Nowadays, most people think a magatama is an off-center glass seed bead. But originally, the term belonged to “curved jewels” (the literal translation) like the ones here: stones carved into a comma-like shape whose significance is lost to the ages. Different sources claim it’s meant as mimicry of a drop of water, a sprouting seed, a tongue of flame, or even an embryo– maybe all of the above, for all I know. Whatever its origin, the magatama has always had a special status in Japan; even now, one of the sacred Imperial treasures is said to be a magatama necklace handed down from the sun-goddess Amaterasu.
This is an individually-priced listing for magatama carved from natural “goldfish” carnelian. Most people are accustomed to thinking of carnelian as a nearly opaque dark red, but technically “carnelian” applies to any cryptocrystalline quartz with a definite natural orange-red hue. So the term “goldfish carnelian” has come into use for the “other” carnelians that’re more orangey than the standard image.
This group of magatama has a fair amount of variance through the orange/red spectrum, ranging from bright tangerine to the classic velvety maroon. Some of them have a small amount of color-zoning or brown-black inclusions (if you want more variation, check my “koi agate” listings). Their average dimensions are about 25 x 15 x 5mm, with boreholes ~2mm in diameter.
Unlike my larger stone magatama, I’d consider these light enough for conversion to earrings. Because of all the random variables, I can’t absolutely guarantee any specific set of characteristics for any given purchase, including whether multiple magatama from the same order will be the same exact size. However, if you specify your general preferences, I’ll try to check for close matches.
Please check my other listings for more pretties, and thanks for looking!  ^_^