Tuareg Kitab Tcherot Leather and Silver Double Amulet, with Raised Buttons and Lots of Decoration, Mauritania - Rita Okrent Collection (P642o)

Wonderful vintage Tcherot double amulet made from leather silver. This tcherot is one of our favorites and was recently featured in our most recent ad in Ornament Magazine. We love how its owner decorated it with a string of beads and a key.

Kitab or tcherot amulets are found in the regions where the Tuareg nomadic people live, such as Mauritania and Niger. Tcherot typically contain small objects with amulet properties and carefully folded magical formulas as well as verses from the Koran, all designed to protect and strengthen the wearer or to ensure her fertility. A Tuareg girl receives her first Tcherot from her mother at the age of seventeen. (from the book "African Beads, Jewels of a Continent" by Evelyn Simak).

This amulet dates from the mid 1900's and measures 3.6 inches at tallest point (corners) and 1.4 inches at middle (smallest width) and 2.6 inches at widest point.

Pendant Item 642o