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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.

Peach Moonstone 14mm Round - 15-16 Inch

Original price $40.00 - Original price $40.00
Original price $40.00
$40.00 - $40.00
Current price $40.00
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Moonstone naturally occurs in a broad spectrum of colors, but is most commonly associated with white, gray and peach. Its soft chatoyancy is remini...

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Original price $40.00 - Original price $40.00
Original price $40.00
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Current price $40.00
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Unakite 24x60mm Leaf - 15-16 Inch

Original price $40.00 - Original price $40.00
Original price $40.00
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Current price $40.00
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Unakite is a granite composed of pink Feldspar and Epidote, creating a beautiful blend of pink and green in mottled patterns. The colors in this st...

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Original price $40.00 - Original price $40.00
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Current price $40.00
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Green Kyanite 5-10x22-30mm Teeth - 15-16 Inch

Original price $18.00 - Original price $18.00
Original price $18.00
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Current price $18.00
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Kyanite often occurs as long, bladed, striated crystals, transparent or translucent with a pearly luster. An aluminum silicate mineral, it may appe...

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Current price $18.00
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Sleeping Beauty Turquoise 5mm Pebble - 15-16 Inch

Original price $383.00 - Original price $383.00
Original price $383.00
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Current price $383.00
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Dakota Stones’ Sleeping Beauty Turquoise is from the Sleeping Beauty mine in Globe, Arizona — famous for the outstanding robin’s egg blue color and...

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Original price $383.00 - Original price $383.00
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Current price $383.00
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Carnelian 8x12mm Tube Simple Cut - 15-16 Inch

Original price $20.00 - Original price $20.00
Original price $20.00
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Current price $20.00
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Carnelian is a glassy, translucent stone that can appear with such bright orange hues that the ancient Egyptians called it “the setting sun.” Most ...

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Amethyst 6mm Star Cut Coin A Grade - 15-16 Inch

Original price $25.00 - Original price $25.00
Original price $25.00
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Current price $25.00
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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 ...

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Original price $25.00 - Original price $25.00
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Aquamarine 8mm Star Cut Coin A Grade - 15-16 Inch

Original price $36.00 - Original price $36.00
Original price $36.00
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Current price $36.00
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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...

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Original price $36.00 - Original price $36.00
Original price $36.00
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Current price $36.00
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Prehnite 6mm Round AAA Grade - 15-16 Inch

Original price $24.00 - Original price $24.00
Original price $24.00
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Current price $24.00
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Prehnite was the first mineral to be named after a person: its discoverer, Dutch Colonel Hendrik Von Prehn. Von Prehn discovered the stone in South...

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Prehnite 8mm Round AAA Grade - 15-16 Inch

Original price $36.00 - Original price $36.00
Original price $36.00
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Current price $36.00
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Prehnite was the first mineral to be named after a person: its discoverer, Dutch Colonel Hendrik Von Prehn. Von Prehn discovered the stone in South...

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Original price $36.00 - Original price $36.00
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Current price $36.00
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Ruby Zoisite 10mm Round - 15-16 Inch

Original price $24.00 - Original price $24.00
Original price $24.00
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Current price $24.00
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Ruby Zoisite occurs naturally when small Ruby crystals become embedded within Zoisite. The Ruby inclusions in this stone are pink to reddish purple...

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Crystal Quartz 15mm Round - 15-16 Inch

Original price $78.00 - Original price $78.00
Original price $78.00
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Current price $78.00
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Crystal Quartz is a naturally occurring clear and colorless Quartz. It is a crystalline form of Quartz said to have many divine properties includin...

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Original price $78.00 - Original price $78.00
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Crystal Quartz 12mm Round Carved - 15-16 Inch

Original price $40.00 - Original price $40.00
Original price $40.00
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Current price $40.00
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Crystal Quartz is a naturally occurring clear and colorless Quartz. It is a crystalline form of Quartz said to have many divine properties includin...

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Original price $40.00 - Original price $40.00
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Black Spinel 5mm Round - 15-16 Inch

Original price $15.00 - Original price $15.00
Original price $15.00
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Current price $15.00
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Spinel is a hard vitreous magnesium aluminum oxide, and comes in a range of other colors, but those varieties are transparent. Black Spinel not onl...

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Original price $15.00 - Original price $15.00
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Green Lodalite Quartz 6-7mm Table Cut Cube Bead - 15-16 Inch

Original price $35.00 - Original price $35.00
Original price $35.00
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Current price $35.00
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Green Lodalite is Quartz with inclusions of sand. These inclusions range broadly in type and color and produce patterns that can look like gardens....

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Black Moonstone 8mm Round - 15-16 Inch

Original price $31.00 - Original price $31.00
Original price $31.00
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Current price $31.00
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Moonstone naturally occurs in a broad spectrum of colors, but is most commonly associated with white, gray and peach. It's soft chatoyancy is remin...

