3 Discs with Wound Tube Overlay Bead

Close-up of ribbed brass tubes with scalloped, coin-like ends.

This is a brass bead of three discs with a wound tube overlay. A bead built from stacked discs and wrapped wire or tube shows how metalworkers combine simple shapes to make a larger form for stringing. Tightly shot golden-brown beads shaped like short cylinders with fine parallel ridges, each flanked by rows of overlapping rounded discs. Patches of green corrosion collect at the edges, on a black background.

Ridged, scalloped and impressively well organized.