Hebron or Kano Beads

Description

Hebron beads are said to be made with salts from the Dead Sea. Then traded/collected in Sudan,.

In 1799, English traveller William George Browne mentioned the production of “Coarse glass beads…called Hersh and Munjir” in Palestine; The “Munjir” (Mongur) were large beads, while the Hersh (Harish) were smaller. These Hebron glass beads were used for trade, and export primarily to Africa from the early to mid-19th century. Spread throughout West Africa, in Kano, Nigeria, they were grounded on the edges to make round beads fit together on a strand more suitably. There, they picked up the name “Kano Beads”, although they were not originally produced in Kano. By the 1930s, their value had decreased; in 1937, A. J. Arkell recorded the beads being sold “for a song” by Sudanese women to Hausa traders in Dafur. Wikipedia

Circa 1800’s Kano

Sold by the strand they are approximately 22″ and beads range from 11mm x 15mm to 12mm x 18mm.

See “Kano Goddess” by DKD Jewellry Designs