Prayer beads from the Balkans 1930-1960

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Posted by SARAH CORBETT on January 9, 2013 at 9:45pm

Stefany Tomalin January 10, 2013 at 11:02pm

sarah

rather like some of the smaller crochet beadwork snakes, this looks to me like balkan work of the '30s-60s. if the enlarged pink + yellow ovals come to a number divisible by 3 then it may be an islamic rosary strand, complete with the end tassel.

there is a picture of some similar in my "Beads!" book on page 67, the picture includes a snake which i then described (in 1988) as turkish but now understand to be made as a traditional balkan dance accessory.

South East Europe = Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, Kosovo, Montenegro, Macedonia, Albania, Bulgaria, Romania, and Moldova make up "the Balkans", rather than Turkey/Greece.
Stefany Tomalin January 10, 2013 at 11:09pm

the book may be out of print now but is in libraries, and a**zon often has it secondhand=

(Stefany Tomalin) "Beads! make your own jewellery" pub. 1988 David & Charles, ISBN 07153 9105 4
SARAH CORBETT January 11, 2013 at 7:57am

Thank you Stefany, this is very helpful, I appreciate your insight

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