Creating a Nomad Style Necklace from Old Silver and Vintage Beads

Note the vintage bakelite toggle clasp on this brilliantly colored Middle Eastern Nomad style necklace.  I call it a fascinating fastener.

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Old Yemen Silver Wheel Bead with Coral, Amber, Bone Beaded Necklace

$78.00 U. S.  CONTACT ME for invoice or more information through the message form above left.

Here is a closeup view of the Yemen wheel bead: 

In making this necklace I raided a pile of old butterscotch and egg yolk amber resin beads that I had collected over time.  But this necklace demanded more beads and more of a variety due to the importance of the focal bead. It is an old Yemen silver alloy bead made in the standard granulation style. Tiny beads of silver are dropped onto a wire or solid background metal in rows or in patterns. The small beads made in this way are called Bedihi or berry beads, while these larger diameter granulated beads like this one are called wheel beads. They resemble a lugged tire.  

This one is large enough that it needed large decorative beads to surround it. The Yemen silversmiths, along with the desert nomads, preferred two kinds of beads to string with their silver creations: coral and amber. When the old natural frankincense amber became too expensive for them to string with their beautiful silver, they turned to the modern imitations of amber coming from Europe and North Africa. For a long while the Mediterranean natural coral remained available to them.  

Unfortunately, the Mediterranean coral beads are very scarce and expensive at present. For this piece, I decided to use the dyed natural coral from the Pacific which is naturally much paler and grows thicker branches than the old Mediterranean type. I chose for the foil against which the silver, amber resin and coral would play a handful of my tray of dyed bone beads, shaped by hand and quite at home in a nomadic style of necklace such as this one.  

The necklace contains three antique Yemen silver beads, four of the Pacific coral beads and 27 bone beads. The remainder of the beads, including the fastener are made of vintage amber resin beads.  

Necklace length - 26 inches (66 cm)
Wheel bead dimensions - 25 mm diam. x 16 mm wide (1 in x 0.63 in )

$78.00 U. S.  CONTACT ME for invoice or more information through the message form above left.

Restoring a Yemen Dowry Necklace

Restoring an antique relic of a vanished culture is intimidating.  Fortunately, I had access to appropriate jewelry elements that my family had collected through the years.  Here is a close up view of the final restoration of a Yemen dowry necklace.

$760.00 U.S.   CONTACT ME for invoice or for more information by using the private message form above left.

All the ornate bead caps, the signed starburst pattern large hollow silver beads and the Bedihi beads as well as the necklace terminals had been preserved, but the faturan or synthetic amber beads that had rested between the caps and the small separator beads, typically of coral, were no longer with the silver  components.  

Here is a more complete view of the now finished bridal dowry necklace from Yemen in the period around 1900 or a bit later.   I searched through my collection of faturan amber beads to find the ones that fit the ornate bead caps.  I find the European bakelite beads of that era very appealing, as did the jewelers of Yemen in the period of 1920 to 1940.  These particular synthetic amber beads were made in the late 1900s, but they were appropriate in color and size and could be used to good effect in restoring this fine piece of Yemen jewelry.  

The small translucent agate beads are from Yemen.  The people of Yemen had prized agate beads from ancient times; the small cloudy gems harmonize culturally with the other beads and serve as  buffers between the ornate silver pieces.  By happenstance, I had an appropriate silver chain on which to hang my restored necklace. 

The old starburst beads show that the necklace on which they originally hung was worn a long time.  The signatures of the maker or makers are quite worn, but still recognizable as the archaic Arabic alphabet that was still being used in Yemen at that time.  

In the close up view above, you see the faint stamped cartouches of the silversmith who made that particular bead.  Also note the cloudy translucent Yemen agate beads and the very special and now rare Bedihi beads.  While you are viewing this close up, don't overlook the exquisite terminals on this necklace.  They are gems in themselves.  

$760.00 U.S.   CONTACT ME for invoice or for more information by using the private message form above left.

Yemen Silver Jewelry with New Beads

When lovely old pieces of jewelry are separated from their original adornment, they can still be made the focus of a new creation in the old tradition or in a modern translation, as it were.  In this design, I kept the old tradition of making a kirdan or dowry necklace in the same form and with materials that would have been available at the time the original pieces were made.

The focus of the this design is a fantastically intricate plaque and hirz or mezuzah combination made by a Jewish silversmith in Yemen in the early 1900s.

Antique Yemen Silver mezuzah with four strands of modern coral

$650.00 U.S. CONTACT ME for invoice or for more information using the private message form above left. 

