A Necklace of Ancient Glass Beads and Antique Yemeni Silver
This 26" necklace is made of a combination of ancient Islamic Period beads excavated in West Africa and Indo-Pacific Trade Wind Beads, put together with simple sterling silver disc spacer beads.
Elegant in its simplicity, this necklace combines ancient beads from two different ends of the world. These glass beads are of approximately the same age, dating to the Islamic period somewhere between the 8th and the 12th centuries AD. The larger African beads are of turquoise color, made of glass paste, likely to imitate the rare turquoise. These beads show their age - some of them show substantial wear, showing their venerable age. These bi-cone beads vary in size from 30x10mm to about 14x7mm.
The small Indo-Pacific Trade Wind beads here are also turquoise in color, almost exactly matching the color of the African beads as if made by the same hand. These beads were widely traded across the Pacific since antiquity, and are found in many places, from South-East Asia to The Mediterranean. These beads are about 5mm in diameter.
The necklace is designed to be worn without a clasp.
