Strand of Beads

Some beads are covered in tiny dots, and some are covered in nothing but shine.

This strand of beads is from Africa and is metal. Metal beads, cast or hammered, have been traded and worn across the continent for centuries, and are often prized for their weight and sound as much as their looks. Here lens-shaped beads are stippled all over with fine raised dots and cut across the middle with a smooth band. Larger smooth spheres sit among them, one pierced with a tiny hole, and a few cast pendants with ringed tops hang below. The metal is a warm, aged brass tone with a greenish cast in the recesses.

A tidy handful of tiny, tactile planets.