Antique Big Red Rounded Kiffa African Powder Glass Bead Mauritania African Trade

Description: This is an antique red large roundish with flat bottom Kiffa bead which comes from Mauritania, Africa. This hard to find rare antique bead is in great overall condition with a slight pit shown and labeled in the photos. Very highly desirable this Kiffa bead measures 13.57mm long by 14.19mm wide by 9.77mm tall and would be excellent for jewelry making or adding to your antique African trade bead collection. From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.... "Kiffa beads are rare powder glass beads named after the Mauritanian city of Kiffa where French ethnologist R.Mauny documented them first in 1949. Kiffa beads represent one of the highest levels of artistic skill and ingenuity in beadmaking, being manufactured with the simplest materials and tools available - pulverized European glass beads or fragments of them, bottle glass, pottery shards, tin cans, twigs, steel needles some gum arabic, and open fires. The term Kiffa bead, named after the one of the old bead making centers of Kiffa in Mauritania, was coined by bead collectors during the 1980s. According to Peter Francis, Jr., the making of powder glass beads in West Africa may date back a few hundred years, and to possibly 1200 CE in Mauritania. Maure powder glass beads are believed to copy older, Islamic beads, of the type made in Fustat and elsewhere. Although the making of Mauritanian powder glass beads appears to be an ancient tradition, no archaeological evidence to establish their age has been found to date."I combine shipping on multiple orders so please check out my ebay store Mountainamma's Marketplace where I have thousands of items to browse from Africa and beyond. For buyers of multiple items please message me before you buy for help combining shipping fees or use the request invoice button.

Price: 63.75 USD

Location: Williams, Oregon

End Time: 2024-03-27T22:36:29.000Z

Shipping Cost: 9.5 USD