When you click on links to various merchants on this site and make a purchase, this can result in this site earning a commission. Affiliate programs and affiliations include, but are not limited to, the eBay Partner Network.
Large and varied estate collection ofvintage African jewelry, beads and personal adornment, acquired from theWashington, D.C. estate of an individual who worked for a time in Africa withan NGO.
The collection includes 13 necklaces, threeadditional strings/strands of beads, two pairs of earrings, one giraffe-patternbracelet, and five loose hand-formed bone beads or decorative components.
The pieces incorporate an unusually diverseassortment of traditional and natural materials, including marine shells, seedand plant materials, wood, bone, leather, metal, glass or stone beads,fabric/fiber wrapping and other mixed materials.
Highlights include:
• Dramatic large collar composed of numerouslong tapered natural marine shells in shades of cream, brown, green and purple.
• Long necklace incorporating marine-shellelements, dark seed or pod beads and red accents.
• Unusual double-crescent necklace with twolarge curved natural-material pendants joined beneath blue woven fiber,suspended from an intricately linked strand of polished brown seed or plantbeads. Exact material of the crescents is unknown.
• Black beaded/fiber-wrapped necklace withlarge geometric leather pendant decorated with five pale diamond-shaped insets.
• White disc-bead necklace incorporating darkmetal beads, blue/turquoise-colored stones and a substantial cast-metal pendantwith incised geometric decoration.
• Black and cream statement necklace withlarge patterned beads and coordinating pair of earrings.
• Necklace of white disc beads with mixedmetal, stone and colored bead accents.
• Dark necklace with five large spiral metaldisc pendants.
• Long brown necklace with geometric naturalwood beads.
• Green fiber/disc necklace with simple metalclasp.
• Red fabric-wrapped necklace with metalaccents.
• Long strands of small brown naturalbeads/seeds, including multi-strand examples.
• Small multicolor beaded necklaceincorporating red, blue and metallic-toned beads.
• Wide giraffe-pattern bracelet withdecorative brass-tone fittings.
• Five loose hand-formed bone beads ordecorative elements with incised concentric-circle and dot decoration. Theserange from elongated tapered forms to one larger flattened form and areincluded loose as found.
• Two pairs of earrings, including thecoordinating black/cream bead earrings shown.
Two necklaces have broken strings and loosecomponents. These have deliberately been photographed as found so that thecondition and loose pieces are clearly visible. The remainder appears generallyintact, with expected surface wear, variation, patina and signs of age/use.Please examine all photographs closely for condition and contents.
The individual countries, cultures and datesof acquisition were not recorded. The assortment appears to represent more thanone African jewelry tradition rather than a collection from a single culture.Materials and styles seen in the group are broadly associated with both Westand East African adornment. For example, documented African porcupine-quillnecklaces are known from Sierra Leone, while porcupine-quill, bone, leather andbrass necklaces are also produced in Kenya.
Because specific origins are undocumented, noindividual piece is being attributed to a particular ethnic group.
An interesting estate collection for thecollector of African art and ethnographic adornment, as well as an excellentassortment for study, display, jewelry design, assemblage, bead collecting orrestoration.
Sold together as one lot exactly as shown.
