On this page
UnderstandWhat it is, what people ask, how far this page goes
Unspecified-material term · Shape / bead-form / specification term · Actual material to be verified
Seed Bead / Small Bead
Also known asseed bead · seed pearl (not a recommended name)
The term refers to a bead’s size and form, not its material; the material may be glass, plastic, metal, shell, pearl or stone and must be stated separately. This page compares how the major standards and institutions name it, what must be disclosed when selling it, whether it can be worn every day, how it is treated and identified, and which source each conclusion comes from.
Price, rarity and origin are outside the scope of this wiki.
What this page can answer
This page covers
- How Seed Bead / Small Bead forms and what gives its colourFormation setting, process and timescale, each finding graded and sourced
- Seed Bead / Small Bead in English, Chinese and Japanese; national standard namesNames in four languages, the GB/T standard name and the suggested listing name; and: Has any of GIA, FTC, CIBJO or Gem-A put a name for it on record here?
- Listing and disclosing Seed Bead / Small BeadThe listing name to use; what must be disclosed before sale
What we cannot conclude
- Whether one particular bead is natural, treated or synthetic — only a laboratory report can settle that.
- Geographic origin, unless an origin report accompanies the item.
- Price, rarity or investment value: this wiki covers naming and disclosure only.
Material research: formation, causes and history
What authoritative sources say about how this material forms, what causes its colour and optical effects, where its name comes from and how people have used it. Each statement carries an evidence grade and its sources; it describes the material in general, not any specific piece.
How it forms
Melee bead is a bead term defined by size/form, denoting small, mostly near-round or rice-like beads; it does not stand for one specific material: under the same name beads may be made of glass, plastic, metal, shell, pearl, or stone. Melee is therefore not an independent material with a single formation, and its formation depends on the actual material—biogenic pearl or shell melee is secreted by mollusks, while glass and plastic melee are manufactured. For a given melee ornament, only testing can determine whether it is a glass bead, a pearl, or another material. Authoritative sources treat Size and Shape as bead/pearl grading dimensions but do not define the specific term “melee.”
Scope: Used to explain that seed bead is a bead term classified by size / shape, with the material depending on the actual item; no determination is made of the specific material.
Sources CIBJO Pearl Book 2024 · G&G Fall 2024 · GIA: How GIA Identifies Pearls
Where it forms
Formation depends on the actual material; it does not refer to one specific geological or biological environment
Sources CIBJO Pearl Book 2024 · G&G Fall 2024 · GIA: How GIA Identifies Pearls
May be manufactured (glass, plastic, etc.) or biogenic (pearl, shell)
Sources CIBJO Pearl Book 2024 · G&G Fall 2024 · GIA: How GIA Identifies Pearls
How it forms, step by step
Small beads are classed as melee by size/form.
Sources CIBJO Pearl Book 2024 · G&G Fall 2024 · GIA: How GIA Identifies Pearls
The actual material may be glass, plastic, metal, shell, pearl, or stone.
Sources CIBJO Pearl Book 2024 · G&G Fall 2024 · GIA: How GIA Identifies Pearls
Pearl or shell melee forms by molluscan secretion, whereas artificial-material melee is manufactured.
Sources CIBJO Pearl Book 2024 · G&G Fall 2024 · GIA: How GIA Identifies Pearls
The specific material requires case-by-case testing to determine.
Sources CIBJO Pearl Book 2024 · G&G Fall 2024 · GIA: How GIA Identifies Pearls
Link to appearance
Small size, mostly near-round or rice-like; appearance alone cannot prove the material.
Sources CIBJO Pearl Book 2024 · G&G Fall 2024 · GIA: How GIA Identifies Pearls
Timescale
No source gives a formation time for “melee”; the timescale depends on the actual material.
Sources CIBJO Pearl Book 2024 · G&G Fall 2024 · GIA: How GIA Identifies Pearls
Related base materials
- Bead: Seed bead is a description of bead material by size/shape and is not itself defined by a single material
Other research findings
Melee is a bead term defined by size/form whose material may be glass, plastic, metal, shell, pearl, or stone, not one independent material; the available authoritative sources do not define the term.
Evidence grade CScope: A naming-boundary judgement; the sources do not define the term “melee.”
Sources GIA: How GIA Identifies Pearls
Size and Shape are listed among the grading dimensions (pearl value factors), showing that size/form-based naming is an industry convention.
Evidence grade AScope: A statement of grading dimensions, not a definition of the “melee” name.
Sources GIA: How GIA Identifies Pearls
Small beads (English “melee”) are a routine object of the pearl trade and laboratories; GIA, for example, has a role covering pearl and melee.
