Malian Strand of Beads

Pocket-sized grains of dull color, strung in an open oval with loose ends.

This strand of beads is from Mali, West Africa. It is excavated glass. Glass beads recovered from the ground are often centuries old, their surfaces worn or iridescent from long burial. Tiny round and tube beads in dark slate, olive and pale beige, weathered to a matte, lightly pitted surface. The strand is slim and wavy, with the ends left open at the top.

Understated, like a good pebble collection.