother Of Pearl - 15-16 Inch
These detailed inlay coin beads have a variety of stones such as Coral, Gaspeite, Mother of Pearl, and Turquoise, Jet
Mosaic 15mm Inlay Coin - Abalone, Coral, & Gaspeite - 15-16 Inch
These detailed inlay coin beads have a variety of stones such as Abalone, Coral, Gaspeite, Turquoise, Jet, and Mother Of Pearl.
Conus Capitaneus Shell 20mm Puff Coin - 15-16 Inch
Conus capitaneus, common name the captain cone, is a species of sea snail, a marine gastropod mollusk in the family Conidae, the cone snails and th...
View full detailsFrequently asked questions
-
What is a 16-inch strand and why is it the trade standard?
A 16-inch strand is the working length most US jewelry designers buy for design-grade work — necklaces, multi-strand layouts, and bulk component sourcing. It gives enough beads to lay out a full 18–20 inch necklace with clasp and findings, or to cut down into shorter assemblies without running short. The 16-inch length has been the trade default for decades because it standardizes pricing and bead-count math across stones and cuts. Dakota's 16-inch hub covers the full catalog at this length, across rounds, rondelles, faceted cuts, cubes, coins, and shape work. The bracelet counterpart is the 8-inch strand. -
How many beads per 16-inch strand at common sizes?
Approximate bead counts per 16-inch strand assume snug-strung beads with no spacer drift. At 2mm you get roughly 200 beads, at 3mm about 135, at 4mm about 100, at 6mm about 66, at 8mm about 50, at 10mm about 40, and at 12mm about 33. Faceted cuts, rondelles, and irregular shapes (pebble, nugget, coin) vary — count is driven by the bead's drilled axis, not its widest dimension. Exact count should be disclosed; ask before buying if a piece-count is critical for your design and isn't specified. -
16-inch vs 8-inch — which length for which project?
16-inch is the necklace and design-strand length: enough material for an 18–20 inch finished necklace, multi-strand torsades, long earring drops, or component cutting. 8-inch is the bracelet length: pre-cut to the wrist standard, sized for stretch-cord bracelets and single-wrap pieces. Designers running production bracelet lines typically buy 8-inch to skip the cut-down step; designers doing necklace work, statement pieces, or mixed assemblies buy 16-inch for the bead count and pricing efficiency. Both lengths share the same stones and cuts where stocked — the choice is about finished-piece geometry, not material grade. -
What stones and cuts does Dakota carry in 16-inch?
The 16-inch hub spans the full catalog. Most-stocked stones include agate, turquoise, quartz, jasper, tourmaline, moonstone, garnet, labradorite, opal, and amazonite, with deeper coverage across feldspar, chalcedony, and silica varieties. Cut coverage runs from smooth round and faceted round (the largest categories) through rondelle, microfaceted round, pebble and nugget, cube, table-cut cube, faceted cube, and coin. Standard sizes are 4mm, 6mm, 8mm, and 10mm, with 2mm and 3mm in microfaceted work and 12mm in larger statement rounds. Filter by stone, cut, or size to narrow the grid. -
How does Dakota measure 16-inch strand lengths?
Strand length is measured end-to-end along the drilled axis, beads strung snug with no gaps. A 16-inch strand can run 15.5 to 16.5 inches depending on bead shape and how the cutter finished the temporary string — irregular shapes (nugget, pebble, raw-faceted) sit at the looser end because the drill points don't always center on the bead's midline. Bead count per strand reflects this variance. Length and approximate count should be disclosed; if you need a tight tolerance for a calibrated production run, ask before buying so the team can pull and measure before shipping.