Evidence grade BScope: Only attests that “melee” is an industry/laboratory term; no source establishes full equivalence with the Chinese term mizhu.
The term 'melee' does not appear in the CIBJO Pearl Book 2024. All that book defines is 'Seed pearl' (5.179): a natural pearl, from salt or fresh water, that measures generally under two millimetres and never more than three. That is a distinct notion, so clause 5.179 must not be read as the dedicated definition of 'melee'.
Evidence grade CScope: Naming-boundary judgment; the standard does not define 'melee', and 5.179 defines the natural 'Seed pearl'.
Sources CIBJO Pearl Book 2024
Limits of this research
- Research status: Only partial material-specific findings found; gaps are stated as gaps
- “Melee” is a size/form-based bead term that the available authoritative sources do not define, so this judgement is rated C.
- No source establishes equivalence between the Chinese term mizhu ("rice beads") and the English “melee.”
- No formation timescale is given for the specific materials.
- CIBJO Pearl Book 2024 does not include 'melee'; it defines only the natural 'Seed pearl' (5.179, generally less than 2 mm and no more than 3 mm), which is not equivalent.
Methodology
- Origin determination and its limits
- Quality grading and value factors
- How gemmology became a technical discipline
Evidence grades
- A
- Standards bodies, government geological surveys, peer-reviewed research and museum records
- B
- Institutional educational material
- C
- Specialist databases or cautious readings
A statement is never graded above its strongest source.
This section is LumaLark's own factual restatement of public authoritative sources, credited item by item; it contains no verbatim excerpts, images or third-party logos.
DecideListing name, disclosure, care and treatments
- Suggested listing name
- Seed bead (the material, e.g. glass, plastic or pearl, and the size must also be stated)
GB/T 16552—2017 5.1.1 c)
This page cannot answer
Natural? · Origin · Price
A lab report settles these; this wiki covers naming and disclosure.
Related:What this page can answer
Answer at a glance
"Seed Bead / Small Bead (material unspecified)" is a market name rather than a mineral species name; before using it, verify: Actual material is unverified.
What this means for you
Before buying, check the recommended listing name "Seed bead (the material, e.g. glass, plastic or pearl, and the size must also be stated)" and any disclosed treatments on this page, and ask the seller for a grading report if in doubt.
Known uncertainty
- This entry's exact material identity is not fully settled.
- See “Disclosure and cautions” above
- Last reviewed
- 2026-09-01
Trade-name ruling
- Actual material is unverified.
- Suggested listing name
- Seed bead (the material, e.g. glass, plastic or pearl, and the size must also be stated)
VerifyNames, standards, technical facts, clauses and sources
Names
Besides Seed Bead / Small Bead, the name register records "seed bead" and "seed pearl", for which no restriction on use as a name is recorded; one further name in a non-Latin script is listed in the name register below (1 with no restriction recorded on use as a name).
Standard and listing namesIn the national-standard naming correspondence for Seed Bead / Small Bead (bead type), the name itself is not listed in the original, and the basic name must be determined by identification (GB/T 16552—2017); the suggested listing name is seed bead, with the material (glass, plastic, pearl and so on) and size stated separately. Sub-names and unacceptable namesCommon market names are the Chinese name and seed bead; seed pearl must not be used interchangeably, is not matched to seed bead (bead type), and is not recommended. Related high-risk names include seed bead, Czech bead and liuli in Chinese; seed bead and its Chinese equivalent denote a bead type and say nothing about material. Names in four languagesNames are given in four languages: the Simplified and Traditional Chinese name for seed bead (bead type), English Seed Bead / Small Bead, and Japanese (katakana forms for seed bead and small round bead), with both the English and Japanese noting that the material is unspecified. Institution usageThe wording of GIA, FTC, CIBJO and Gem-A is not yet verified by this site; the qualifier stripped from the title name is material unspecified, and it comes from the entry's own English name. Japanese namesJapan's GSJ wording is not yet verified by this site, and the Japanese forms are the entry's own Japanese name. Trade and mineralogical namesThe mineralogical name explains that this is a term for bead size and form, and the material may be glass, plastic, metal, shell, pearl or stone.
Name register
Every name recorded for this entry, with how it is classified, whether it may be matched to this entry automatically, whether it may be used as a product name, and the clause it rests on.
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| Name | Type | Matching | Use as a name | Basis |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| no restriction recorded (3) | ||||
| seed beadEnglish | market name | matched automatically | no restriction recorded | editorial ruling (no clause cited); Note: Related high-risk name “Seed beads, Czech beads, Liuli”: seed bead is a bead form and says nothing about the material. |
| seed pearlEnglish | market name | never matched to this entry | no restriction recorded | editorial ruling (no clause cited); Note: Seed pearl means a small natural or cultured pearl. This entry describes a bead shape whose material is not fixed, so the two are different ideas and the name is not matched to this entry. |
| 米珠Simplified Chinese | market name | matched automatically | no restriction recorded | editorial ruling (no clause cited); Note: Related high-risk name “Seed beads, Czech beads, Liuli”: seed bead is a bead form and says nothing about the material. |
How each authority words this name: see Names › Authority wording.
