• Rare Ochre Hebron Beads, Circa Mid-1800’s (Wound Beads Made from Dead Sea Salts); Origin: Hebron; Collected: Sudan
• Handcrafted Silver Content Barrel Beads from Ethiopia, Circa Mid-20th Century (Origin: Ethiopia; Collected: Ethiopia)
• Dark Brown Leather Cord
• Handcrafted Sterling Silver Wonky Toggle from Bali
• Length: 18.5”

N0809-131

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RARE HEBRON (KANO) BEADS: Wound Hebron Beads are known to have been made in the 12th Century until 1880s in Hebron, near Jerusalem, using salt from the Dead Sea as their alkali. The most common color is Ochre Yellow, shades of Blue and Green are more uncommon, and the Black and Multi-Colored Specks are extremely rare because they were made to emulate earlier Roman and Islamic “Crumb” beads. These ancient opaque yellow and green wound beads were eventually imported to Egypt. From there, they went up the Nile to kingdoms what are now Sudan and Chad beginning in the 1700s. These beads, locally called mongur, were greatly admired by the women. By the late 1800s, Hebron discontinued making these beads. By the 1930s the beads, which had not been available for 50 years, had gone out of fashion and itinerant Hausa bead traders bought them for a song. They took them home to Kano, Nigeria and ground the rounded ends flat to make the beads on a strand to fit together well. Today, they sell them in Khartoum at steep prices to the granddaughters and great-granddaughters of the women who once gave them away, calling them Kano Beads. It was once believed they were made in Kano, but we now know they were only altered there. These Ochre Yellow Hebron Beads were made in mid-1800s (Origin: Hebron; Collected: Sudan).
The silver content barrel beads were handmade in Ethiopia, Circa early to mid-20th Century (Origin: Ethiopia; Collected: Ethiopia).