The amulet - or mezuzah or hirz - became an orphan piece of fine ethnic silver workmanship. The same had happened to the plaque on which the small amulet now hangs. So my first task in assembling this piece was to attach the amulet onto the plaque which had lost its central loops on which its amulet had hung. So I used heavy gauge sterling silver filled wire to repair the loss of the loops.  Now the mezuzah hangs straight and secure on the bottom of the plaque.  The decorations on each piece match very well, with their heavily granulated silver surface.  

Full view of antique Yemen silver mezuzah necklace 

$650.00 U.S. CONTACT ME for invoice or for more information using the private message form above left.

The next task was to find compatible beads of silver with a patina of age to match the antique silver of the ethnic Yemeni Jewish silver. I found some old silver separator bead from Yemen in my ethnic bead collection and that problem was settled. Next, I found my stash of some old silver over brass accent beads from India. 

But then I had to find enough of the customary size of coral that the Yemenites had strung on their kirdan necklaces. The kirdan was part of the bridal dowry and the bride would wear it on her wedding day and at family celebrations. I started pawing through my bead trays again. Voila! I found dyed red Pacific coral beads in exactly the same size and shape that had been used in the traditional Yemeni bridal kirdan necklaces with their multiple strands of Mediterranean coral. 

Next I wanted some neutral colors to cool down the intensity of the very red coral so that it did not overpower the glow of the old silver. For that I chose two different sizes of natural beads in black and white: black onyx and white bone beads. I also added two Indian agate eye beads in natural bands of black and white. 

So as not to overweigh the wearer of the necklace, but to make it large and imposing as the kirdans were made, I reduced the side strands of the necklace to just two. I connected the four strand section to the side sections with hand made sterling silver filled figure 8 loops. The chain is a handmade chain from Yemen, including the old handmade figure 8 loop fastener. 

This is a fantastic kirdan style necklace with genuine antique ethnic silver included. You can make a spectacular entrance wearing this with dress-up or jeans. 

Measurements: Necklace length: 24 inches (61 cm)
Plaque and amulet: 2 in x 3 in (5 cm x 8 cm)

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$650.00 U.S. CONTACT ME for invoice or for more information using the private message form above left.

Yemen Silver Wheel Beads with Maker Signature

Signed by Yemenite Silversmith: a Pair of Silver Granulated Wheel Beads

Signed Silver Antique Yemen Wheel Beads Apparently from Same Workshop

$150  U.S.   CONTACT ME for invoice or for more information.  Use the private message form above left.

The intricate silversmithing on this traditional style of Yemen wheel beads is outstanding.  In the photograph below, you see the construction of the rows of granulation that become a usually perfectly round bead.  The beads are made to fit as bead caps for large amber beads or to fit together edge to edge on a kirdan or bridal dowry necklace.

On this particular pair of wheel beads, the signature and the manner of placing the signature inside the granulated silver wheel beads are similar, or identical in my view, thus leading me to believe these two fantastic old beads were made by the same Yemen Jewish silversmith some time in the late 1930s or early 1940s. 

Here is an illustration of how Yemen granulated silver wheel beads can be used with large amber resin beads: 

Antique Yemen Silver Hirz Amulet and Beads All Signed by Silversmith

$975  U.S.   CONTACT ME for invoice or for more information.  Use the private message form above left.

Here is a photo of all the signed beads and signed amulet on the necklace above: 

Below is an illustration of how the Yemen granulated wheel beads fit with large coral beads.  They will fit closely as bead caps as well as being separated by smaller beads:

Old Yemen Silver Wheel Bead with Coral, Amber, Bone Beaded Necklace

$65  U.S.   CONTACT ME for invoice or for more information.  Use the private message form above left.

These signed wheel beads add value to your collection of Yemen silver and they can be worn on a chain or cord as single beads. They look best when strung with copal amber or amber resin beads in any shade from lemon to deep caramel brown or with large coral beads. 

Measurements: 1 inch = 25 mm
18 mm diam x 12 mm height

   CONTACT ME for invoice or for more information.  Use the private message form above left.

A Glowing Gem from the Yemen Desert

Yemen has a rich and fertile gulf coast once with high traffic due to the coffee and frankincense trade.  But much of the country that stretches toward the interior has become an impassable desert known as The Empty Quarter.  But the Bedouins know the way from oasis to oasis around the fringe of the ocean of sand and more sand. The finger of one of those Bedouin women once wore this fine flat cut brilliant red glass gem in her silver ring -  probably more than one generation of Yemen Bedouin women wore it:

Yemen Silver Bedouin Ornamental Ring with Red Glass Flat Cut Gem

Here are some more views of this fine old ethnic jewelry: 

See many more of the old Yemen and Turkoman jewelry listed for sale in my studio.  