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Original price $31.00 - Original price $31.00
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Current price $31.00
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Blue Opal 10x20mm Nugget - 15-16 Inch

Original price $62.00 - Original price $62.00
Original price $62.00
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Current price $62.00
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Blue Peruvian Opal naturally occurs with swirling patterns of deep blues, blue to greens and greens swirled with yellow to green, rust, brown and o...

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Chalcedony (Marbled) 16mm Puff Coin - 15-16 Inch

Original price $105.00 - Original price $105.00
Original price $105.00
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Current price $105.00
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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...

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Current price $105.00
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Citrine 6x11 Smooth Nugget - 15-16 Inch

Original price $181.00 - Original price $181.00
Original price $181.00
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Current price $181.00
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Citrine is a transparent Quartz, ranging in color from pale yellow to golden yellow, honey or brown, giving it a similar appearance to Topaz. It ma...

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Original price $181.00 - Original price $181.00
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Golden Hematoid Quartz 8mm Star Cut Coin - 15-16 Inch

Original price $22.00 - Original price $22.00
Original price $22.00
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Current price $22.00
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Hematoid Quartz is Quartz with inclusions of hematite. The hematite inclusions are responsible for the stone’s color, which can be yellow, orange, ...

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Lapis 8mm Star Cut Coin A Grade - 15-16 Inch

Original price $31.00 - Original price $31.00
Original price $31.00
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Current price $31.00
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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...

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Labradorite 8mm Star Cut Coin A Grade - 15-16 Inch

Original price $33.00 - Original price $33.00
Original price $33.00
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Current price $33.00
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Labradorite is remarkable for the way its aggregate layers refract light, creating iridescent flashes of blue, gold, pale green or copper red. This...

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Olive Jade 8mm Star Cut Coin - 15-16 Inch

Original price $17.00 - Original price $17.00
Original price $17.00
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Current price $17.00
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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...

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Sardonyx 8mm Star Cut Coin - 15-16 Inch

Original price $18.00 - Original price $18.00
Original price $18.00
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Current price $18.00
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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 ...

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Shattuckite 8mm Star Cut Coin - 15-16 Inch

Original price $52.00 - Original price $52.00
Original price $52.00
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Current price $52.00
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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...

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Original price $52.00 - Original price $52.00
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Tiger Eye 8mm Star Cut Coin A Grade - 15-16 Inch

Original price $18.00 - Original price $18.00
Original price $18.00
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Current price $18.00
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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...

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Black Spinel 4x8mm Faceted Rondelle - 15-16 Inch

Original price $121.00 - Original price $121.00
Original price $121.00
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Current price $121.00
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Spinel is a hard vitreous magnesium aluminum oxide, and comes in a range of other colors, but those varieties are transparent. Black Spinel not onl...

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Original price $121.00 - Original price $121.00
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Current price $121.00
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Crystal Quartz 10mm Nugget A Grade - 15-16 Inch

Original price $44.00 - Original price $44.00
Original price $44.00
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Current price $44.00
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Crystal Quartz is a naturally occurring clear and colorless Quartz. It is a crystalline form of Quartz said to have many divine properties includin...

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Original price $44.00 - Original price $44.00
Original price $44.00
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Current price $44.00
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Pink Mica Quartz 6mm Round A Grade - 15-16 Inch

Original price $23.00 - Original price $23.00
Original price $23.00
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Current price $23.00
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Mica is a mineral name given to a group of minerals that are physically and chemically similar. They are all silicate minerals, known as sheet sil...

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Pink Mica Quartz 8mm Round A Grade - 15-16 Inch

Original price $32.00 - Original price $32.00
Original price $32.00
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Current price $32.00
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Mica is a mineral name given to a group of minerals that are physically and chemically similar. They are all silicate minerals, known as sheet sil...

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Original price $32.00 - Original price $32.00
Original price $32.00
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Tourmaline 6mm Round Banded - 15-16 Inch

Original price $45.00 - Original price $45.00
Original price $45.00
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Current price $45.00
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Tourmaline is classified as a semiprecious stone and occurs in a vast array of colors, everything from colorless to black, from pastel to bright to...

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Labradorite 12x20-18x25mm Faceted Nugget AA Grade - 15-16 Inch

Original price $56.00 - Original price $56.00
Original price $56.00
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Current price $56.00
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Labradorite is remarkable for the way its aggregate layers refract light, creating iridescent flashes of blue, gold, pale green or copper red. This...

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Original price $56.00 - Original price $56.00
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Labradorite 12x28-15x30mm Faceted Nugget AA Grade - 15-16 Inch

Original price $56.00 - Original price $56.00
Original price $56.00
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Current price $56.00
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Labradorite is remarkable for the way its aggregate layers refract light, creating iridescent flashes of blue, gold, pale green or copper red. This...

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Original price $56.00 - Original price $56.00
Original price $56.00
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Current price $56.00
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Hubei Light Blue Turquoise 1-2x6mm Heishi A Grade - 15-16 Inch

Original price $105.00 - Original price $105.00
Original price $105.00
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Current price $105.00
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Hubei Turquoise is sourced from Hubei Province in Northern China, one of the most recognized turquoise-producing regions in the world. This materia...

