Repaired Rare Kiffa Bead Italy Berber coin silver hair ornament

Berber coin silver hair ornament circa 1940’s

small pendants: 17mm x 15mm with 2mm loops and solid silver backing

unknown origin

From the Ao tribe of the Nagaland state of India

Repaired Rare Kiffa Bead Italy Berber coin silver hair ornamentThis very cool and magical bead was made in Kiffa, Mauritania. It is very old and was made as a female fertility charm, mainly by women artists. Historically, Kiffa beads are very important as its ancient technique (dating to 1000 years ago) made it one of the oldest glass bead making processes in Africa, which was purely African in origin. This bead is around 200 years old, possibly older, and it has been enhanced sometime in the early 1900s (the