FREE and Discounted Shipping on ALL Orders
FREE and Discounted Shipping on ALL Orders
Get a gift of small mixed glass Nila beads with every purchase!
Get a gift of small mixed glass Nila beads with every purchase!
Rare and gorgeous small yellow glass Indo Pacific - Trade Wind - Nila Beads.
These glass beads are from the early Islamic era, and were found in the Timbuktu, Mali. Estimated to be at least several hundred years old, likely originally manufactured elsewhere and used for trade and currency.
These gorgeous beads are great for design of all sorts of necklaces, earrings and bracelets. They wear beautifully with their natural absorption of the body's oils. Really a favorite bead in the collection for so many reasons. Great as spacers or seed beads.
Bead sizes are 3-5mm. Approximate 22” of beads per strand. Bead sizes are pretty consistent in all strands.
Strands sold individually. Price is per strand.
More about Nila beads: Nila beads are the small monochrome Islamic glass beads than can be found in colors ranging from blue, green, red, black, white to yellow that are widespread in West Africa. They are also referred to as Indo-Pacific or Trade Winds beads, in reference to the ocean streams and winds that, for centuries, were used by the Arab merchant ships bringing them from India to Africa. They often have oxidization patina from burial and age. Large quantities have been found along the river banks of the Niger river in Mali and buried in large quantities in clay pots, used as a form of currency. They are also found in the ground in parts of West Africa and Southeast Asia. The name "Nila" comes from the Sanskrit term for indigo.
Some useful reference articles:
https://theconversation.com/how-we-found-the-earliest-glass-production-south-of-the-sahara-and-what-it-means-142059
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gao
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Songhai_Empire
African Item 0690f
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Rita Okrent Collection
1585 Hillsmont Drive
El Cajon, California 92020
USA
