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What is the symbol on the gold clasp? This looks like it might be ivory What type of wood is this? I thought rosewood or ebony What era and region is this from? Any help is much appreciated Thank you

The character on the clasp is "lu" 祿 and is a wish for happiness. Seems to be Chinese costume jewelry made within recent decades, but not in Chinese taste, likely for foreign sale.

Ok. The clasp tested as solid gold Thank you for helping me on the clasp. i thought the white heads might be Ivory. They are not plastic.

Correct That is why I thought it might be better than just a piece of costume

祿 lu is one of the blessing out of 福祿壽 (also three Chines gods 福星、祿星、壽星 三星)that Chinese often used to bless each other.

The original meaning of 祿 lu is the pay (salary) of ancient Chinese government official. Therefore lu is usually being referred to money
Example: 无功不受禄 did not do anything that deserves a reward (money)

Therefore, using 祿 lu to bless others is to wish them to have great careers (promotions) that would bring them more money. It is possible that it is an older piece or for export only since I had never seen anything like it.

I agree with rat that I do not believe this is jewelry that any Chinese would wear. I wonder if it can be a piece that would be hung at the top of a door frame (under which people walking through it)for luck.

Do you know what purity of gold was the clasp being made of? Chinese usually used only either 18k or 24k and would not use anything that is less than 18k, as far as I know. It would be helpful if you can take a picture of the whole piece with a ruler right next to it. It was hard to figure out how it really looks like with your pictures.

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