Striped metal beads

Abstract

A jewelry bead has a rigid hollow body with an exterior wall of a first metal and embedments of a second metal whose color is different from that of the first metal. The embedments overlie one or more selected areas of the wall so as to define an all-metal substantially level color pattern on the outside of the bead.

1 . A jewelry bead comprising 
 a rigid continuous thin-walled hollow body having an uninterrupted convex exterior surface of a first metal, and    a conforming uninterrupted interior surface of said first metal having the same contour as the exterior surface, and    an embedment in selected areas of said exterior surface of a second metal whose color is different from that of the first metal so as to define an all-metal, substantially level color pattern on said exterior surface of the bead.    
   
   
       2 . The bead defined in  claim 1  wherein said body is spherical.  
   
   
       3 . The bead defined in  claim 1  wherein 
 said bead has a pair of opposite poles, and    said color pattern is composed of a circumferential series of alternating first and second metal stripes, each stripe having opposite ends located adjacent to said pair of poles.    
   
   
       4 . The bead defined in  claim 3  and further including means defining a pair of diametrically opposite holes extending through said wall at said poles.  
   
   
       5 . The bead defined in  claim 3  wherein each stripe is tapered, being narrower at said ends than in between said ends.  
   
   
       6 . The bead defined in  claim 1  wherein said bead has a pair of opposite poles and said color pattern is composed of a series of alternating, circular first and second metal stripes centered on an imaginary line extending between said pair of poles.  
   
   
       7 . The bead defined in  claim 6  wherein the stripes are progressively narrower closer to the pair of poles.  
   
   
       8 . The bead defined in  claim 1  wherein said body in its entirety is of said first metal.  
   
   
       9 . The bead defined in  claim 1  wherein said body includes a base metal substrate with an outer cladding of said first metal comprising said outer surface.  
   
   
       10 . The bead defined in  claim 1  wherein the first metal is gold or an alloy thereof and the second metal is silver or an alloy thereof.  
   
   
       11 . The bead defined in  claim 1  wherein the first and second metal areas have a shiny finish.  
   
   
       12 . The bead defined in  claim 1  wherein said second metal areas have a matte finish.  
   
   
       13 . The bead defined in  claim 1  wherein the wall thickness of said body is less than 0.200 inch.  
   
   
       14 . The bead defined in  claim 13  wherein said wall thickness is equal to or greater than 0.003 inch.