Made in the Czech Republic, the facets of these pear shape beads are are first cut by machine. Then the surface is polished as they are fed through a red-hot oven. This creates a beautiful, smooth finish on the facets but with slightly rounded edges. Our line of metallic colors have a reflective coating directly applied to the surface of the beads. Most of our inventory is temporarily strung on hanks of either 1/2 masse (600 beads) or 1/4 masse (300 beads) for greater value. Please note that small imperfections will occur as part of the manufacturing process and size, shape and color may vary slightly from lot to lot.