Yoruba Strand of Beads, Nigeria

Speckled red-orange beads, small at the clasp and chunky at the centre.

This strand of beads is Yoruba, from Nigeria, West Africa. It is glass. Glass beads have been made and traded across Africa and Asia for many centuries. Round and cylindrical beads in brick red, many dotted with tiny dark pits and a few chips. They swell in size toward the bottom, with long tubes near the top. Braided cord in two colours ties the ends.

Freckled, hefty and handsomely worn in.