Here is a photo of the Empty Quarter -- the desert that I wrote about in the introduction to the Yemen Bedouin ring.  

 Here you see where this Empty Quarter is located, partly in Yemen and partly in Saudi Arabia. 

It does look entirely empty! 

Orphan Beads Find a Home

Antique Famous Bawsani Silver Filigree Bead 

by Yemenite Silversmith

Using components from older jewelry is no new enterprise.  From ancient times, later settlers moved onto the rubble of previous communities and picked up the stones and other baubles made by the people of the vanished culture and made adornments from them.  Pieces of obsidian, polished agate eye beads, animal tooth ivory and carved bones and shells were gathered on a string and became a kind of wealth for the finder.

Modern artisans can easily follow the tradition.  My own collection of valuable orphan beads and pendants comes from Yemen, Afghanistan and Turkmenistan.  Yemen pieces have become extremely rare in these times, because (1)  there was a limited amount of such jewelry left behind in Yemen when the Jewish silversmiths moved to Israel in the 1940s and (2) the political situation at present is so unstable that it is difficult to carry on international commerce.  Here is one of the famous Bawsani beads that I salvaged from a Yemen dress yoke that had become so ragged that the beads were falling from it.

Antique Famous Bawsani Silver Filigree Bead by Yemenite Silversmith

These old beads from vanished cultures such as the Yemenite communities of Jewish artisans can be used to great effect in modern creations.  I can offer an example of an orphan bead that I have used in a contemporary design of a necklace here: 

Antique Yemen Silver Bead on Amber and Turquoise Stone Beaded Necklace

There are two sections of my online studio/shop that show orphan stones, shells, glass, resin and metalwork beads from antique times and from ancient ages.  Among the complete jewelry designs there, you will also see the orphan components that have become separated from their original adornments.  Enjoy a browse through my collection of the antiques from Yemen and Turkmenia and my collection of ancient artifacts from Bactria.  

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Shaping and Decorating a Yemen Dowry Bracelet

The Dowry Bracelet

Antique Yemen Silver Bridal Dowry Bracelet Braid Design Filigree Inlay

The ancient practice of exchanging goods for a bride continued in Yemen and in many regions of Asia the practice persists.  It is considered only fair that the family who gives up part of its own treasure should be compensated.  It also teaches the groom to value his wife and daughters.  In Yemen the goods that the bride wore on the wedding day and any goods given to her by her own family and her friends and her husband's family are hers to keep.  She has control of her treasure throughout the marriage and would be allowed to take them with her in case she was divorced by her husband.  Since divorce is so very rare, the more important part of the deal is that she has her silver insurance policy in case her husband is disabled or pre-deceases her.   

  The dowry is designed and fabricated by one shop of jewelers, from apprentice to master.  The people who wanted contribute to the dowry brought their own silver Maria Theresa thalers -- then the standard cash currency -- and their pieces of silver jewelry to the maker of the dowry pieces.  The Jewish silversmiths melted down the silver, designed the various beads, pendants, rings, headbands, veil ornaments, bracelets, anklets, toe rings, upper arm bracelets and other trinkets to dangle from the clothing of the bride.  In the early 1900s the bride sat for the photograph at her wedding because she might be carrying a forty pound load of silver jewelry, each piece made with the skill of the Yemen Jewish silversmiths.  

Each part of this exemplary bracelet is made entirely by hand  with primitive hand forged iron tools, only about five of them.  Pliers, drawers of wire, hammer, tongs,  and a tool whose name  I don't know.  

The screw closure is an example of the perfect match-up required in this hinged bangle bracelet.  To match grooves that would last almost a hundred years and still operate for the wearer -- all by hand with handmade tools -- is quite an accomplishment.  

The hasp in the hinge at the back is now held together with a strong copper rod flattened at both ends.  This may be a replacement at some point in the bracelet's history; the silver hasp may have become so worn that the bracelet did not hang together well.  The copper rod appears never to have been coated with silver at any time.  I doubt that this magnificent bracelet would have had a solid copper rod as the hasp at the time it was created. 

The excellent  balance of braided wire, crenellation along the edges, and the small touch of inlaid filigree on the closure brings this dowry bracelet to perfection.  It is still very wearable and eminently collectible.  

For more information on the bracelet visit my WEBSITE.