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Old Tuareg silver is not easy to come by here, and I was happily surprised to meet a trader from Niger, who is based just outside Accra, with a little bag of goodies (below).
And here's a photo of a part of the market itself.
Love those beads, Preethi. They remind me of opals, What are they?
Thelma, they're beautiful, aren't they? I love the way they capture and reflect light. These are, I think, wound glass beads manufactured in Central Europe and traded into Africa, from mid-late 1800's to early 1900's.
They are made in Holland, 1700's . the large one is a beauty. they are often called Yoruba Moon beads, as they were prized by the Yoruba.
I have some wonderful irridicent blue ones...lovely beads..nice finds x
Looks like a great place to be. The moon beads are wonderful and quite valuable.
Nice find Preethi
Oh Preethi, you bring back memories of Axim to me. Of watching a Hausa trader, who visited us occasionally, tramping across the school compound with his old goodie bag on his head. Reaching us he would accept no refreshment in spite of the 40deg. outside due to it being Ramadan.
Amongst other things I bought a moon stone necklace from him. Many years later I gave it to charity since I didn`t then realise its` worth either financially or aesthetically. Ah well...........
The beads are made of a translucent milky glass with dichroic properties = meaning the milky blue appearance when you look at the glass, but often a yellowy tinge held towards transmitted light -
natural moon stone is something different but can be found carved into beads.
I used the wrong terminology. My beads were the glass variety rather than natural moonstone.
nice items preethi.
thus beads are also called opalite
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