These necklaces are currently on display at the Ethnographic Show in Tucson. They were composed by Thomas Stricker, using entirely old (or ancient) Saharan stone beads.
The discoidal beads in particular are very interesting.
Cheers, Jamey
I didn't know Thomas is such a remarkable designer, I considered him as a leading beads collector only!
I wonder whether there is some additional info on these very interesting discoidal beads.
They seem to be made of carnelian and jasper, and I guess they are excavated, because the beads on one of the strands I own are encrusted with rusty iron to the point of some of them being glued together -- but how old?, belonging to which culture?, of African manufacture?
The dark discoidal stone beads are apparently quite old and rare. Some think they are "Neolithic." Of course, "Neolithic" is essentially a technological consideration more than a time period. But it is routinely used to express "great age." (Neolithic beads were made in Africa as recently as 100 years ago—and perhaps recently.)
I don't know of any scientific work that elucidates these beads. But they seem to be very uncommon.
I recognize the central bead in your handsome necklace as an African-made carnelian cylinder bead. These are found in Mali (and the surrounding W. African region), and typically have large biconical perforations—this being typical of primitive manufacture, but not necessarily great age. At the Ethnographic Show, Tasart and David Ebbinghouse are both showing long necklaces composed from them. They are very appealing (to my eyes).
The disk beads in your necklace remind me of those that come out of Nepal. But this could be nothing more than a similarity—since plain rolled discoidal beads (from anywhere, of similar materials) will be rather all-alike. I have been perplexed by the Nepalese beads for about three decades....
These are nearly always presented as "old" or "ancient Nepalese beads." However, I have not seen these beads in any authentic traditional necklaces from the region. They have always appeared as strands of beads, or as designer necklaces. So I have been inclined to think of them as "latecomers" in the bead marketplace. But I could be mistaken.
Are you confident that your jasper disk beads are from an African context?
Cheers, Jamey
Hello Jamey,
*African context: Yes, I got the beads used in this necklace along with other goodies from the area, from a West African dealer visiting Barcelona.
**The(so called) Nepali beads, which are among my favorite beads for necklace making, are a world apart from the African ones. The Nepali discs (see image to the left) are very geometric, as if made on a lathe, with regular vertical edges, and they are comparatively large and thick, with diameters ranging from 10 up to 20(+) mm., whereas I have never seen African beads much larger than 10 mm in diameter. Also, the latters are thin, with edges dented, as if finished by hammering -- very much like the oldest specimens of ostrich eggshell heishi (see pic to the right).
Some disc beads on the necklace that I posted before look indeed more like the Nepali discs, but they are consistently different, being made of carnelian. I am here interested in discussing the (mostly) black jasper (?) ones.