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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.

Kyanite 7x9-8x10mm Pebble - 15-16-Inch

Original price $18.00 - Original 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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Kunzite 7x9-8x10mm Pebble A Grade - 15-16-Inch

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Kunzite was named after a former Tiffany & Co. vice president, famed mineralogist and jeweler George Frederick Kunz, who first catalogued the s...

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Jade 7x9-8x10mm Pebble A Grade - 15-16-Inch

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Jade refers to an ornamental mineral, mostly known for its green varieties. Jade has been used for tens of thousands of years, initially as tools b...

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Iolite 7x9-8x10mm Pebble A Grade - 15-16-Inch

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Iolite most commonly occurs in shades of blue to gray, violet or indigo. It displays a visual property called “pleochroism,” which means that it ca...

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Diopside 7x9-8x10mm Pebble - 15-16-Inch

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Diopside is a calcium and magnesium silicate mineral. It is transparent or translucent, and can display a nearly emerald green color due to the pre...

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Golden Rutilated Quartz 7x9-8x10mm Pebble - 15-16-Inch

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Golden Rutilated Quartz is a silicon dioxide mineral with unique needle-like inclusions of Rutile. These “needles” usually appear golden, but can a...

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Chrysocolla 7x9-8x10mm Pebble A Grade - 15-16-Inch

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Chrysocolla, a hydrous copper silicate, is often mistaken for turquoise due to its rich blues and blue to greens. It often also occurs with colors ...

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Citrine 7x9-8x10mm Pebble A Grade - 15-16-Inch

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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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Crystal Quartz 7x9-8x10mm Pebble - 15-16-Inch

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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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Red Botswana Agate 7x9-8x10mm Pebble - 15-16-Inch

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Red Botswana Agate displays highly defined parallel banding, usually in white on hues of brown, gray, pink, tan, apricot and purplish red. Botswana...

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Blue Tiger Eye 7x9-8x10mm Pebble A Grade - 15-16-Inch

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Blue Tiger Eye is a naturally occurring dark stone with chatoyant layers that create a flash which seems to emanate from within the stone as they c...

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Black Opal 7x9-8x10mm Pebble - 15-16-Inch

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Black Opal is a naturally occurring variety of precious opal mined in Australia. this opal variety is characterized by their dark base tone. It is ...

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Amethyst 7x9-8x10mm Pebble A Grade - 15-16-Inch

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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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Devil Aquamarine 7x9-8x10mm Pebble A Grade - 15-16-Inch

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"Devil Aquamarine" (or "Devil Blue Aquamarine") is a market term for natural aquamarine characterized by deep blue, dark tones, and inclusions of b...

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Blue Apatite 7x9-8x10mm Pebble A Grade - 15-16-Inch

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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...

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Aquamarine 7x9-8x10mm Pebble A Grade - 15-16-Inch

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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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Tiger Eye 7x8mm Faceted Round Nugget A Grade - 15-16 Inch

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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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Smoky Quartz 7x8mm Faceted Round Nugget - 15-16 Inch

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Smoky Quartz is a translucent smoky brown or gray variety of Quartz. It ranges from almost completely transparent to an almost opaque brownish to g...

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Sodalite 7x8mm Faceted Round Nugget A Grade - 15-16 Inch

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Sodalite is named for its sodium content and may be classified as a feldspathoid. Blue Sodalite is sometimes referred to as “poor man’s lapis” beca...

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Sardonyx 7x8mm Faceted Round Nugget - 15-16 Inch

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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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Red Garnet 7x8mm Faceted Round Nugget - 15-16 Inch

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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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Silver Obsidian 7x8mm Faceted Round Nugget - 15-16 Inch

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Essentially a volcanic glass, Obsidian ranges in color from opaque black, to green, brown, mahogany, black with rainbow colors, black with snowflak...

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Lemon Jade (Serpentine) 7x8mm Faceted Round Nugget - 15-16 Inch

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Lapis 7x8mm Faceted Round Nugget - 15-16 Inch

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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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Iolite 7x8mm Faceted Round Nugget - 15-16 Inch

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Iolite most commonly occurs in shades of blue to gray, violet or indigo. It displays a visual property called “pleochroism,” which means that it ca...

