Mauritanian women pay high prices for rare, ancient beads like Morfias. They break them in pieces to be able to give pieces to beloved relatives as heirlooms! These bead pieces are treasured by thier owners. The people believe that these beads have the ability to heal the sick! This necklace is composed of pieces of beads and disk shaped beads. Some of them have been smoothed so well that they appear to be complete!! It is unthinkable to these people to discard a bead because it is broken! I treasure this necklace because, I know it was very much treasured by the women that owned it before me!