Kasena Stone Armband, Ghana

Black as strong coffee and sliced across the top by a milky vein.

This armband is Kasena, from Northern Ghana, West Africa. It is granite. Granite is a hard, coarse-grained igneous rock, and shaping it into a ring requires patient grinding and polishing with abrasives. Thick, rounded ring with a smooth dark finish and a bright white vein crossing the upper band. Further pale streaks wander along the left side, and the inner edge is slightly bevelled. It is 0.5 inches deep and 4.25 in diameter.

Dramatic markings, delivered with total composure.