Koma Stone Armband, Ghana

Caramel-brown and veined with cream, as if it had been left out in the weather.

This granite armband is Koma, from Northern Ghana, West Africa. The Koma live in the hills of northern Ghana, and they are known in the region for a long tradition of making and burying objects in stone and clay. A thick, roughly circular band with a mottled surface in toffee and chocolate tones. Pale streaks and chalky patches run across the outer face, and the inner opening is slightly irregular rather than perfectly round. It is 4 inches wide, 4 deep and 0.75 high.

Rugged outside, wonderfully lumpy inside, and entirely unpolished.