| Original Message: Mystery bead |
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Now, if you do not know its age and/or where does it come from, it is doubtless a "mystery bead"!
Being a full fledged ignoramus, I cannot give straight answers to your questions.
This bead looks exactly as those round carnelian beads used by the Fulani women together with a few Venetian fancies and clear glass Czech beads (as in the necklace below). In my opinion these old carnelian stone beads are under valued, partly due to the idiosyncrasy of the African world: similar ones coming from South East Asia are more likely to be sold as singles -- even as "heirloom beads".
My guess is that this particular one is from Cambay. And yes, I also think that the Phoenician glass eye beads(even perhaps the Tibetan dZi) were made with their treasured stone ancestors in mind: rich, colorful patterns atoning for a shorter pedigree. In this way more people were enabled to own at least one prestige item. All rights reserved by Bead Collector Network and its users |
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