- GSJ (Japan) formal name
- シードビーズ／丸小ビーズ（材質未特定） (not yet checked for this body — the entry's own Japanese name is shown)
- GB/T naming counterpart (this name is not in the standard)
- basic name to be determined by testing (GB/T 16552—2017 §5.1.1 c))
- Mineralogical name
- Small bead size/form term; material may be glass, plastic, metal, shell, pearl or stone
- Trade names and synonyms
- seed bead (market name) · seed pearl (market name; not a recommended name)
Four-language names
- 简体中文
- 米珠（珠型）
- 繁體中文
- 米珠（珠型）
- English
- Seed Bead / Small Bead (material unspecified)
- 日本語
- シードビーズ／丸小ビーズ（材質未特定）
Qualifiers stripped from the headline name
See also: Misleading and prohibited trade names · Supplementary name index
Classification
- Origin
- Material identity unspecified
- Material domain
- Unspecified-material term
- Browsing family
- Bead-form and unidentified trade terms
- Identity tier
- Shape / bead-form / specification term
- Mineral chemical class
- Mixed / composition-dependent
- Construction or treatment status
- Actual material to be verified
What it is and how it's identified
Seed Bead / Small Bead (bead form) is a name for a bead form, not a material: it describes the size and shape of the beads, and glass, plastic, metal, shell, pearl or gemstone can all be made into seed beads. Material facts are listed by material, so no material facts are listed for Seed Bead / Small Bead; for the hardness, composition and care needs of a strand of seed beads, first establish what the material actually is, then look up the entry for that material. Seed beads are also not small natural pearls (seed pearls).
Registered material facts
Each row carries its own source and check date and can be cited on its own; “—” means the cited source gives no value, not “none”.
Care
Seed beads — care (cleaning): for museum beadwork, cleaning starts with the gentlest dry methods (brushing into a vacuum, cosmetic sponges); liquids come only after testing nearby materials; in the follow-up survey, about half the bead types cleaned with water or a water/ethanol mix, and 47% of ethanol-cleaned ones, showed decay again.
AIC Objects Specialty Group Postprints (O’Hern et al., 2014)
- Treatment state
- any treatment state
Source & check 2026-10-06
- Source
- Fact checked on
- 2026-10-06
Seed beads — care (storage): NMAI conservators write that once glass-bead decay starts it cannot be halted; clearing surface salts and keeping humidity steady and low only slows it.
AIC Objects Specialty Group Postprints (O’Hern et al., 2014)
- Treatment state
- any treatment state
Source & check 2026-10-06
- Source
- Fact checked on
- 2026-10-06
care (wear)2 sources compared
Seed beads — care (wear): For decayed Peranakan beads with breaks or crusts, the study found toxic lead arsenate crystals rub off on contact, so gloved handling is advised.
npj Heritage Science (Chua et al., 2025)
- Treatment state
- any treatment state
Source & check 2026-10-06
- Source
- L. Chua, S.M. Lee, I. Djordjevic & D. Low, “Investigating deteriorated glass beads containing lead arsenate in Peranakan beadwork”, npj Heritage Science 13: 34 (2025): Section: main text (locator checked 2026-10-06)
- Fact checked on
- 2026-10-06
Seed beads — care (wear): the paper notes that even glass of sound composition can decay if kept in unsuitable surroundings; the authors observe that contact with leather appears to speed bead decay, producing an oily, waxy white crust.
AIC Objects Specialty Group Postprints (O’Hern et al., 2014)
- Treatment state
- any treatment state
Source & check 2026-10-06
- Source
- Fact checked on
- 2026-10-06
Each row's “Source & check” expands to the full source; the date beside it is the fact check date.
Evidence and sources
Authority basis and clause sources
Sources
Further reading
Related entries and topic cluster
Parent entry and related pages on this site. Rows marked “Planned” are suggested new content and have no link yet.
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| Page | Content | Status |
|---|---|---|
| Browsing family | Bead-form and unidentified trade terms | Live |
| Related articles | To be added (placeholder) | Planned |
Who maintains this page
The names, standards basis and disclosure requirements in the Seed Bead / Small Bead entry are maintained by the LumaLark wiki and matched one by one to the standard clauses or institutional sources they cite. The entry exists so that buyers and sellers can check naming, disclosure and material facts item by item.