A free gift of Rita's beads with your order!
A free gift of Rita's beads with your order!
Shop our Sale Section for special discounts throughout the store!
Shop our Sale Section for special discounts throughout the store!
Discounted Shipping on ALL Orders
Discounted Shipping on ALL Orders
Unique Pendants on SALE NOW
Unique Pendants on SALE NOW
Gorgeous Mixed Brightly Hued Small Glass Nila beads found in Mali. For this listing, you will receive a mixed brightly hued strand from our old extensive stock of mixed nila beads.
These beads are great for design of all sorts of necklaces, earrings and bracelets, They are wonderful as spacers. They wear beautifully with their natural absorption of the body's oils.
Size: At least 22 inches of beads per strand. Beads range from approximately 2-6 mm on these strands, but with some outlier larger beads.
Wear and shape: Bead shapes vary a lot. These are antique / ancient beads circa 1200-1600 so they have wear, some with chips and cracks, and loss of color.
Photos are examples. Yours will be picked from our wide range of nila strands. All the strands are lovely.
More info:
Nila beads are the small 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 0698
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At the Rita Okrent Collection, we want you to be completely satisfied with your purchase. Items purchased from the RitaOkrent.com website in sale-able condition can be returned for a full refund - please contact us within 30 days of receipt or 45 days of purchase to indicate that you will be returning your purchase (via email at help@ritaokrent.com or ritaokrent@gmail.com). Customer is responsible for return shipping and insurance to the Rita Okrent Collection. Please ship your purchase back to us as soon as possible in order to expedite your refund. Your refund will be processed immediately upon return receipt of your purchase.
Please ship your purchases back to:
Rita Okrent Collection
1585 Hillsmont Drive
El Cajon, California 92020
USA