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Hubei Light Blue Turquoise 2x4mm Heishi A Grade - 15-16 Inch

Original price $61.00 - Original price $61.00
Original price $61.00
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Hubei Turquoise is sourced from Hubei Province in Northern China, one of the most recognized turquoise-producing regions in the world. This materia...

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Original price $61.00 - Original price $61.00
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Hubei Cool Blue Turquoise 6mm Round AA Grade - 15-16 Inch

Original price $62.00 - Original price $62.00
Original price $62.00
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Current price $62.00
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Hubei Turquoise is sourced from Hubei Province in Northern China, one of the most recognized turquoise-producing regions in the world. This materia...

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Original price $62.00 - Original price $62.00
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Hubei Blue Turquoise with Matrix 5mm Round A Grade - 15-16 Inch

Original price $41.00 - Original price $41.00
Original price $41.00
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Current price $41.00
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Hubei Turquoise is sourced from Hubei Province in Northern China, one of the most recognized turquoise-producing regions in the world. This materia...

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Original price $41.00 - Original price $41.00
Original price $41.00
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Hubei Sky Blue Turquoise 2x4mm Rondelle AA Grade - 15-16 Inch - Limited Edition

Original price $141.00 - Original price $141.00
Original price $141.00
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Current price $141.00
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Hubei Turquoise is sourced from Hubei Province in Northern China, one of the most recognized turquoise-producing regions in the world. This materia...

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Original price $141.00 - Original price $141.00
Original price $141.00
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Current price $141.00
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Aquamarine 6mm Faceted Round AAA Grade - 15-16 Inch

Original price $44.00 - Original price $44.00
Original price $44.00
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Current price $44.00
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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...

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Original price $44.00 - Original price $44.00
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Cubic Zirconia (CZ) 2x3mm Faceted Rondelle 10 Multi Color Banded - 15-16 Inch

Original price $16.00 - Original price $16.00
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Current price $16.00
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Cubic Zirconia, abbreviated as CZ, is a lab-made form of zirconium dioxide. Made to resemble Diamonds, these stones offer the same beauty and spark...

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Cubic Zirconia (CZ) 2x3mm Faceted Rondelle 9 Multi Color Banded - 15-16 Inch

Original price $19.00 - Original price $19.00
Original price $19.00
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Current price $19.00
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Cubic Zirconia, abbreviated as CZ, is a lab-made form of zirconium dioxide. Made to resemble Diamonds, these stones offer the same beauty and spark...

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Original price $19.00 - Original price $19.00
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Cubic Zirconia (CZ) 2x3mm Faceted Rondelle Lavender Banded - 15-16 Inch

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Cubic Zirconia, abbreviated as CZ, is a lab-made form of zirconium dioxide. Made to resemble Diamonds, these stones offer the same beauty and spark...

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Original price $16.00 - Original price $16.00
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Cubic Zirconia (CZ) 2x3mm Faceted Rondelle Green Banded - 15-16 Inch

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Cubic Zirconia, abbreviated as CZ, is a lab-made form of zirconium dioxide. Made to resemble Diamonds, these stones offer the same beauty and spark...

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Original price $16.00 - Original price $16.00
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Cubic Zirconia (CZ) 2x3mm Faceted Rondelle Blue Banded - 15-16 Inch

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Cubic Zirconia, abbreviated as CZ, is a lab-made form of zirconium dioxide. Made to resemble Diamonds, these stones offer the same beauty and spark...

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Original price $16.00 - Original price $16.00
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Cubic Zirconia (CZ) 2x3mm Faceted Rondelle Pink Banded - 15-16 Inch

Original price $16.00 - Original price $16.00
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Cubic Zirconia, abbreviated as CZ, is a lab-made form of zirconium dioxide. Made to resemble Diamonds, these stones offer the same beauty and spark...

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Original price $16.00 - Original price $16.00
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Cubic Zirconia (CZ) 2x3mm Faceted Rondelle Red & Orange Banded - 15-16 Inch

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Cubic Zirconia, abbreviated as CZ, is a lab-made form of zirconium dioxide. Made to resemble Diamonds, these stones offer the same beauty and spark...

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Original price $16.00 - Original price $16.00
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Pietersite 7x8mm Faceted Rice Bead - 15-16 Inch

Original price $36.00 - Original price $36.00
Original price $36.00
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Current price $36.00
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Pietersite has been called the Tempest Stone for its colors of deep blue and gray with metallic gold and flashes of brilliant chatoyancy as it catc...

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Lapis 7x8mm Faceted Rice Bead - 15-16 Inch

Original price $32.00 - Original price $32.00
Original price $32.00
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Current price $32.00
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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...

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Original price $32.00 - Original price $32.00
Original price $32.00
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Red Garnet 7x8mm Faceted Rice Bead - 15-16 Inch

Original price $27.00 - Original price $27.00
Original price $27.00
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Current price $27.00
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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...

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Frequently 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.