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Flower Agate 7x8mm Faceted Round Nugget - 15-16 Inch

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Original price $27.00 - Original price $27.00
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Dog Teeth Amethyst 7x8mm Faceted Round Nugget - 15-16 Inch

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Dog Teeth Amethyst has a purple and white striped appearance due to its combination of Amethyst and White Quartz. The name derives from the recurri...

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Crystal Quartz 7x8mm Faceted Round Nugget - 15-16 Inch

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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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Charoite 7x8mm Faceted Round Nugget - 15-16 Inch

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Charoite is a stone that naturally occurs in intense purple hues, as well as grays, browns, greenish yellows, white and black. These colors swirl t...

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Black Gold Amazonite 7x8mm Faceted Round Nugget - 15-16 Inch

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Black Gold Amazonite is a member of the Feldspar family and varies in hue from robin’s egg blue to blue-green to black, occasionally mingled with r...

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Botswana Agate 7x8mm Faceted Round Nugget - 15-16 Inch

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Botswana Agate displays highly defined parallel banding, usually in white on hues of brown, gray, pink, tan, apricot and purplish red. Botswana Aga...

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Brazilian Amazonite 7x8mm Faceted Round Nugget - 15-16 Inch

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Brazilian Amazonite is an opaque blue to green to light green stone, often occurring with inclusions of white, yellow or gray and occasionally tran...

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Aquamarine 7x8mm Faceted Round Nugget A Grade - 15-16 Inch

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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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Amethyst 7x8mm Faceted Round Nugget A Grade - 15-16 Inch

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Current price $32.00
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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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African Turquoise 7x8mm Faceted Round Nugget A Grade - 15-16 Inch

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African Turquoise is not actually Turquoise, but rather a speckled teal Jasper found in Africa and often treated to simulate the beautiful blue to ...

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Black Tourmaline 5x10-20mm Top Drill Teeth - 15-16-Inch

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Black Tourmaline is a black crystalline aluminum borosilicate mineral with occasional light gray inclusions that appear as flecks or veins. Tourmal...

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Tanzanite 5x10-20mm Top Drill Teeth - 15-16-Inch

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Tanzanite is both extremely rare and extremely attractive, and we offer it when we can.

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Strawberry Quartz 5x10-20mm Top Drill Teeth - 15-16-Inch

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Strawberry Quartz is a translucent, milky to pink silicon dioxide mineral. Its needle to like inclusions of hematite are iridescent red. Quartz has...

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Blue Apatite 5x10-20mm Top Drill Teeth - 15-16-Inch

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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...

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Ruby Zoisite 5x10-20mm Top Drill Teeth - 15-16-Inch

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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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Black Sunstone 5x8mm Chip - 15-16 Inch

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Sunstone, a variety of Feldspar, is aptly named for its shades of gold, orange, red and brown, as well as its iridescent sparkle. As the stone catc...

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Blue Kyanite 5x8m Chip - 15-16 Inch

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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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Wood Rhodonite 4mm Microfaceted Round - 15-16 Inch

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Rhodonite, whose name is derived from the Greek word for Rose, “rhodon,” is known for its pink, red and magenta hues. A Manganese inosilicate (or c...

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Tanzanite 4mm Microfaceted Round - 15-16 Inch

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Tanzanite is both extremely rare and extremely attractive, and we offer it when we can.

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Green Rutilated Quartz 4mm Microfaceted Round - 15-16 Inch

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Rutilated Quartz is a silicon dioxide mineral with unique needle-like inclusions of Rutile. These “needles” usually appear golden, but can also app...

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Rhodonite 4mm Microfaceted Round A Grade - 15-16 Inch

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Rhodonite, whose name is derived from the Greek word for Rose, “rhodon,” is known for its pink, red and magenta hues. A Manganese inosilicate (or c...

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Peruvian Turquoise (Chrysocolla) 4mm Microfaceted Round - 15-16 Inch

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Peruvian Turquoise is also known as Turquoise Chrysocolla. It’s attractive blue-green provides a unique color to the mineral world. Peruvian Turquo...

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Pietersite 4mm Microfaceted Round - 15-16 Inch

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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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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.