There was actually quite a broad range of strands, most of them were 30 inches or more long. The one big Chevron strand was 52 inches long all of which were real giants.

Jan

Jan, who did the crowning and carving? I can only guess maybe fossil walrus tusk?

This is a piece I traded from Jimmy Swoape many years ago. The pendants are carved fossil walrus teeth. Unfortunately I am so bad at names that I have forgotten who did the work. I believe that someone told me on this forum once many years ago, if we can figure that out I will actually write it down this time.

It is a really great necklace though.

Jan

I believe Walter Seyfried from Cincinnati carved these. I may have misspelled his last name. Walter carved these eskimo style pieces many years ago. He was very good at these. I have seen several of the braided strands like that with his carvings. I think I only have one of his carvings.
The braids were done by a fellow named Arnold. I never heard his last name. His braided strands were well known in Indiana as Arnolds. He started that style of necklace. Most of the Arnolds had tassels on the bottom and had a black flower/button style toggle at the back.
Nice pile there Jan!

Thank you, Art, for the info.
I tried to Google his name to find more of his work. Unfortunately, I pulled up jillions of images of Amanda Seyfried (who, while very pretty, does not quite fulfill my need for more ivory carvings....)

Hello Luann, Walt didn't make a living doing art. For many years he dealt in antiquities and traveled in the orient . I haven't heard from in years. He did those carvings as a young man and then just quit with the carving. I met him around 1992 and never saw him with any of the eskimo looking stuff.

The association.....Bob Brundage, David Ebbinghouse, Walter Seifried. Did Swope also grow up there? Bob once showed me some amazing carvings he did himself years ago too. Something in the water, or something, there in Indiana, has given rise to amazing talent and creativity! I met Walter Seifried only once, in Tucson 2007. He was, maybe still is, a specialty ancient beads and antiquities dealer. Business name, I Bead. No one I know has heard about him in some time, last I heard he was spending a lot of time in Thailand, and had previously lived for years in Ohio. Original cover of History of Beads, pub. 1987...strand of ancient mosaic face beads...beads that passed thru his hands....

He grew up in Bloomingtion Indiana
A lot of bead energy in the Hoosier state

I actually just talked with Walter about 5 months ago regarding some of the Burmese Pyu period gold "puzzle" beads. I have his phone number and email address if someone wants to contact him. Brian

Brian, thank you for the offer of contact information, and I WOULD like to let him know his older work is still eloquent. You can private message him, or email me.

As maker of the braids, we might consider the late Debbie Case (spouse of Barry Case, decades-long Friendship denizen) who, at Friendship one year, showed this sort of work and spoke of having learned a certain such technique from someone (perhaps the elusive Arnold) after much prodding and cajoling, Art will know how Debbie (nee Hollingworth or something close), Barry, Quick Chris, Swope, and other legends all fit together. I have one of Debbie's pieces, to be resurrected someday. The cases were from nearby Vevay, IN.

Hi Joyce, if you can figure out a way to search it I am pretty sure it was identified many years ago by someone.

This one is black 4-layer chevrons with an Aspeo bead in center

This one is almost perfect "Lewis & Clark" type floral beads with double mercury dime benchmade beads in between.